With an annual turnover of 1.4 billion Euro, more than 300,000 customers in 176 countries and 11,500 employees, Festo is one of the leaders in the market for industrial automation and controls. Festo has over 23,000 products and several hundred thousand product variants, so it required a comprehensive and powerful system for product development that fuels innovation and global collaboration, while at the same time controlling key content and processes. Festo selected the PTC Product Development System because of its proven strength in the areas of associative 3D design, analysis and manufacturing, change and configuration management, global collaboration, and parts classification and reuse. The recent addition of Arbortext, PTC's dynamic publishing software, to the PTC Product Development System was an additional factor in Festo's decision to work with PTC.
"With the transition to the PTC Product Development System, we are laying the foundation to secure our competitive position in an international marketplace where speed and flexibility are essential for success," said Dr. Thomas Rubbe, Member of the Management Board Knowledge and Information Management at Festo. "The decision to work with PTC is a key element in Festo's corporate policy of deploying industry leading solutions that we have started with the introduction of SAP(R) and Microsoft(R) solutions."
Festo will deploy PTC solutions at corporate headquarters, where its main R&D facilities are located, as well as in its international technical engineering centers, where products are adapted to local market needs. Festo expects to see improved process quality and stability from initial research to manufacturing, as well as improved integration with partners, suppliers and customers.
"Managing complexity in today's global manufacturing industry requires a systematic approach to product development," said Jim Heppelmann, executive vice president and chief product officer, PTC. "With an integrated approach comprising product modelling and content and process management into one consistent technology platform, PTC is differentiating itself in the PLM market. More and more customers like Festo are benefiting from our integral system and share our vision for a future in which we remove existing barriers between design engineering, manufacturing and technical publications processes. We look forward to helping Festo achieve its strategic objectives for years to come."
The implementation of the PTC technology starts immediately. The first phase is accompanied by an extensive review of existing data and processes to ensure a smooth migration. In addition a global training program will bring users up to speed and enable them to take the full advantage of the new PLM environment by the time of the roll-out in 2007. In its final stage, PTC's product development system will be the single source for all product related information for all users at Festo's R&D center in Esslingen, Germany, as well as for all globally distributed "Regional Engineering Centres" (REC).
About Festo
Festo is a leading world-wide supplier of automation technology. As a globally-oriented and independent family company with its headquarters in Esslingen, Germany, it has become the performance leader in its industry over the last 50 years, thanks to its innovations and problem-solving competence in all aspects of pneumatics as well as its unique range of industrial training and education programs. The Festo Group achieved sales revenues of around EUR 1.4 billion in its fiscal year 2005 and with 11,500 employees is represented world-wide in roughly 250 locations. For more information on Festo, please visit http://www.festo.com
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 include: the success of our initiatives to facilitate our customer's understanding of the benefits of our PLM solutions, including interoperability, quality, return on investment and value creation; the ability of PTC to develop the technologies necessary to deliver products and services that allow customers to implement a comprehensive product development system across an extended enterprise and which meets evolving customer requirements; the success of PTC's customer satisfaction initiatives in providing the foundation for long-term relationships and repeat business; the success of our partnering and distribution initiatives to cost effectively deliver our solutions; and the success of our integrated solutions strategy initiatives; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in reports filed by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. The announcement of any particular selection of PTC products is not necessarily indicative of the timing of recognition of revenue from such order or the level of revenue for any particular period.
PTC and its logo, The Product Development Company, Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill, Windchill ProjectLink Windchill PDMLink, Arbortext 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. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and in other countries.
Contact:
PTC Corporate Communications Europe Nicole Rowe, 781-370-6369 Email Contact or For PTC Weber Shandwick Amanda Keane, 617-520-7260 Email Contact