Why customers use PTC Windchill PDMLink to manage PTC Creo data instead of SAP PLM?

[VladimirPalffy]

Why customers use PTC Windchill PDMLink to manage PTC Creo data instead of SAP PLM?

Read this article:

What about your experiences with PLM implementation?

I wait for your ideas and responses ... share your knowledge with other designers, thanks.

Refards,

Vladimir

[dschenken]

My experience has been that Finance has no need for controlling CAD data and selects tools like SAP for their own needs. Once that happens there is little room for Windchill outside of CAD data management; it's an extra expense that does not benefit Finance, which is charged with controlling budgets and is disinclined to spend money on a solution they don't use. OTOH, there are companies with little CAD integration (5 guys use SW, some use NX, a few use AutoCAD; no clear winner) that will be driven by Finance to go with an SAP compatible solution.

I went through this years ago with Sherpa as a PDM/PLM provider. It offered the Doc management folks an easy interface when PTC didn't, so they bought that and promised that Sherpa had Pro/E integration. My one attempt was to add a single instance to a family table and check it in. It was 5 hours from the time I said check-in until Sherpa put up a requester that it noticed there was a new instance (of about 50,) asking if it should proceed. I clicked OK and went home. It finished 6 hours later and that was the last time I put anything in there.

The company kept Sherpa, but ended up with the original Intralink (not the weak Windchill one) for CAD PLM.

[ChrisPLM · Accepted solution]

Hello

back in 2012, I have been asked to evaluate Windchill vs SAP PLM.

We had PDMLink already live at a few sites and made great progressed into standardising on ProEngineer. We develop modelling methodology using inheritance, 3D annotations, flexible features, family table etc...

SAP was being implemented worldwide as our group ERP. A new director thought that it would be a good idea to consolidate on SAP PLM. The main reason was to avoid an integration between Windchill and SAP. It made sense on "paper",  If you have SAP ERP and SAP PLM, then you have SAP....

It took me about 6 months to draw my conclusion.

The short story is that we stayed with Windchill.

Among reasons:

SAP PLM has very poor integration with ProE/Creo.

You still need to integrate SAP PLM with SAP ERP. So technically you have at least the same effort

SAP PLM is an empty box with no OOTB useable processes.

Very complex and expensive to configure to make it work.

There are of course more reasons but I think they are the key ones.

In other words. Keep away from SAP PLM especially if you have CAD to manage.

Best regards

[VladimirPalffy]

Hi Folks, thanks for your story about Windchill vs. SAP PLM implementation.

If you have any other great Windchill story, leave it here - help other with they decisions.

Thank you, I really appreciate it,

Vladimir

[ChrisPLM]

You are welcome Vladimir

and what about your own experience.

Maybe you want to contribute to this discussion

Windchill vs competition

Thanks

[ChrisPLM]

Hello VladimirPalffy

so what about your own experience ?

Best regards

[VladimirPalffy]

Hi Chris,

sorry for my delay - my late replay... I was on business trip and little bit busy ... but never mind - I do not forgot on you: I've added my success story to the discussion

- Re: Windchill vs competition

Have a nice day,

Vladimir