PTC Windchill is a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software product that is offered by PTC. Windchill is currently being used by over 1.1 million users worldwide.^[2]

History

Windchill was originally developed by Windchill Technology Inc., which was co-founded by Jim Heppelmann, the current President and CEO of PTC. When PTC acquired Windchill Technology, Heppelmann joined the company as senior vice president.^[3] Windchill first launched in 1998 and was promoted as the first to market with an internet based PLM solution. In 2001, Windchill ProjectLink launched as a solution for project collaboration and in 2002, Windchill PDMLink launched as a solution for product data management.^[4]

Recent Releases

Market

The Windchill user base ranges from individuals to large corporations. Most customers are in the following manufacturing market segments: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Electronics & High-Tech, Industrial Products, Medical Devices, and Retail, Footwear & Apparel. Commercial sales are made through a combination of a direct sales force as well as an indirect sale channel. Directly competitive products to Windchill include Teamcenter by Siemens, ENOVIA by Dassault Systèmes and Agile by Oracle.^[5]

Products

PDM & Process^[6]

• Windchill ProjectLink – Web-based project collaboration across product development.
• Windchill MPMLink – The industry’s first integral solution for Manufacturing Process Management.
• FlexPLM – A PLM solution for retail, footwear & apparel and consumer product companies.
• Windchill PDMLink – A web-based master product data management repository that also helps teams manage critical processes such as change/configuration management, and detailed design.
• Arbortext Content Manager – helps control content creation, collaboration, management and publishing processes as they relate to technical product and service information.
• Windchill PPMLink – Provides Program Portfolio Management (PPM) capabilities to discrete manufacturers.
• Requirements Management – A combination of PTC’s Integrity product and Windchill PDMLink to manage product software and hardware requirements

Product Analytics^[7]

• Windchill Compliance – Tracks and manages product compliance throughout the product lifecycle.
• Windchill Materials & Substances – Integrates with existing enterprise systems to provide materials and substances in products based on an accurate BOM.
• Windchill Cost – Provides real-time product cost estimates and analysis.//Phani
• Windchill LCA – Allows manufacturers to use LCA (Lifecycle Assessment) data to quantify the environmental impact of products over their entire lifecycle.

Quality^[8]

• Windchill FRACAS – FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis, and Corrective Action System) manages corrective action processes to improve product reliability.
• Windchill FMEA – Helps identify potential failure modes in a system.
• Windchill FTA – Constructs a graphical representation of an issue and provides an analysis tool.
• Windchill Prediction – Helps assess product reliability early in the design process.
• Windchill CAPA – Helps manage the intake, tracking, resolution, and analysis of quality issues.
• Windchill Nonconformance – manages the intake, evaluation, resolution and tracking of nonconforming products.
• Windchill Customer Experience Management – Helps manage and address customer complaints.

Service^[9]

• Windchill Service Information Manager – Helps organize and manage service information to ensure accuracy and relevance.
• Windchill Service Parts – Uses engineering CAD data to define spare parts information.

Collaboration^[10]

• Windchill SocialLink – Combines social computing with product data from Windchill to create product and practice collaboration environments for product teams.
• Windchill Mobile – Provides instant access to PTC’s Windchill from an iPad or iPhone.

Utilities^[11]

• Windchill Archive – An optional module that automatically purges unnecessary information by archiving it into long-term storage.
• Windchill Print Service – Assists in printing Windchill content throughout the enterprise.
• Windchill Reporting –Develops and distributes reports across the enterprise.
• Windchill Interference Management Services – Identifies clashes between components in the design stage to resolve problems.

• Official website