HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Implements Global Product Development Strategy With PTC Windchill
[ Back ]   [ More News ]   [ Home ]
HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Implements Global Product Development Strategy With PTC Windchill

Leading Supplier of Automotive Communication Systems Increases Number of Windchill Seats to 1,000 - Windchill becomes Backbone for Data Management, Workflow and Collaboration

NEEDHAM, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 5, 2005— PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company(TM), today announced that HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems GmbH headquartered in Karlsbad, Germany, is expanding its deployment of Windchill ProjectLink(TM) and Windchill PDMLink(TM) to 1,000 users across the company. HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems is a leading supplier of Automotive Infotainment Systems and runs several development centers worldwide. HARMAN/BECKER has been a long time customer of PTC since 1994, having standardized on Pro/ENGINEER(R) as its preferred design solution for mechanical engineering. The company is using PTC Windchill to complete its Product Development System, enabling control of product information and the implementation of global standards for its product development process.

In addition, HARMAN/BECKER's use of PTC Pro/INTRALINK(R) for Pro/ENGINEER data management will now be migrated to Windchill PDMLink within the next six months. PTC's Windchill will become the global information backbone to manage Pro/ENGINEER models as well as all project and engineering data management including the management of other mechanical design content such as CATIA V5, and electrical design content such as Mentor Graphics.

"Moving to Windchill PDMLink gives us faster access to product information. It allows us to generate product structure variants, for example country specific product structures, faster and with more flexibility. And it will help us reduce cost by reusing existing product structures which are now much more easily available to other teams," explains Dr. Michael Ruf, Vice President Engineering Europe, HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems.

Establishing a single global collaboration platform for internal and external use with partners and suppliers is the key to leverage the synergies across the various global engineering locations. Windchill ProjectLink allows all members of a product development team to manage projects, share information and conduct design reviews in real time over the Web.

"PTC's technology guarantees more efficient execution and management of our engineering projects, offering capabilities for real time monitoring and effective change and program management for our global organization. PTC is also the best choice to integrate the new Windchill-based PLM environment with our ERP system from SAP(R)," says Marek Neumann, Director Program Management Europe, HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems. The company expects to increase product reliability by using standardized and automated release processes. "Automating the workflows will help to optimize cross-department processes and shorten cycle times," adds Dr. Karl-Heinz Augenstein, Vice President Quality Management. "We can now easily control each product throughout the whole lifecycle."

"PTC is recognized as a leading PLM provider for the automotive industry. We have seen strong momentum as more and more automotive customers, both within and outside of our traditional powertrain customer base, choose us as the preferred partner for design, data management and collaboration. The clean, integral and flexible architecture of Windchill makes it easy for customers to adopt new capabilities across globally distributed design teams," said Dick Harrison, president and chief executive officer, PTC.

About Harman/Becker:

HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems provides premium products for the automotive industry and the aftermarket. Drawing upon world-class technologies from Becker(R), harman/kardon(R), JBL(R), Infinity(R), Mark Levinson(R) and Lexicon(R), HARMAN/BECKER integrates innovative automotive entertainment, information, and communication systems. HARMAN/BECKER offers the most advanced technologies for cars, from branded high-end audio systems with leading-edge multi-channel surround sound technology, to complete infotainment systems with navigation, media players (DVD Audio, DVD Video, CD, MP3), speech dialog systems, telephone and telematics solutions (Internet, WAP, Email, SMS, Bluetooth), analog/digital tuner and receiver technologies, headphones and rear seat entertainment.

HARMAN/BECKER Automotive Systems is the automotive division of Harman International. harman/kardon, Becker, JBL, Infinity, Mark Levinson, Lexicon and Logic7 are registered trademarks of Harman International. Harman International Industries, Incorporated ( www.harman.com) is a leading manufacturer of high-quality, high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems for the consumer and professional markets. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HAR."

About PTC Solutions for the Automotive Industry

PTC solutions for automotive are designed to meet the product design and product life cycle management needs of both OEMs and suppliers in the automotive industry. PTC provides 3D design, product data management and collaboration solutions to over 1400 automotive manufacturers including 8 of the top ten suppliers and 3 of the top 5 OEMs.

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) provides leading product lifecycle management (PLM), content management and dynamic publishing solutions to more than 40,000 companies worldwide. PTC customers include the world's most innovative companies in manufacturing, publishing, services, government and life sciences industries. PTC is included in the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indices. For more information on PTC, please visit http://www.ptc.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include: PTC's successful development and integration of the technologies necessary to offer integrated PLM solutions that address the evolving product lifecycle management functions for the automotive industry across extended supply and customer chains, the ability of PTC to successfully partner and effectively coordinate and manage joint activities (including sales, marketing, implementation and support) with third parties in order to efficiently and cost effectively deliver products and services that meet customer requirements, and the success of PTC's customer satisfaction initiatives in providing the foundation for long-term relationships and repeat business, together with such other risks and uncertainties as are detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including PTC's most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. The announcement of any particular deployment of PTC products is not necessarily indicative of the timing of recognition of revenue therefrom or the level of revenue for any particular period.

PTC, The Product Development Company, Pro/ENGINEER, Wildfire, Windchill, and all PTC product names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP AG Germany.



Contact:
PTC
Nicole Rowe, 781-370-6369                         

Email Contact                        
or                
Weber Shandwick           
Amanda Keane, 617-520-7260              

Email Contact