CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
11 February 2008
Implementation Investments
Diamond Trading Company Deploys PTC® Product Development System
PTC announced that Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Research Center, based in the UK, has expanded its use of PTC solutions to include Windchill to better manage all product development data, improve change management processes and expand data accessibility across all departments. Part of the global De Beers Group, DTC designs and manufactures machines for sorting, weighing, authenticating and hallmarking diamonds. A long-standing Pro/ENGINEER® and Pro/INTRALINK® customer, DTC needed to expand the capabilities of its existing implementation to make more use of its product development data by sharing it across the enterprise. The objective was to gain greater control by implementing a single data platform with an auditable workflow driven change management process.
“Pro/INTRALINK was a great tool but we pushed the limits as we could only manage the data for the benefit of our mechanical engineers, but we were not able to use our powerful Pro/ENGINEER 3D product models outside the department,” said Philip Read, design office manager at the DTC Research Centre. “We wanted to make our valuable product development data available to the rest of the company so we moved from Pro/INTRALINK to Windchill. Now, whether someone is in manufacturing, assembling a product on the shop floor or in electronic engineering working on a PCB, they all have desktop access to the latest information via PTC ProductViewTM as part of the Windchill suite. We are getting a lot more value from of our work now.”
The DTC Research Centre is also using the PTC Product Development System to control its engineering change process. Products move through a three-stage process, from design through release-to-production change. Previously the company used a paper-based engineering change process. The Windchill automated workflow for change management offers significant business benefits, including the control of software releases during the development cycle.
Another major motivation to move to Windchill is its ability to manage non-CAD product data. Alongside Pro/ENGINEER data, DTC now also manages and controls all its electronic design data (ECAD) along with many other types of information such as test specifications, manuals and datasheets. Easy accessibility to complete, up-to-date and accurate product development information throughout the enterprise enables this information to be used in a wide range of situations right down to the shop-floor.
“PTC is committed to helping customers remove obstacles that impede product development success,” said Josh Fredberg, vice president product and market strategy, PTC. “Windchill provides a solution for managing complex product development data and enables effective collaboration, allowing companies like Diamond Trading to reap tangible business benefits for the entire company from their technology investment.”
About the Diamond Trading Company Research Centre
For over 20 years the Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Research Centre has been central to the development of the De Beers Group's expertise in gem diamond technologies. Employing around 100 specialist scientists, engineers and support staff, the DTC Research Centre is also part of a network of key strategic laboratories within the De Beers Group working closely with other Group laboratories in Southern Africa, consultants and diamond research departments in universities world-wide.
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