PTC/ USER Community Networking

Augmented reality is rapidly moving from science fiction into reality. In this session the presenter discussed the potential future of augmented reality using 3D models and how it can help support design, manufacturing, operations, and service processes in the office and in the field. This session was a contemplation about the future of augmented reality and not directly associated with any existing software product.

This was a fun interactive session on tips and tricks in Creo Parametric 3.0. In game show fashion attendees answered questions while learning about tips, tricks, and what’s new in Creo Parametric 3.0. Topics covered included general usability down to new advanced features. Attendees were challenged to test their knowledge to see if they have what it takes to call themselves  a Creo Engineer.

Here is the updated presentation file with all the answers and questions for "Who wants to be a PTC Creo Engineer". If anyone is interested in the actual presentation file with the macros to make the "gameshow" work for use at your company let me know and I'll upload it as well.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s largest producer and manufacturer of wind turbines, used Excel to run tolerance analyses combined with some trial and error on the prototypes for a new design. During one final test before shipping the first unit to the field they realized that the spinner at the center of the blades was colliding with the fixed nacelle. The required gap in the design wasn’t there in the actual assembly. What would they do? What would be most effective in terms of cost and time? Would they change the design - an engineering change could cost 5000€ just for the paperwork? Before understanding the cause of the problem one consideration was making adjustments at the time of final assembly in the field. Before changing anything, though, they used CETOL integrated within Creo to understand the true cause of the problem and explore better alternatives for resolution. Attendees learned how Vestas explored both manufacturing and design alternatives to enable them to solve t

Most companies live in a multi-CAD world. Whether you have a mix of internal CAD tools, or you are collaborating with vendors or suppliers using other CAD tools, you need an environment that minimizes disruption, and provides accurate, high value CAD data when and where you need it. The optimal solution is different depending on your needs. Sometimes a STEP file is sufficient. If STEP is not enough, Creo’s Unite Technology and Flexible Modeling capabilities may meet your needs. If your requirements dictate that you must have a native, parametric model in Creo, or that you provide native, parametric data and associative drawings to a customer or supplier in another CAD format, manual re-modeling is not your only option. This session covered some useful tips and technology that can help you operate as efficiently as possible in a multi-CAD environment.

Automating product and processes may reduce effort to launch or change a product configuration by up to 70%. The presenter discuss a proven high-level vision that provides a connected product development eco-system, while providing clarity through an enterprise dashboard. This resolves the issues of everything being manual, lack of executive visibility, fragmented systems, and lack of global infrastructure.

This session answered the question of “What are Things and how do I best use them?” by using the example of implementation and delving into the relationship of application requirements and ThingWorx constructs. Other questions addressed included: How to design the model for maximum re-usability? How do I encapsulate business logic and asset definitions to make the model as easy to maintain as possible? How do I plan for extensibility of the model?  When do I use a ThingShape versus a ThingTemplate? What is the difference between a data entry versus a Thing?

Products are evolving from “things” you ship to extended, connected experiences for your customers. Manufacturers must ratchet up their ability to envision and build new business models to navigate the shift to a new product-service continuum--where products evolve from disconnected, isolated pieces of hardware to encompass a services catalog and a “products as-a-service” model. Designing the “art of the possible” requires manufacturers to understand their end-to-end products’ lifecycles and ecosystems. So, how do you define the ecosystem of your product portfolio? How do you and your customer’s interact with each product throughout their lifecycle? How do your products interact with the rest of the world? Progressive manufacturers and producers of goods and services, like Sealed Air, are using new digital strategies to operate their businesses differently. They are entering the “as-a-service” economy with smart, connected products. For companies that want to learn how to transform the

The focus of this session was for attendees to learn more about PTC's Strategy and Solutions to accelerate the "factory of the future" and "Industry 4.0" initiatives.

Aircraft manufacturing requires the highest standards for quality and operational excellence. In this session, Thomas Bachellerie, Geometric Client Partner for Aerospace & Defense, Senior PLM Consultant, working for a leading aerospace manufacturer, shared a solution being piloted to resolve the link from digital model to shop floor operations, supporting a Right-First-Time approach. More specifically, Mr. Bachellerie reviewed a ThingWorx-based case-study where the Product Definition (Design) is automatically consumed to drive the Production Execution (Manufacturing Shop floor) and quality assurance processes.

Machine Learning helps us to make sense of data in multiple ways, from correlation to prediction of future data. One such application is the space of Augmented Reality where the real world data is over laid with augmented information. Together Machine Learning and Augmented Reality bring an entirely new perspective on how we interpret our world. This session introduces and explores the Machine Learning and Augmented Reality areas and finally, describes an example road map of adoption.

