Software giant PTC has significantly enhanced multi-Cad interoperability in its latest Creo upgrade .
Creo 3.0 was officially launched at the PTC global user conference in Boston this week.
Creo is PTC’s ap-based product lifecycle management solution.
Among other new functionality, the enhanced interoperability within the system and with third party systems was emphasized strongly as a key benefit to anyone who upgrades to Creo 3.0.
Michael Campbell, executive vice president CAD Segment at PTC told delegates that through new capabilities were a “breakthrough” and that the system now offers “outstanding multi-CAD interoperability”.
Creo 3.0 users can now import CAD data from third party CAD systems including all of PTC’s key competitors. Furthermore, it can convert file for export into those CAD formats and recognise when design changes are made in external CAD data which may impact the end product viability.
The enhanced functionality will be delivered via a new PTC technology called Unite. This has been developed in response to user survey results which show that over one third of PTC’s users also use other CAD systems within their organisations and that many are concerned about their ability to collaborate on product design and manufacturing planning with external partners.
Unite will support the consolidation and collaboration that users say they want according to PTC.
On a very practical level, another of the improvements in Creo 3.0 is the introduction of intelligent fasteners which Mr Campbell says will “be of real benefits to all our users”.
Two of PTC’s largest Creo users include defence technology manufacturer Raytheon and Toyota, the world’s largest car manufacturer by volume.
Both companies shared case studies around their use of PTC’s Creo platform at the Boston-based user conference.
Ratheon’s common PDM director David Slader told delegates that the ap-based solution for product lifecycle management was essential for Raytheon’s mission to “design anywhere, build anywhere, support anywhere” and its move to become and “parts-centric” organisation rather than document-centric.
Sharing his organisation’s journey in the successful implementation of Creo, resulting in cost efficiencies and better product and service performance, he told delegates that “it is not enough to say ‘if we build it, they will come”.
Return on investment will only be achieved with leadership, responsibility and vision he said, emphasizing that it was important to satisfy a highly capable team with the ability to hit deadlines for implementation and user buy-in.
Raytheon has 2,000 Creo users worldwide.
As a defence company, Raytheon has very high expectations of data security in its CAD and PLM systems and this is another area where Creo 3.0 has stepped forward according to Campbell.
“We know that there is a rising concern about the need to share but also protect data,” he said. “We also know that there needs to be a high level of usability in data protection,” – otherwise users will simply not access the capability.
Consequently, Creo 3.0 has new flexible access rights and the ability to host information from non-disclosure agreements within the Creo system.
Find out more about Creo 3.0 upgrades.
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