Mid-sized, small firms are talking PLM

CHENNAI: THE $1 billion US based Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) employs 20% of its global workforce in India. The Nasdaq-listed PTC, growing 10% annually, is one of the few players to provide software and services and product life cycle management (PLM) solutions to meet the globalisation, time-to-market and operational efficiency objectives of product development. Others global firms are Dassault and Siemens PLM.

PTC is betting big on aviation, ship-building, electronics and hi-tech, retail footwear and apparel industries. Though the India operations contribute marginally now, PTC is targeting 30% to 40% growth for which it has investment plans in place. Over 1,000 people work out of Pune, where it is based.

By using its PLM and CAD solutions, organisations are able to support key business objectives and create innovative products that meet customer needs and comply with industry regulations, PTC senior marketing manager Rohit Biddappa told ET here.

With its bouquet of 7 major product families (entry-level products are priced Rs 2 lakh), PTC has already made inroads into the North American and European markets. It is upbeat on India as PLM is in vogue now, Mr Biddappa said adding in three months’ time, a new version of its ‘Windchill’ flagship product will hit the market.

If large companies and industrial groups in India have been relatively easy customers, PTC realises the potential of mid-sized and smaller firms. “They too are able to appreciate the difference that such a product makes for businesses. From a proof-of-concept selling, we have moved up as such companies are able to understand the scalability aspect of the product,” he said citing the instance of Rs 16 crore-plus Ditech that adopted Windchill.

“Ditech saw process automation as a competitive tool, a method to de-risk its business by relying more on process than on people. It is now able to compete with big players like Godrej Tool Room,” Mr Biddappa said.

Now, even engineering services company such as L&T and Harita are evaluating top-of-the-line PLM tools.

Depending on the client’s product mix, PTC develops the PLM module. Costs vary from $50,000 to a couple of million Dollars, he said adding its biggest implementation took place in EADS, where nine group companies were integrated using this platform.

“Evaluation of platforms takes about 18 months and the implementation could go even upto two years. However, the average implementation time is six months,” Mr Biddappa said.

On slowdown impact, he said companies may have cut capacities, but R&D has not lost its significance. Auto product launches are planned over 18-24 months. India saw nearly 50 launches in the automotive segment last year, he said, pegging the impact at about 10%.