This session described how to drive productivity improvements in digital product development through intelligent Creo automated applications. The presenters described various projects related to Creo custom tools and process improvement application development based on Pro/Toolkit. The focus of the presentation was on the following  initiatives: Digital Quality Validation Tool; Digital Design Application in Creo and Driving Knowledge Based Engineering through Creo Integrated Mathcad Solutions.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies in the retail space can provide exciting new buying experiences for consumers and make product development tasks easier. Attendees at this session heard PTC’s perspective on potential use cases for leveraging these technologies and how they can applied.

The presenter shared how IoT technology can help you, as a retailer or brand owner, connect with consumers and your supply chain better. This connectivity can yield insights into consumer buying decisions, and provide supply chain visibility you’ve never had before. Both types of insights can lead to better assortments and designs, ultimately driving your top and bottom lines.

The presenter shared the new capabilities within the Windchill FlexPLM v11 release. The presenter demonstrated v11 features, reviewed the upgrade process, discuss architectural changes that allow customers to understand how the IoT technology supports Windchill FlexPLM v11.

The presenter gave an update on PTC’s roadmap for its retail solutions. The session discuss both near-term and long-term objectives of the retail roadmap, along with the capabilities that address these goals.

The presenters discuss Home Depot PLM journey and shared how they did this by establishing a business case, creating the appropriate team, setting the appropriate scope, deploying base functionality, created stability before they expanded the footprint.

HMS discussed how to position IoT technology to win over the operational technology (OT) teams.  Concrete examples were provided including several strategies for extracting accurate data from automated and semi-automated industrial systems without impacting the performance of the system.

People, process and technology are all vital linchpins in the establishment of a working system. Adoption is a commonly neglected topic, time is spent on process and technology. Organizational Change Management (OCM) is the practice of managing change and improving adoption in the organization.  In the session, Javier Cubero, a Systems Engineering Architect at KPIT discussed the importance of OCM to a productive system.

Attendees at this session learned how PTC Navigate Custom Apps can be used in their company to streamline business system connectivity and Windchill Object Creation.  The presenter reviewed how real world use cases were used to reduce development time, training, validation, deployment and management overhead for current business processes.

A strong foundation in software engineering accelerated EPAM's growth in technology solutions. An additional focus on verticals created an opportunity to accelerate growth and focus on the Product Development Market from 2012 through 2015. In the session, the presenter shared how EPAM has become a digital orchestrator, combining the agility, innovation, expertise, and overall design sense of a digital agency with the ability to develop innovative business models and the capabilities to modernize infrastructure, back-office systems, and databases to make business processes more efficient.

This session discussed the main benefits of Active Directoy Integration Extension - Extension provides true active directory integration by inheriting Active Directory (AD) user group details and querying domain controllers. This means each organization’s AD is the authority for governance of user access to ThingWorx. This alleviates having to maintain users in both ThingWorx and AD.  Therefore, AD becomes the system of record for user group membership. This extension creates an AD user automatically, if they belong to a connected AD group that has been properly configured as a ThingWorx group inside of ThingWorx.  This complete integration insures users who no longer belong to a group in the connected AD will be removed from that corresponding group in ThingWorx – automatically!

To support fast and easy development of IoT solutions, Bosch Software Innovations – the software and system house of the Bosch group – and ThingWorx teamed up to deliver a joint offering in order to address the real-world challenges of IoT solution development. The joint technology stack allows the integration of smart, connected products with cross-sector enterprise processes. The technical interplay between ThingWorx and Bosch IoT Suite enables IoT developers to connect and control heterogeneous devices and systems, cost-effectively and rapidly develop IoT applications for complex IT landscapes, and easily and quickly adjust IoT solutions to the specific needs of individual companies and sectors. The joint offering has already been successfully tested in different projects – some of which were shared this session.

Cummins Inc. recently transitioned four of its business units to Windchill PDMLink 10.2 for CAD Data Management. The previous Enovia solution had been in place for well over ten years, and was deeply entrenched in all aspects of the business process and user knowledge/expectations. Critical factors shaping the implementation scope included 1,500 users at over fifty global locations, simultaneous implementation for all users/locations, high level of change in both tools and processes, and limited time/resources for end user training. Based on these and many other project constraints, a strategy was adopted to engage many key users for multiple overview, evaluation, and validation sessions alongside regular communications to the whole user base far in advance of end user training. In addition to improving the quality of the training approach and material, when the end user training sessions were conducted just prior to implementation, over 10% of the user base had already received that a

Devices continue to become smarter “at the edge” containing more sensors combined with increasing connectivity options. These technology convergences create new emerging IoT/M2M opportunities and the transformation of legacy technologies.  End users demand access to these technologies in an easy to buy easy to use experience.  This session discussed why enterprise and solution providers must plan on these trends and provided an  “easy button” on global connectivity and a way to monetize these offerings to satisfy the demands of customers.