CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

15 January 2009

Implementation Investments

Club Car Reduces Product Information Delivery Time by 25% Using Arbortext Software

PTC announced that Club Car, part of worldwide Ingersoll Rand and a manufacturer of golf cars, multi-passenger shuttles, off-road and rough-terrain utility vehicles is using the PTC® Arbortext® product information delivery software to streamline the creation and publishing process of its owner’s manuals, service manuals, and kit instructions. With Arbortext software, Club Car reduced delivery time by 25 percent and improved time-to-market for its new product delivery strategies. Arbortext software has also enabled Club Car to deliver required information in up to 18 languages to support the company strategy of expanding its global presence.

Club Car has worked with PTC since 2000 when the company first began using PTC Pro/ENGINEER® for 3D product design of its multi-function vehicles. Since that time, Club Car has added PTC Windchill® as its content and process management solution and PTC Arbortext IsoDraw® to create detailed technical illustrations from CAD data.

Rapid innovation and international customers combined to create a product information delivery challenge for Club Car. The company publishes hundreds of technical manuals each year. Several of these publications need to be translated and published in multiple languages. Club Car’s traditional publishing solutions could not keep pace with quickly changing products and increasing translation demands.

Club Car needed a product information authoring and delivery solution that would keep pace with its new product development and its expansion initiatives into international markets. To accomplish this, Club Car implemented Arbortext software to support the enterprise publishing process from creation through delivery. By automating the desktop publishing, Arbortext software allowed Club Car materials to be delivered in multiple languages without the need for manual reformatting of every document.

As a result, the cost per title that previously went toward reformatting translated documents was completely recouped resulting in a publications savings of over $100,000 per year and reducing the publishing cycle time for translated documents by 25 percent. Overall savings is projected to reach half a million dollars over the next several years.

“Arbortext transformed the way we publish our documents,” Jeff Kennedy, manager, Engineering Information and Systems, Club Car. “We are now able to move away from a manual, inefficient process of creating, translating and delivering our technical publications. Arbortext has enabled us to create an integrated system that ties Club Car products from initial design phase in Pro/ENGINEER to the final publications, and then through translation and international distribution. We are a much more efficient, customer-focused company using PTC solutions.”

“Arbortext enables organizations like Club Car to integrate product development programs with its publishing strategy to ensure that product information is available the same time a company’s new products are delivered to the market,” said Peter Velikin, director vertical marketing, PTC. “We look forward to continue working with Club Car as it moves toward enhancing its customer service strategy to include custom built-to-stock publications and an on-demand print solution for every customer.”

Become a member of the CIMdata PLM Community to receive your daily PLM news and much more.

Tell us what you think of the CIMdata Newsletter. Send your feedback.

CIMdata is committed to your privacy. Your personal information will never be sold or shared outside of CIMdata without your express permission.

Subscribe