An expanding global population, shrinking farm land, and environmental sustainability goals are driving farmers to grow record crops through innovative farming systems. PTC today announced that Great Plains Manufacturing is using PTC Creo and PTC Windchill to design and build the equipment that feeds the world by increasing crop yields.
Great Plains Manufacturing, one of the largest privately held manufacturers of farm equipment for the past 40 years, develops agricultural equipment for seedbed preparation, nutrient application, and seeding placement using the most recent, cutting-edge technology available.
The company standardized on PTC Creo for all stages of product development including concept, detailing, simulation, documentation and production. The tight integration of PTC Creo and PTC Windchill increased team productivity by maximizing component re-use across nine locations, including design engineers located in Sleaford, England. Great Plains Manufacturing is also bringing new products to market faster by enabling other teams such as manufacturing, marketing, and sales to view digital models earlier in the design process.
“For us at Great Plains, product innovation starts at the design stage. We innovate to stay ahead, because it's a very competitive business,” says Greg Arnett, engineering manager, Great Plains Manufacturing. “We invest heavily in engineering because we know how important it is to deliver great products for our customers. If innovation and quality are not built at the engineering stage, there’s nothing our manufacturing process can do to make that better. PTC solutions enable us to be stronger and more agile in the marketplace.”
Using PTC software, Great Plains Manufacturing delivered its largest grain drill – the 3S-5000 – three times faster than perviously able. Randy Jones, engineering system administration, Great Plains Manufacturing sums up the value of PTC Creo, “We’re designing products that we wouldn’t have dreamed of before PTC Creo. It’s not just a question of how much faster we are, it wouldn’t have been possible to design them at all.”
“Using PTC software, Great Plains Manufacturing drives value from the rich, complete 3D definition of its products and is able to design and deliver better equipment through stronger, more efficient manufacturing processes,” said Mike Campbell, executive vice president, CAD, PTC. “Great Plains is among the innovative companies that we work with helping to transform how products are created from concept through manufacturing, service and retirement. We enjoy working with them as they continue to design cutting-edge, innovative equipment to address the dynamic changes the farming industry is seeing.”
