PTC to acquire leading SaaS Field Service Management Provider ServiceMax

Posted on 22 Nov 2022 by The Manufacturer

PTC has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ServiceMax for approximately $1.46 billion in cash on a debt-free, cash-free basis from an entity majority owned by Silver Lake.

ServiceMax is a recognised leader in cloud-native, product-centric field service management (FSM) software, with the acquisition expected to strengthen PTC’s closed-loop product lifecycle management (PLM) offerings by extending the digital thread of product information into downstream enterprise asset management (EAM) and FSM capabilities.

Subject to the satisfaction of regulatory approval and other applicable closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in early January 2023.

“The addition of ServiceMax will realise a key part of PTC’s closed-loop PLM strategy,” said Jim Heppelmann, President and CEO, PTC.

“The PLM capabilities PTC has long offered to engineering and manufacturing departments provide the system of record for the digital definition of any product configuration.

“ServiceMax will complement this by providing the system of record for monitoring and servicing product instances after they leave the factory and move into customer use. Upon completion of this acquisition, PTC will have the unique ability to

complement the full digital product definition from our computer-aided design (CAD) and PLM solutions with detailed usage information from our internet of things (IoT) solutions and the complete service history from ServiceMax.

“We are poised to be the only company that will be able to offer manufacturers this comprehensive view of their products at each stage of the lifecycle.”

“ServiceMax and PTC have a longstanding relationship rooted in the common profile of our customers, the natural synergies of our products, and a shared understanding of the importance of product data at different stages of the lifecycle,” said Neil Barua, CEO of ServiceMax.

“PTC has a strong and consistent track record of success, and now following the growth and innovation we’ve achieved during our partnership with Silver Lake, we’re excited for the ServiceMax team to strengthen the service offerings of PTC’s digital thread and closed-loop PLM portfolio.”

Partners since 2015, PTC and ServiceMax both support manufacturers of complex, highly configured products for the medical device, industrial products, aerospace, and related verticals. These manufacturers view field service as a strategic part of their businesses to maintain product performance, extend their products’ lifecycles, increase customer satisfaction, drive revenue growth, and expand profitability.

ServiceMax provides a comprehensive suite of cloud-native FSM capabilities built on the Salesforce platform. These capabilities include managing all relevant information about serviced products – product description, serial number, service history, and more – creating and managing work orders, and scheduling and dispatching technicians. ServiceMax’s FSM capabilities are also closely integrated with Salesforce’s customer relationship management (CRM) system, which bridges a deep understanding of the product with an equally deep understanding of the customer.

ServiceMax’s FSM capabilities will complement PTC’s entire digital thread portfolio: leveraging product definition data from PTC’s Creo® and Windchill® solutions, technical publishing capabilities from PTC’s Arbortext® software, service parts management capabilities from PTC’s Servigistics® software, IoT and digital twin capabilities from PTC’s ThingWorx® solutions, and augmented reality (AR) capabilities from PTC’s Vuforia® software.

For example, by remotely monitoring connected products with ThingWorx, customers could proactively detect service needs and automatically generate service orders in ServiceMax. Service technicians could leverage 2D work instructions from Arbortext or 3D AR work instructions created in Vuforia that are derived from the product’s digital product definition information created in Creo and managed in Windchill. Technicians could also leverage a more detailed understanding of service activities to better optimise spare parts inventory with Servigistics.

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