SofTech, Inc. News
ProductCenter™ Collaborative PDM Helps Kollsman Gain Time-to-Market Advantage
Faster Review and Approval, Improved Design Accessibility and Reuse with ProductCenter Enhances Kollsman's CompetitivenessBURLINGTON, Mass., September 9, 2002 — Workgroup Technology Corporation (WTC) (NASDAQ: WKGP), a leading provider of collaborative product data management (PDM) software solutions, today announced that Kollsman, Inc. is gaining time-to-market advantage through use of WTC's ProductCenter collaborative PDM solution. Since recently being deployed enterprise-wide at Kollsman, ProductCenter has delivered time-to-market advantages on several recent product development programs, including programs for Kollsman's advanced Enhanced Vision Systems, Digital Air Data Test Sets, and Digital Altimetry systems. In addition to the core ProductCenter PDM application, all three of these programs utilized WTC's ProductCenter™ Pro/Engineer Integrator, ProductCenter™ Workflow, and ProductCenter™ GenView add-on products.
"We've turned things around 180 degrees with ProductCenter," states Gregg Wilder, Kollsman manager of Design Engineering. "A major benefit I see is that with ProductCenter we can now very quickly generate new business proposals and new concepts based on existing models - that we're confident have design integrity. This has definitely improved our competitive advantage."
ProductCenter has been in use at Kollsman since 1996 and was recently extended to an enterprise-wide deployment as Kollsman's corporate standard. "When first evaluating PDM solutions, we needed a solution that would plug-and-play with our design tool of choice, Pro/Engineer®," recalls Wilder. "Comprehensive out-of-the-box capabilities were also very important. We chose ProductCenter for its ability to manage the more complex Pro/Engineer model hierarchy. Instead of initiating a long, costly consulting agreement, we were up and running with ProductCenter vaulting, revision/release control, and the WTC Pro/Engineer Integrator in just three weeks."
ProductCenter quickly allowed Kollsman to centralize, track, link, and to cost effectively reuse not just computer-aided design (CAD) files, but all related product data, including proposals, test procedures, manufacturing method sheets, and ISO procedures. It has also helped compress review cycles. Before implementing ProductCenter Workflow, approvals could take weeks or more. Review cycles have been compressed now to just days or less and are repeatable ECO after ECO with ProductCenter Workflow.
ProductCenter GenView facilitates the creation of viewable Adobe® PDF files of product data, allowing data to be accessed or printed from any computer platform, not just from the authoring application. "Today, over 120 people throughout Kollsman have secure, instant access to data through ProductCenter. They're able to retrieve convenient PDF viewables of whatever they need, when they need it, and be guaranteed it's the latest, correct revision," adds Wilder.
On the results achieved to date with ProductCenter Wilder comments, "ProductCenter has been in use at Kollsman since 1996 so, it's difficult to quantify the exact savings derived through its use. It is just a part of our normal operation. However, on our recent expansion of ProductCenter as the corporate-wide PDM standard, our MIS organization calculated that we recouped our investment in under one year."
ProductCenter Benefits to Kollsman:
- Automated design review processes through ProductCenter Workflow cuts design cycle times and accelerates release to manufacturing
- Maximized design data reuse improves cost competitiveness on major military programs
- Return on investment recouped in under one year on enterprise-wide deployment
Critical Pro/Engineer data consolidated, controlled, and maximized
For the full case study on Kollsman's use of ProductCenter, visit the WTC Web site at www.workgroup.com.
About Kollsman, Inc.
Kollsman, Inc., headquartered in Merrimack, NH, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of avionics flight instruments, electro-optical systems for aerospace and defense applications, and diagnostic medical instrumentation.
About Workgroup Technology Corporation
Workgroup Technology Corporation (WTC) develops, markets and supports ProductCenter™, a web-enabled, extended enterprise Collaborative Product Data Management (PDM) solution that provides document management, design integration, configuration control, change management, and enterprise integration for optimizing product development. Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, the company differentiates itself on the basis of its controlled and secure accessibility, enterprise integration, and quick adaptability of its software. Thousands of users at mid-sized and global companies are in production and benefit from WTC products, including ABB, Inc.; Eaton Corporation; FlightSafety International; General Electric Company; Goodrich Turbine Fuel Technologies; Honeywell; Millipore Corporation; Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.; U.S. Army; and Whirlpool Corporation. The company's Web site is located at www.workgroup.com.
WTC, the WTC logo, ProductCenter, myPDM, GenView and WebLink are trademarks or registered trademarks of Workgroup Technology Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other brands, logos, products or company names are the copyrights and/or trademarks of their respective holders.
