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60% of Your Quality Problems Started in Engineering. Your QMS Is Looking in the Wrong Place.

Quality issues that reach production cost 10 times more to fix than those caught at the design stage. When your engineering data is fragmented across disconnected systems, design flaws pass the handoff undetected, and your quality team spends its time fighting fires that started upstream. PTC connects your PLM, ALM, simulation, and field service data in one portfolio, so your engineers catch issues before production commences.

Industrial Quality Challenges The Impact of Improved Quality The Cost of Poor Quality Customer Success Stories Solutions Resources
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Industrial challenges necessitating improved quality

When your engineering, manufacturing, and service teams work from disconnected data, design decisions made in CAD (computer aided design) create tolerance mismatches that only show up on the assembly line. Requirement gaps that were never traced to test coverage create compliance exposures that only surface during audit. Field failure patterns that your service team sees every week never reach the engineering team making decisions about the next product revision.

The companies that are pulling ahead on quality are not running better inspection programs. They are preventing defects at the design stage, before any of these issues arise.

The impact of improved quality

A heightened focus on quality boosts customer satisfaction and market share through reliable performance. This emphasis creates a stronger reputation, higher uptime, and a clear competitive advantage.

A heightened focus on quality boosts customer satisfaction and market share through reliable performance. This emphasis creates a stronger reputation, higher uptime, and a clear competitive advantage.

93% of Manufacturers

Reported data trapped in siloed systems, a challenge that leads to duplicated efforts and late-stage firefighting.

Reported data trapped in siloed systems, a challenge that leads to duplicated efforts and late-stage firefighting. Read More

60% of quality issues

Are introduced by design choices made in engineering, that introduce issues to manufacturing, operations and service of these products.

Are introduced by design choices made in engineering, that introduce issues to manufacturing, operations and service of these products.

ABI Research Named PTC

An outright leader in enterprise PLM for large manufacturing - the only vendor above the leader tier in the 2024 assessment.

An outright leader in enterprise PLM for large manufacturing - the only vendor above the leader tier in the 2024 assessment. Learn More

The cost of poor quality

A quality issue that your design team misses costs roughly ten times more to fix in production than it would have at the design stage. A defect that reaches your customer costs ten times more again.

That makes every siloed engineering tool a financial risk. When your CAD, your PLM, your ALM, and your quality management system are separate platforms maintained by separate vendors, design issues fall through the gaps And when those issues reach the field, the cost stops being a quality budget problem and becomes a warranty liability.

How PTC drives quality for industrial manufacturers


PTC is the only portfolio connecting a customer requirement to a field repair event in a single vendor relationship without stitching together four separate platform contracts.

Your FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis) and CAPA (corrective and preventative action) processes run in the same system as your engineering change management, not through an integration job between your PLM and a standalone QMS. When a design changes in Windchill, quality planning is automatically in scope. No sync job. No reconciliation problem.

Your design engineers validate performance in real time, inside Creo, using Ansys-powered GPU (graphic processing unit)-accelerated simulation without exporting geometry to a separate simulation environment. They do not need to be simulation specialists. They need to make quality-informed geometry decisions at the moment of design.

Your requirements, risks, tests, and compliance evidence are governed by Codebeamer and traced bi-directionally to the Windchill product record. A change in hardware design automatically flags the impact on software requirements. An audit-ready compliance thread is built as the product is developed, not assembled after the fact.

And when your product is in the field, ServiceMax captures the failure data your technicians encounter and feeds it directly into Windchill, so your engineering team can see aggregate field failure patterns and apply them to the next product revision. Your service operations make your next product more reliable.

PTC’s quality solutions

Windchill Product Lifecycle Management

Your FMEA, CAPA, and non-conformance processes run in the same platform as your BOM, change management, and configuration control. When a design changes, quality planning is automatically in scope because they share the same product record. No separate QMS. No integration middleware. No quality data that lags two days behind the engineering system.

Your FMEA, CAPA, and non-conformance processes run in the same platform as your BOM, change management, and configuration control. When a design changes, quality planning is automatically in scope because they share the same product record. No separate QMS. No integration middleware. No quality data that lags two days behind the engineering system. Explore Windchill

Requirements, Test & Validation Software with Application lifecycle Management

Your product line has dozens of variants. Every one of them has its own requirements, its own compliance thread, and its own test coverage. Codebeamer governs requirements, risks, tests, and compliance. Pure Variants controls variability across software, systems, and hardware. Together, they give you a full requirement-to-BOM-variant traceability chain in one portfolio, the only one of its kind available from a single vendor.

Your product line has dozens of variants. Every one of them has its own requirements, its own compliance thread, and its own test coverage. Codebeamer governs requirements, risks, tests, and compliance. Pure Variants controls variability across software, systems, and hardware. Together, they give you a full requirement-to-BOM-variant traceability chain in one portfolio, the only one of its kind available from a single vendor. Explore Codebeamer

Creo Computer Aided Design

Your design engineers do not need to be simulation specialists to make quality-informed decisions. Creo Simulation Live puts Ansys-powered GPU-accelerated analysis inside the Creo modelling environment running on the native geometry, in real time, as the model is being built. They catch structural issues, interference problems, and tolerance risks at the moment of design decisions.

