PLM Provides a Power Surge

p>Imagine a future in which wireless electricity makes everyday products more convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly. WiTricity Corp. is working to make this a reality — developing wireless electricity technology that will operate safely and efficiently over distances.

The company was founded in 2007 to commercialize a new technology for wireless electricity invented by world-renowned physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). With a growing list of global clients in industries including consumer electronics, automotive, medical devices and defense, WiTricity has emerged as a leader for Internet Protocol (IP) and expertise in highly resonant wireless power transfer.

Outgrowing the System

WiTricity was a typical start-up company, with a small team managing design information in Excel spreadsheets. Even with the minimal amount of data they were managing, they were experiencing the chaos of manual processes. Spreadsheet revisions were constantly changing, with no formal change control process or centralized repository location. It became obvious that they needed to replace their Excel spreadsheets with a more formal and controlled automated system.

When WiTricity began its search for a solution, the company was considering an entry-level parts management product primarily because it had a low price point. During their research, however, the WiTricity team learned that the parts management product had limited functionality and would not be adequate to meet their long-term needs.

Some of the team at WiTricity had experience with product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, and knew that this type of technology could resolve their need for centralized and automated product information management processes. Finding a PLM solution that was both affordable and scalable, though, proved to be a challenge.

Enter Omnify

While searching for products, WiTricity’s local Mentor Graphics software sales and services partner, Trilogic, proposed Omnify Empower PLM as a viable solution. Omnify Empower was ideal for a start-up company like WiTricity, because it offers a price that was competitive with the part management system, yet provided the full functionality and scalability WiTricity needed to meet its short- and long-term goals. In addition, Omnify Empower integrated with WiTricity’s existing engineering design environment, Mentor PADS Logic and their Microsoft Dynamics GP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

“As we started to evaluate solutions, we really wanted to find a product that could meet our needs as a small technology start-up and delivered the best value,” recalls Matt MacDonald, VP of engineering for WiTricity. “The Omnify Empower PLM solution was a perfect fit for us because it delivered functionality, scalability and a start-up friendly price tag.”

Omnify Empower PLM eliminated the need for WiTricity to have to transition from an entry-level product to a new, more robust system like Empower in the future. By implementing a PLM solution early on, WiTricity was able to adopt controlled processes for managing dynamic product information such as bills of materials (BOMs), engineering changes and product documentation, which would set the firm up for success as it grew.

Today, WiTricity uses Omnify Empower PLM integrated with its electrical and mechanical design tools, as well as its ERP system. The company also has its contractor securely log into Omnify Empower to access early product information, to build boards in a more efficient manner.

“We could not function without Empower PLM today, as it is an essential tool to make sure our electrical and mechanical design teams are in sync, and our engineering processes are controlled and efficient,” MacDonald says. “It truly meets our needs as a growing company. We have grown from just three users to about 20, and the product has scaled with us.”

With Omnify Empower in place, WiTricity is positioned to continue to effectively design products that are leading the global wireless power industry.

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• Omnify Software
• WiTricity Corp.