Windchill is a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software solution developed by PTC that enables companies to manage their product development processes and data in a single, centralized system. The Windchill software has several capabilities, including.
- Product Data Management
- Change and Configuration Management
- Requirements Management and Validation
- BOM Management and Transformation
- Product Variability Management
- Manufacturing Process Management
- Closed-Loop Quality for the Entire Organization
- Model Based System Engineering (MBSE)
- Project and Design Collaboration
- Service Process Management
- Flexible Delivery Options
- Administration and Support
- Security
- Digital Deployment
Explore the range of capabilities that make Windchill perfect for driving concurrent manufacturing, enterprise collaboration, and closed-loop quality.
- Product Data Management
Windchill Capabilities PDM software connects and communicates product information across globally distributed teams using multiple CAD tools.Windchill can be embedded in all major MCAD systems, allowing users to manage and edit CAD data and associated documents (e.g., Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF) without leaving the MCAD environment. Data access is optimized for remote workers by being web-based, accessible from a Windows desktop, and stored in the PTC Cloud. Lightweight viewables and self-service access to role-based apps in secure project spaces allow for the automated distribution of more consumable data to non-CAD users. - Change and Configuration Management
The various teams involved in the lifecycle of a product generate a variety of digital data.
This data not only spans disparate functional systems, but it also frequently evolves over time – and quickly.
Windchill allows you to provide a real-time view of the most accurate data to all enterprise stakeholders, increasing cross-discipline involvement. Standardizing on PTC’s best practices for change and configuration management will increase efficiency. Better, more informed decisions can reduce the costs of poor quality and allow your organization to implement changes and introduce new products to market more quickly. - Requirements Management and Validation
Effective requirements and validation practices are more than just a necessary part of designing and developing complex products and systems. They are critical in reducing risk and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Windchill allows you to centrally manage changing requirements, test assets, and software configurations. By automating data traceability and sharing, you enable cross-functional collaboration across applications and throughout the product life cycle. With comprehensive visibility into evolving requirements, stakeholders can easily manage test sessions, assess the impact of proposed changes, and validate test results against requirements for improved product quality and compliance. - BOM Management and Transformation
Given the increasing number of product options and variants, the majority of manufacturers are having trouble being quick and agile.
Product designers can create and manage a part-centric digital product that can be leveraged at every stage of the product life cycle using Windchill’s BOM management and BOM transformation capabilities. Mechanical, software, and electronic components, as well as related artifacts, can now be included in the engineering BOM. This gives your organization a unified interface through which upstream and downstream teams can collaborate on domain systems such as ECAD, MCAD, Software, PLM, and ERP. Windchill ensures that everyone – from the shop floor worker and service technician to a seller configuring a customer order – is using the correct product information. - Product Variability Management
Traditional manufacturing methods make producing variants and configurations difficult. Product diversity leads to higher inventories, lower economies of scale, service inefficiencies, manufacturing errors, and an increased risk of noncompliance.
Windchill’s product variability management capabilities allow you to strategically design, create, manage, and validate product variants. Platform options, choices, logic, and configuration rules are directly linked to BOM, 3D visualization, and CAD data to deliver a robust modular solution. You can fully manage platform information throughout its lifecycle, making it easily accessible for product validation and sharing with other enterprise tools such as ERP and CPQ. - Manufacturing Process Management
Manufacturing process management (MPM) capabilities provide the collaboration tools and methodologies required to manufacture and build products anywhere, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. MPM connects design and the shop floor, as well as suppliers, logistics, and quality, to create a more connected, agile enterprise.
Windchill’s MPM capabilities allow you to feed shop floor data into MPM for greater process efficiencies. Before performing their own work or assisting in the completion of another task, end users can access technical work instructions on demand (via a screen or augmented reality). - Closed-Loop Quality for the Entire Organization
Innovating with speed, agility, and compliance hinges on quality. Success comes down to high first pass yields, low percentages of scrap and rework, elimination of line and field failures, and rapid response to corrective and preventative actions (CAPAs).
PTC takes a holistic approach to quality across the organization from ideation to field service. Highly configurable out-of-the-box workflows are associated with products and parts for a complete design master record (DMR) and design history file (DHF). Key data is centrally stored and aligned with engineering, manufacturing, and service bills of materials and process plans. This includes change and configuration management, requirements and test management, CAPAs, non-conformances, customer experience management (CEM), audit, document control, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), fault - Flexible Delivery Options
Windchill is certified on Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
Windchill’s SaaS offering includes a selection of enterprise packages and role-based add-ons for engineering, quality, manufacturing, service, and the extended enterprise with ThingWorx Navigate for customers interested in taking advantage of the additional benefits of SaaS. These SaaS offerings also meet stringent security and compliance standards, such as Fedramp and IL5, to accommodate the federal, aerospace and defense, and medical device industries. All upgrades and updates, as well as dedicated production and non-production environments, are included.