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BigLever Software and PTC Deliver PLE and PLM Integration Solution

The new bridge solution combines the synergistic benefits of PLE and PLM by allowing Windchill to work with BigLever’s Gears PLE Lifecycle Framework as part of the PLE Ecosystem.

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BigLever Software has partnered with PTC to deliver a new bridge solution that integrates PTC’s Windchill Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution with BigLever’s Gears PLE (product life engineering) Lifecycle Framework: the PTC Windchill/BigLever Software Gears Bridge.

“Organizations are struggling to manage the increasing demand for product sophistication and diversity, and the exponential complexity that this creates,” says Dr. Charles Krueger, BigLever Software CEO. “It’s critical that enterprises reduce this complexity by breaking down organizational barriers and operational silos. This partnership with PTC is a significant step forward for BigLever and the continued expansion of the PLE Ecosystem of integrated tools, which is a vital part of our holistic onePLE solution.The new bridge solution combines the synergistic benefits of PLE and PLM by allowing Windchill to work with BigLever’s Gears PLE Lifecycle Framework as part of the PLE Ecosystem — a community of tool providers established for organizations seeking consistent, compatible, unified PLE solutions. With the integration of PLE and PLM, organizations can increase the interoperability of tools, improve cross-functional alignment, and achieve new levels of efficiency in the production, delivery, maintenance and evolution of a product line.

How Feature-based PLE Works

Feature-based PLE allows organizations to establish a “single source of feature truth” for an entire product family, which reduces engineering and operational complexity by eliminating the need for multiple feature management mechanisms across multiple tools and functions. With Feature-based PLE, companies create a “Feature Catalog” for the product line, and a superset of digital assets (from all of the tools across the engineering and operations lifecycle) that is shared across the product line. Assets are assembled and configured, based on the features selected, to automatically produce all the products in the product line. When PLE and PLM are integrated, companies use a “Bill-of-Features” to determine materials — including mechanical, electrical, wiring, software, calibrations and more — rather than use a Bill-of-Materials (BOMs) to determine features. The Bill-of-Features becomes the specification for defining feature content and producing a product in the product line, rendered in terms of the specific features from the Feature Catalog that are selected to be included in that product.

The result is simplified and improved communication and alignment across the organization from portfolio planning to engineering, manufacturing, sales and service.

About the Bridge

As a member of the PLE Ecosystem, the new bridge solution allows PTC’s Windchill to operate efficiently and effectively as part of the unified PLE lifecycle toolsets. BigLever’s Gears PLE Lifecycle Framework provides the technology foundation for this ecosystem of PLE tool makers and integration solutions. Built on the PLE Bridge API, provided by Gears, the Windchill/Gears Bridge extends Windchill by making it “product line aware,” which ensures consistent PLE capabilities and enables the execution of PLE operations from within Windchill menus. Organizations can utilize Windchill BOMs as engineering assets in the Gears PLE Lifecycle Framework and Gears variation point constructs as mechanisms for managing product line diversity in Windchill BOMs.

For more info, visit PTC and BigLever Software.

Sources: Press materials received from the company.

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Digital Thread   PLM   Products   BigLever Software   Product Life Engineering   Product Lifecycle Management PLM   PTC   All topics
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