Windchill (software) explained

PTC Windchill
Developer:	PTC
Latest Release Version:	12.1.2.0
Operating System:	Microsoft Windows, Linux
Language:	English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Polish,^[1] Portuguese (Brazil)
Genre:	Product lifecycle management
License:	Proprietary

PTC Windchill is a family of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software products that is offered by PTC.^{[2] [3]} In 2004, as part of their expansion in the area of collaboration tools, they arranged having "a hosted version of Windchill to small- and medium-sized customers."^{[4] [5]} As of 2011, products from its marketer, PTC, were being used by over 1.1 million users worldwide.^[6]

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.^[7] Windchill was released in 1998 and was promoted as the first to market with an internet based PLMoffering. In 2001, Windchill ProjectLink was added as a project collaboration offering, and in 2002, Windchill PDMLink launched to enhance product data management.^[8]

In 2004 the parent company announced plans "to simplify its product management applications."^[9]

Technology

Windchill's implementation has been described as multi-tier. Although it can run on a single server, when "serving thousands of end userson a global scale" it commonly uses three tiers: Client, Application and Database tiers.^[10]

Windchill software skills are taught in universities worldwide.^{[11] [12]}

Recent Releases

Version	Release Date
Windchill 4.0	November 1999
Windchill 5.0	May 2000
Windchill 5.1	November 2000
Windchill 6.0
Windchill 6.1	November 2001
Windchill 6.2.6	December 2002
Windchill 7.0	January 2004
Windchill 8.0	June 2005
Windchill 9.0	September 2007
Windchill 9.1	December 2008
Windchill 10.0	March 2011
Windchill 10.1	March 2012
Windchill 10.2 10.2 M010 10.2 M020 10.2 M030	September 2013 December 2013 May 2014 March 2015
Windchill 11.0 11.0 M010 11.0 M020 11.0 M030	December 2015 June 2016 November 2016 June 2017
Windchill 11.1 11.1 M010	January 2018 May 2018
Windchill 11.2 11.2.1.0	June 2019 December 2019
Windchill 12.0	June 2020^[13]
Windchill 13.0	June 2023

Market

The Windchill user base ranges from individuals to large corporations.^[14] Most customers are in the following manufacturing market segments: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Electronics & High-Tech, Industrial Products, Medical Devices, 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 Empower PLM by Omnify, Teamcenter by Siemens, ENOVIA by Dassault Systèmes and Agile by Oracle.^[15]

Products

PDM & Process^[16]

• Windchill ProjectLink – Web-based project collaboration across product development.
• Windchill PartsLink-For categorizing the data and search.
• Windchill MPMLink – The industry's first integral software package for Manufacturing Process Management.
• FlexPLM – A PLM offering 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^[17]

• 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.
• Windchill LCA – Allows manufacturers to use LCA (Lifecycle Assessment) data to quantify the environmental impact of products over their entire lifecycle.

Quality^[18]

• 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.^{[19] [20]}
• Windchill Nonconformance – manages the intake, evaluation, resolution and tracking of nonconforming products.
• Windchill Customer Experience Management – Helps manage and address customer complaints.

Service^[21]

• 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^[22]

• 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^[23]

• 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.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Windchill Polish version.
2. . In Focus: Document Automation Requires More Than Scanning . June 26, 2006.
3. Web site: US Navy Selects PTC's Windchill PLM SaaS. July 30, 2020.
4. News: Financial Times. Drawing up strength for a new industrial revolution. Andrew Baxter . November 3, 2004.
5. Web site: Hosted PTC Windchill ProjectLink Service Yields Benefits at Pitney Bowes . May 23, 2006.
6. Web site: Q4 Fiscal 2011 Prepared Remarks. July 27, 2012.
7. Web site: Songini . Marc . PTC's Heppelmann, the CEO in the Wings. American City Business Journals Inc.. July 13, 2012.
8. Web site: The Jim Heppelmann Interview. July 13, 2012.
9. News: Computerworld. Jaikumar Vijayan . January 26, 2004. Parametric tries to simplify its product management applications.
10. Web site: Disaster Recovery for PTC Windchill.
11. Web site: IPEK. Studierenden werden intensiv in Creo Parametric von PTC sowie mit dem PLM System Windchill PDMLink geschult.
12. Web site: Learn Ptc Creo 5 0 Pro E Basic To Advance Guide . October 28, 2020.
13. Web site: PTC Releases Windchill 12.
14. News: . Parametric Distributes Patch To Correct Flaw . December 24, 2003.
15. Web site: About PTC PTC . 2022-04-06 . www.ptc.com . en.
16. Web site: Windchill PDM & Process. 25 July 2012.
17. Web site: Windchill Product Analytics. 25 July 2012.
18. Web site: Windchill Quality Solutions. 11 July 2012.
19. Web site: CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 . accessdata.fda.gov . May 20, 2016.
20. Web site: Guidance for Industry- Q10 Pharmaceutical Quality System . fda.gov . August 29, 2016.
21. Web site: Windchill Service . 25 July 2012.
22. Web site: Windchill Collaboration. 25 July 2012.
23. Web site: Windchill Utilities. 25 July 2012.