Windchill+ SaaS PLM

Enjoy 100% of the capabilities of Windchill, plus new value enabled through software as a service (SaaS).

What is SaaS PLM software?

SaaS PLM software takes traditional enterprise PLM with its comprehensive capabilities and optimizes it with all the benefits of cloud computing and services. Users of SaaS PLM enjoy the same configurable workflows, change management processes, and BOM capabilities, alongside zero downtime upgrades, frictionless adoption of new modules, and built-in security. Windchill+ is the first of its kind: a feature rich PLM solution delivered entirely as a service for improved multi-enterprise collaboration and a fully connected digital thread.

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Future of SaaS PLM: Delivering Industries’ Most Sought-After Goals

IDC forecasts a surge in adoption of SaaS PLM over the next few years driven by its unique ability to digitally transform product development and manufacturing processes. Businesses are relying on SaaS to redefine the customer experience and accelerate the creation of innovative products with a more agile, secure way of working. In this InfoBrief, IDC supports these and other claims with recent research, including global surveys on product innovation, SaaS adoption, success factors, and outcomes.


“SaaS PLM is the key to product development in a disrupted, global economy—it simplifies collaboration and streamlines information to improve design, manufacturing, and support processes.”

– IDC



Advantages of SaaS PLM Software

The best way to describe the sum impact of SaaS PLM software is “speed”. Feature rich PLM delivered as SaaS offers many benefits beyond the capacity of traditional PLM software architectures and deployments. These benefits add value to users, administrators, and projects across engineering domains, divisions, suppliers, customers, and regulators. Windchill+ simplifies and accelerates business, administrative, and functional processes, leading to faster time-to-market, greater innovation, and improved quality.

 

Accelerated Time-to-Capability

Accelerated Time-to-Capability

With a few clicks you can expand functionality to meet shifting needs or adopt new features to explore opportunities. Zero downtime upgrades mean software deployment will never again interfere with innovation.

Embedded Best Practices

Embedded Best Practices

Replace tangled customization with out-of-the-box features and extensive configurability. With built-in best practices and standards, you’ll spend less time validating software and integrations and more time designing and creating value.

Ready-to-go Day One

Ready-to-go Day One

Eliminate system configuration challenges leveraging a full stack offering with a secure, established infrastructure that is always on the latest version. Increase user and capability adoption and expansion to save time, money, and reduce risk.



Windchill+

Introducing Windchill+

In the 2000’s, PTC redefined enterprise collaboration with Windchill PLM. This groundbreaking software introduced new levels of connectivity and integration, out-of-the-box functionality, an optimized user experience, and the potential to enable collaboration across global teams. Now PTC is revolutionizing collaboration again with Windchill+, which delivers all the convenience of SaaS today, while laying the groundwork for future innovation across the digital thread.

Windchill+ Product Brief

PLM cloud Azure

PTC and Microsoft

Windchill+ on Microsoft Azure offers a modern PLM infrastructure that enhances real-time information sharing, dynamic data visualization, and the ability to securely collaborate. This e-book explores why manufacturers are turning to SaaS PLM to overcome key digital transformation challenges and the benefits of Windchill+ on Azure.

Read the E-book

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Success with SaaS PLM Software: Top Windchill+ Features

As part of PTC’s digital thread SaaS portfolio, Windchill+ offers the benefits of Windchill, plus award winning improvements that can’t be matched by traditional PLM systems.

