better in global deployment, so our customers can work together regardless of location and build better products faster.
X: What specifically is it that you can do, that your competitors can’t?
JH: Windchill was unified many years ago. It does all the engineering data, such as managing all the CAD data, and the enterprise capabilities downstream and upstream. Where our competitors have several products for that, we have one.
X: Analysts say that if there is any weakness in PTC’s product portfolio, it is couplings to virtual manufacturing modules for MES (Manufacturing Executing Systems). What is your comment on that?
JH: To be honest, Siemens [Product Lifecycle Management] Software and Dassault Systèmes have an advantage in virtual manufacturing. There are two parts to virtual manufacturing. The first is Manufacturing Process Management (or MPM), which refers to the ability to design the manufacturing process required to create the product that has been designed. This can be done in nearly all cases without having to model and simulate the entire factory in 3D, which is the second part.
We have good solutions for processes design, but we don’t have a product for modeling the entire factory in 3D like Delmia from Dassault, or Technomatix from Siemens. But in reality only automotive original equipment manufacturers bother to do that. In order to get a payback you need to have factories that are extremely expensive, [making] highly complex products in large volumes, in an automated process, which is [true for] final assembly in automobiles, and not so much else.
X: During the last years, PTC has won several prestigious orders in Europe, such as Nokia, EADS (with products from Airbus and Eurocopter), Volvo Trucks, and Ikea. Is Europe your strongest market?
JH: No, I wouldn’t say that, not at the moment. Right now the strongest markets are the U.S. and China. The recovery in Europe has been slowed down by the problems in Greece and so forth.
X: With Ikea, PTC is also entering a new arena. Comments?
JH: Ikea is very strong in retailing, but that is not new to us. A few years ago we started to get customers that were a blend of retailers and manufacturers. They generally don’t have very sophisticated products, but they outsource production in different locations around the world, they have reseller nets, run their own stores, etc., so they need to manage complex data. Nike was the first, followed by JC Penney, Timberland, Adidas, and others.
X: What are the most exciting directions for innovation and progress in engineering software? What new capabilities do you hope to bring to customers in five years’ time?
JH: Our R&D investment is at an all-time high, and we have a number of major initiatives underway. First and foremost, we are committed to advancing the core Windchill technology in terms of usability, functional capability, and ease of deployment and ownership. We are continuing a significant investment in CAD and in our other products like Arbortext for technical publishing, or in InSight, a product for compliance. Finally, we are embracing open source software development solutions like Eclipse and Subversion to create a unique Windchill offering.
X: How does PTC fit into the larger cluster of engineering and design software companies around Boston? What are the most important “genetic” links between you and the other leading companies like SolidWorks, Autodesk, SpaceClaim, etc.? Why do you think such a strong cluster of engineering software companies grew up in and around Boston?
JH: It all goes back to the days of Prime Computer and Computervision, companies partly founded by MIT people. PTC, SolidWorks, Inventor (Autodesk), and SpaceClaim are all branches on that tree. In Boston and New England there are also many good universities, which make it easy for us to employ skilled people.