In the rapidly evolving landscape of high-tech industries, companies are increasingly turning to innovative solutions to streamline their processes, enhance collaboration, and drive efficiency.
To show the breadth of what’s possible, we’re sharing four compelling examples of how leading high-tech companies have successfully navigated their digital transformation journeys. From overcoming product data management challenges to breaking down silos and enabling global collaboration, these stories highlight the transformative power of modern technology.
Driving efficiency with a part-centric approach to product development
iRobot, leading maker of robot vacuums and mops, faced significant challenges with managing product data due to their drawing-centric product development process. This approach led to inefficiencies and difficulties in maintaining accurate and up-to-date information across their design teams.
By implementing Windchill, PTC’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, iRobot transitioned to a part-centric development process. This change streamlined their design environment, improved collaboration, and significantly reduced design time. The PLM solution provided a common platform for the entire design team, enhancing data accuracy and accessibility.
Bigger machines, increased complexity necessitates shift in managing product data
HP is a leading global provider of software, technologies, and products with a rich history and tradition in manufacturing. Upon expanding its product portfolio to a Large Format Printing (LFP) and 3D printing segment, they quickly realized the complexity of these machines was a lot to manage. The manufacturer produces around 30 different models, based on seven different platforms that can have hundreds of SKUs.
On top of that, HP designers were managing more drawings and making changes more frequently and communicating critical information with their global manufacturing and supply chain partners through email and other manual efforts. The process left teams open to risk, product quality issues, and delays.
To optimize their design and manufacturing processes, they decided to implement a PLM solution to better manage product information, reduce human error, and improve quality by standardizing and digitizing processes and data management, and integrate product information into a single repository through a product-based digital thread.
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Learn MoreWith Windchill’s out-of-the-box functionality, HP gained strong data governance, traceability, and standardized processes, enabling quick value realization. Consistent data and a single source of truth improved collaboration across teams, leading to better product quality, process efficiency, and asset reusability.
These improvements resulted in saving nine weeks of development per program, reducing BOM change turnaround from one week to less than a day, and eliminating 95% of BOM errors. Additionally, standardizing and digitizing processes boosted quality, reduced re-releases, and cut time to release by 75%.
Managing complex requirements requires new standardizing on a single solution
A global leader in intelligent sensors and emitters ams OSRAM employs over 5,500 engineers, holds 15,000 patents, and has 20,000 employees worldwide. They design and build a mix of high-performance LEDs and lasers used in diverse automotive, industrial, medical, and consumer applications.
Consider that a single lighting solution may involve thousands of intelligent LEDs that must be connected and controlled—sometimes individually—in multiple usage scenarios. The complexity of specifying, verifying, and validating requirements across multiple overlapping solutions necessitates a structured systems engineering approach.
A few years ago, the siloed approach they had taken thus far, where different teams used different tools to manage complex requirements, began taking a toll on efficiency, speed, and quality. They needed a solution that not only could manage requirements but also capture variant management and test management.
After a rigorous review and selection process, ams OSRAM landed on Codebeamer, PTC’s application lifecycle management solution. The result has led to a streamlined and simplified product development process. The team relies on Codebeamer to manage stakeholder alignment and improve supplier management processes. In addition, the team now links requirements and test data to supporting processes, including change management and DFMEA (Design Failure Model and Effect Analysis), a process that helps engineers track and manage potential risks.
Overhauling siloed R&D systems enables scalability for future growth
Seagate, the leading global data storage company, had aging and siloed R&D systems that were holding them back from future growth and speed. With over 7,000 active users worldwide and over 30 million records to migrate, they needed a solution and partner to support this transformation and take their high-volume complex manufacturing to the next level.
Windchill PLM software has now become the backbone for an enterprise-wide digital thread—spanning geographies, lines of business, engineering disciplines, and functions (such as manufacturing, operations, finance, service, supply chain, materials, and more). The team emphasized Windchill’s out-of-the-box configurability with minimum customization to accelerate time to value and create a strong foundation for future expansion and consolidation. With this long-term strategy, they’ve been able to achieve key business objectives like increased productivity, agility, and product quality.
Final thoughts
These examples of digital transformation at high-tech companies underscore the diverse and distinct challenges these companies face. From iRobot's streamlined product development to HP's enhanced data governance, ams OSRAM's improved stakeholder alignment, and Seagate's scalable R&D systems, each case highlights the significant benefits of adopting advanced technologies. These transformations have not only driven efficiency and collaboration but also set the stage for sustained growth and innovation.
If your organization is facing similar challenges, now is the time to explore how PTC's solutions can help. Contact PTC today to discuss your unique needs and discover how we can support your digital transformation journey.
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