Digital acceleration heightens PTC’s expansion in UK and Ireland

Posted on 10 Dec 2020 by Tom Lane

One of the UK’s leading providers of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions is reporting a 25% increase in channel sales in 2020, with operational issues caused by Covid-19 accelerating the race for digital transformation.

Farnborough-based PTC® has seen strong growth across its portfolio, including its Industrial IoT platform, product lifecycle management and CAD solutions for design and manufacturing companies across all industries.

The company has also been driving the industrial use of Augmented Reality through its Vuforia® Expert Capture software, which allows processes to be recorded, edited in the cloud and then viewed in another location via wearable tech, such as Microsoft HoloLens.

Initially this was being used by companies to teach processes to new employees, but the solution delivered unique value during the start of the pandemic when PTC worked with the VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium to train hundreds of frontline workers to produce ventilators at various sites across the country.

This approach to rapidly building new Smiths and Penlon production lines enabled the successful delivery of over 13,000 ventilators to the NHS in just a few months.

“We are seeing phenomenal growth in the number of businesses embracing digitalisation, with many bringing forward projects in order to avoid situations seen earlier this year,” explained David Grammer, General Manager of UK and Ireland for PTC.

“What has gone from ‘general interest, but we’ll take action later’ has turned into ‘we want it now’, which has seen our integration teams implementing our IIoT platform and AR remote app to enable work to continue despite travel bans and social distancing restrictions.”

He continued: “Over the last twelve months, sales have risen 25% in the UK and Ireland and we expect the upward growth trend to continue as we work to turn this interest in digital technologies into operational and commercial benefits for our customers.”

Augmented Reality - Vuforia Expert Capture and Microsoft HoloLens Electronics (1) - image courtesy of PTC

PTC’s operational structure has been further boosted with the recent appointment of Troy K. Richardson as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

An accomplished enterprise technology executive, Richardson has more than three decades of sales and operational leadership and has helped drive rapid growth for some of the biggest brands in the software industry.

Richardson will lead the company’s operations teams, including global sales, commercial marketing, customer service and customer success.

Troy Richardson - PTC - DIGITAL
Troy Richardson – PTC

“I couldn’t be more excited to join at this important moment in the company’s history,” said Troy Richardson.

“PTC has an impressive roster of customers, a broad portfolio of innovative technologies and a strong management team. We are on the cusp of a new chapter in PTC’s remarkable history and I look forward to helping define it, including supporting continued growth in the UK and Ireland.

“These territories have extremely strong links with cutting-edge R&D and academic institutions and a solid footprint in engineering and manufacturing. We will continue to build these relationships, while further expanding our footprint in food and beverage and life sciences.”