Your design engineers do not need to be simulation specialists to make quality-informed decisions. Creo Simulation Live puts Ansys-powered GPU-accelerated analysis inside the Creo modelling environment running on the native geometry, in real time, as the model is being built. They catch structural issues, interference problems, and tolerance risks at the moment of design decisions. Explore Creo

ServiceMax Service Lifecycle Management

Your technicians' field repair reports are engineering intelligence if your systems are connected. ServiceMax captures structured failure data and routes it into Windchill, where your engineers can identify aggregate failure patterns across the installed base, prioritize root cause analysis, and apply findings to the next product revision. Your service operations become your most accurate product improvement feedback loop.

Your technicians' field repair reports are engineering intelligence if your systems are connected. ServiceMax captures structured failure data and routes it into Windchill, where your engineers can identify aggregate failure patterns across the installed base, prioritize root cause analysis, and apply findings to the next product revision. Your service operations become your most accurate product improvement feedback loop. Explore ServiceMax

Customer success stories

Innovator Spotlight: Volvo Construction Equipment

After implementing Windchill technology from PTC, Volvo CE achieved a 30% reduction in Cost of Poor Quality (COPC) and cut the number of late engineering loopbacks that were delaying product development. For heavy equipment OEMs with razor-thin margins, that is a direct impact on profitability, not just an IT improvement.

Producing with Quality: Nidec Global Appliance

Nidec reduced costs for non-quality deliverables by 40% after unifying global product data in Windchill. With operations across multiple countries and manufacturing sites, Nidec needed a single product record that every site could work from. The outcome: fewer defects, lower rework costs, and a cleaner handoff between engineering and manufacturing.

Success Metrics Driven by PLM: Vaillant Group

28% faster change implementation. 53% improvement in first-pass sample approval. 16% reduction in rework. Three separate quality metrics, all from one Windchill implementation. For a precision heating equipment manufacturer, faster change management is not just an engineering efficiency gain; it is a quality outcome.

Innovator Spotlight: Volvo Construction Equipment After implementing Windchill technology from PTC, Volvo CE achieved a 30% reduction in Cost of Poor Quality (COPC) and cut the number of late engineering loopbacks that were delaying product development. For heavy equipment OEMs with razor-thin margins, that is a direct impact on profitability, not just an IT improvement. Producing with Quality: Nidec Global Appliance Nidec reduced costs for non-quality deliverables by 40% after unifying global product data in Windchill. With operations across multiple countries and manufacturing sites, Nidec needed a single product record that every site could work from. The outcome: fewer defects, lower rework costs, and a cleaner handoff between engineering and manufacturing. Success Metrics Driven by PLM: Vaillant Group 28% faster change implementation. 53% improvement in first-pass sample approval. 16% reduction in rework. Three separate quality metrics, all from one Windchill implementation. For a precision heating equipment manufacturer, faster change management is not just an engineering efficiency gain; it is a quality outcome.

What changes when your product data starts being a quality asset

Having a PLM that’s cloud-based has enabled collaboration within Welbilt even if they’re not in the same building as us. Employees could even access live updates from across the entire design team.

Justin Baker, Engineering Technologist IV at Frymaster

Read Their Story

Learn more about quality with PTC



How Engineering Can Be Your Quality Game-Changer

Most quality issues start in engineering. Learn how leading manufacturers design quality upstream to reduce risk, control costs, and accelerate time to market.

/en/resources/industrials/ebook/engineering-quality-game-changer

How to Reduce Cost of Poor Quality

An overview of how to calculate and address the cost of poor quality for your organization.

/en/blogs/plm/how-to-reduce-cost-of-poor-quality

Shifting Left: How Engineering Drives Quality and Reduces Costs

Discover how a proactive approach to quality management in the design phase can significantly reduce costs, accelerate time-to-market, and boost operational efficiency.

/en/resources/industrials/ebook/shifting-left-engineering-quality-costs

Connect with our industrial's experts

Our dedicated industrials team brings decades of industry expertise to help you accelerate your digital transformation journey and achieve quality excellence.

Dr. Florian Harzenetter

Senior Director and Global Advisor, Industrials

Dr. Florian Harzenetter on LinkedIn

Dr. Florian Harzenetter is the Senior Director and Global Advisor for Industrial customers at PTC. In this role, Florian identifies the specific needs of customers and helps align their roadmaps and strategies to ensure successful adoption of PTC technologies. From this perspective, he also helps to align PTC's offerings with customers' needs.

Today, Florian serves as a global expert representing the voice of the customer in the PLM product segments and developing thought leadership for Industrial customers.

Mike Marshall

Director of Growth Marketing, Industrials

Mike Marshall on LinkedIn

Mike Marshall is a Director of Growth Marketing for Industrials, where he leads campaigns and content designed to help industrial organizations drive efficiency, quality, and measurable business impact. He works closely with cross-functional teams to translate complex industry challenges into clear, actionable insights for executives and practitioners alike. If you have any questions about this content or want to learn more about upcoming events, you’re encouraged to contact Mike directly.

Alyanna Ilyadis

Senior Principal Industry Marketing Manager, Industrials

Alyanna Ilyadis on LinkedIn

Alyanna Ilyadis is a Senior Industry Marketing Manager at PTC, where she develops messaging and positioning that connects PTC's software solutions to the business outcomes industrial leaders care about most. She translates market trends and technical capabilities into value-based insights for executives, helping industrial organizations turn technology into a driver of growth and operational excellence. If you have questions about PTC's industry strategy or solutions, you're encouraged to contact Alyanna directly.