Same Windchill Codebase
Full Stack Service
Open Architecture
Collaboration with Customers, Suppliers, Regulators
Ease of Administration
Zero Downtime Upgrades
Security by Design
Windchill+ shares the same codebase as Windchill, with all its award-winning features, functions, and ease-of-use. Rapidly expand users with capabilities such as enterprise change and configuration management, manufacturing engineering, MBSE/MBE, quality, risk, and compliance management, requirements and validation, and more.
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IT teams can rest assured that moving from an on-premises PLM solution won’t compromise performance or stability, in fact, it improves it. Windchill+ offers frictionless provisioning and on-boarding, SSO support, on-demand transparent back-up and restore, decreased bug resolution time, and is always on the latest version with real-time product upgrades.
ease-of-admin
Enable secure interoperability across heterogeneous systems and applications with standards-based integration & data flow (OSLC, REST, STEP, etc.) to reduce the risk of unexpected third-party costs and challenges.
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Rapidly and securely onboard users outside of your firewall. Access permissions for suppliers, customers, or regulators can be spun up quickly and users can immediately login and add value from anywhere, anytime—regardless of their geography.
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Utilize a combination of automated tools, streamlined self-service capabilities, and subsumption of many administrative tasks. Simplify or eliminate deployments and updates, vaulting, cloning/re-hosting, change management, security, and more.
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With Windchill+, upgrades and updates no longer require lengthy and complex implementation processes. Zero downtime upgrades that are always compatible with your Windchill+ instance means you always have access to the most recent cutting-edge capabilities and quality of life improvements. With PTC handling these product enhancements, your administrators and users can focus on adding value.
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For organizations concerned about protecting their IT infrastructure and IP assets, Windchill+ provides integrated, full-stack IP protection. PTC presents world-class security including certifications, compliance, audit, pen testing, and environment scanning. IT teams can rest easy knowing that their PLM assets and IP become more secure under Windchill+.
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Customer Successes

Zamil

Zamil Industrial, a leading business group that develops engineering solutions for the construction industry, is now more agile and collaborative thanks to Windchill+.

Read the Case Study

Balluff

See how Balluff uses Windchill+ to achieve modern, collaborative, and secure product development.

Watch the Video

U.S. Navy

To modernize its acquisition and logistic support IT infrastructure the U.S. Navy selected Windchill in the cloud as the PLM backbone of it’s Model Based Product Support (MPBS) program.

Learn More

Cellcentric

Hear how SaaS PLM is helping Cellcentric accelerate enterprise product development maturity and adoption, as well as supplier and partner collaboration.

Watch the Webinar

Welbilt

Welbilt leverages Windchill in the cloud as the foundation for “mass customization,” embracing product diversity and collaboration to accelerate time-to-industrialization and time-to-market.

Read the Case Study

Enersys

To meet shifting demands and rising complexities, EnerSys transitioned away from ERP-centric data management to a product lifecycle process-driven approach with Windchill in the cloud.

Read the Case Study

Frequently asked questions

  • Is PLM a SaaS product?

    Traditionally, PLM has been deployed on-premises—even as other enterprise systems like customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) have moved to software as a service (SaaS). Reasons for this included the complexity of PLM workflows, customization requirements, and bandwidth needs, that made moving to the cloud, let alone SaaS, prohibitive. With advances in cloud infrastructure, many PLM deployments have moved to the cloud and while some lightweight PLM SaaS applications have been available, Windchill+ is the first comprehensive PLM solution that is delivered as a service.
  • How does moving to PLM SaaS impact customizations?

    In a perfect world, manufacturers would get all the functionality and flexibility they need from their PLM solution out of the box (OOTB) and without the need to customize. While this is increasingly the case with Windchill value-ready deployments, there will always be users with niche requirements that necessitate customization. In those edge cases, PLM SaaS can provide the best of both worlds: a robust PLM solution that accommodates and supports good customizations, while maintaining best practices and reducing the introduction of technical debt.
  • What’s the difference between Windchill and Windchill+ PLM capabilities?

    Windchill and Windchill+ share a common code base. This means that all the PLM features available to Windchill users are also available to Windchill+ users. Windchill+ users enjoy additional functionality and services that are only made possible by its SaaS delivery model.
  • What’s the migration process from Windchill to Windchill+?

    Transitioning from Windchill on-premises or in the cloud to Windchill+ is a three-step process: Assess, Convert, and Operate.

    The Assess phase focuses on understanding the current Windchill environment in detail, including hardware and customizations.

    The Convert phase consists of technical standardization of customizations (maintaining the intent of the customization, while configuring to be extensible and work in the SaaS environment), export of the environment, upgrade, and validation.

    The Operate phase focuses on go-live and transition to day-to-day operations.