Windchill was originally developed by Windchill Technology Inc., which was co-founded by Jim Heppelmann, the current President and CEO of PTC. When PTC acquired Windchill Technology, Heppelmann joined the company as senior vice president. Windchill first launched in 1998 and was promoted as the first to market with an internet based PLM solution. In 2001, Windchill ProjectLink launched as a solution for project collaboration and in 2002, Windchill PDMLink launched as a solution for product data management.
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Market
The Windchill user base ranges from individuals to large corporations. Most customers are in the following manufacturing market segments: Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Electronics & High-Tech, Industrial Products, Medical Devices, Retail, Footwear & Apparel. Commercial sales are made through a combination of a direct sales force as well as an indirect sale channel. Directly competitive products to Windchill include Empower PLM by Omnify, Teamcenter by Siemens, ENOVIA by Dassault Systèmes and Agile by Oracle.
Products
PDM & Process
Windchill ProjectLink – Web-based project collaboration across product development.
FlexPLM – A PLM solution for retail, footwear & apparel and consumer product companies.
Windchill PDMLink – A web-based master product data management repository that also helps teams manage critical processes such as change/configuration management, and detailed design.
Arbortext Content Manager – helps control content creation, collaboration, management and publishing processes as they relate to technical product and service information.
Windchill PPMLink – Provides Program Portfolio Management capabilities to discrete manufacturers.
Requirements Management – A combination of PTC’s Integrity product and Windchill PDMLink to manage product software and hardware requirements.
Product Analytics
Windchill Compliance – Tracks and manages product compliance throughout the product lifecycle.
Windchill Materials & Substances – Integrates with existing enterprise systems to provide materials and substances in products based on an accurate BOM.
Windchill Cost – Provides real-time product cost estimates and analysis.//Phani
Windchill LCA – Allows manufacturers to use LCA data to quantify the environmental impact of products over their entire lifecycle.
Windchill Service Information Manager – Helps organize and manage service information to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Windchill Service Parts – Uses engineering CAD data to define spare parts information.
Collaboration
Windchill SocialLink – Combines social computing with product data from Windchill to create product and practice collaboration environments for product teams.
Windchill Mobile – Provides instant access to PTC’s Windchill from an iPad or iPhone.
Utilities
Windchill Archive – An optional module that automatically purges unnecessary information by archiving it into long-term storage.
Windchill Print Service – Assists in printing Windchill content throughout the enterprise.
Windchill Reporting –Develops and distributes reports across the enterprise.
Windchill Interference Management Services – Identifies clashes between components in the design stage to resolve problems.