Hi Mike-
Yes, Arbortext would be a great way to go to get your catalogs generated
from your product data, especially since it sounds like you're already
using most of the PTC line of products (Pro/E and Windchill). Arbortext
can be directly integrated with Windchill to coordinate documentation
(including catalog information) with part data.
Arbortext comes with an editor that can be used to design documents (or
portions thereof). However, the real power of Arbortext is to
automatically generate content from your part data. If you have a
consistent format for catalog pages, and complete part data for the
parts that go into the catalog, the majority of effort in producing a
catalog can be automated. You will still need authors to create
descriptive text, and illustrators to create the images you need (though
even a lot of that can be extracted from CAD data if it's done right).
But with this kind of solution, your authors spend more time getting the
actual information content right and less time worrying about selecting
fonts, tweaking whitespace, and other such things that eat up time with
simpler tools like FrameMaker or Word.
With Arbortext Publishing Engine, you can produce a variety of outputs,
including PDF, HTML, Microsoft HTML Help, and Digital Media packages (a
kind of self-contained HTML-based delivery system that can be hosted
locally or run as a web application). You have a great deal of control
over the formatting of each output type via stylesheets. The corollary
is that you will need someone to develop stylesheets to give the
formatting you want. Arbortext Styler can ease the process of stylesheet
development, but it still takes some specialized skill, and might be
something you would want to have PTC or a third-party consultant help
you with. Generally, once the initial stylesheets are developed you
don't have to do much with them again, unless you change your mind about
the formatting you want, or you add something new to your data model.
Making minor adjustments to an existing stylesheet (e.g. making part
numbers in a table bold) is pretty easy using Styler.
Revision control would most likely be handled by Windchill. This is
usually done relative to source content rather than pages in the output,
but in your case it sounds like these things will map pretty directly,
so it should serve your purposes fine.
--Clay