Stephen Covey’s landmark book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ lists the 7^th critical habit as “Sharpen the saw.” It references a parable of a lumberjack and a stranger. The woodsman is very busy cutting down trees. As he completes more and more work his effort increases and his productivity goes down because his saw dulls over time. The lumberjack, exhausted and cursing the labor, is approached by the stranger. “What’s the problem?” asks the stranger. “My saw is dull and won’t cut well” responds the lumberjack. “Why don’t you sharpen it?” asks the stranger. The lumberjack responds “What kind of question is that? Because I would have to stop sawing, and I’m very busy.”  The stranger responds “But, if you sharpened your saw you could cut more efficiently than before. You could get even more work done.”
It’s important to sharpen our saw. We need to keep working to improve our knowledge base, approach, and overall situation. This may involve attending a training class, reading a book, mentoring and being mentored, or joining a peer group. I understand this can be difficult in the world of product development / engineering / design / manufacturing / and service. There is always pressure to get to market, get to the trade show, meet customer demands, etc.

Efficient engineering, design, manufacturing, and service requires efficient use of the supporting technologies for each role. Our training group consistently proves a return on our customer’s investment in training and development. That’s because technology keeps getting better. If you don’t know how to take advantage of the full functionality of your tools like PTC Creo, PTC Windchill, PTC Arbortext, and PTC Mathcad…you’re cutting with a dull saw.

We consistently schedule key PTC certified training classes and training courses that help people throughout organizations make the most of their technology. We deliver everything from Windchill Administrator courses to training classes for specific PTC Creo tools and functionality.

Do me a favor. Take time to sharpen your saw. A few days in a training course could save you hundreds of hours down the line. Take a look at the EAC Training Calendar. Maybe you’ll find the perfect PTC training course to put a new edge on your saw. Contact our training group to learn more about our training and mentoring delivery options (Like EACLive!) and full course catalogue. And check out this blog to learn more about how to select a PTC Training Course and Training Class provider.

Most organizations recognize the importance of a ‘speedy response’ to a quality issue or a customer complaint.

In fact, faster service response time has been named as a top priority for many service lifecycle management efforts. The significant demand for manufacturers and service organizations to resolve customer issues promptly, and to quickly mitigate any product quality issues has become a challenge.

How do you overcome this challenge and implement a solution? The equation involves equipping service technicians and customer facing roles with the right information at the right time, along with aligning parts/inventory and service personnel.

For example, let’s look at a very realistic situation.

Imagine your dryer machine breaks down. You call the manufacturer and learn you have to wait three days for a service visit. Depending on your patience (and laundry needing to be done) this could be the beginning of a very unpleasant customer experience.

But what if that same manufacturer was able to pull up your model, and already knew they had visited you a year ago with a similar issue. How might your experience be impacted if they were to tell you there was a 90 percent first-time fix rate for your specific dryer and a technician would be able to show up with the specific parts needed to fix your issue?

This is the type of service that customers want and are starting to expect.

It is easy to see how putting the right information in a service technicians’ hands at the right time is so important.

Service technicians want to be able to see service information and technical service bulletins. They want to see information on the job and have access to just in time training. They have a desire for formal training, tech assist helpdesks and hotlines, and safety instructions.

So how do we enable and empower technicians to optimize service experiences and exceed customer expectations?

Here are some of the best practices that we have gathered:

1. 1. Provide access to technical/service parts information when technicians need it
2. 2. Make that information easy to search
3. 3. Supply accurate product and configuration information including all parts and service history
4. 4. Enable easy ways of ordering parts
5. 5. Offer just in time training/help

‘Smart’ service management is your key to success.

Your service information needs to be managed at a network level. This ensures that all your players in the service web have access to the right information, at the moment they need it.

Adding a modern layer of accessibility to your information is a critical part of ensuring your service network can operate efficiently and effectively.  This is what will help you drive positive customer experiences throughout your product lifecycle.

We offer the technology solutions and technical expertise to make real-time service information delivery a reality. Contact us to learn more about our Product Development Information Services group, PTC’s Arbortext and Service Lifecycle Management technologies, and the PLM solutions that can effectively link together your product data and service part information.

We are an Authorized Training Partner of PTC. Our training and mentoring group delivers and sells PTC University Training solutions. This helps ensure you not only get the technology you need to dramatically improve the way you design, manufacture, and service your products and enterprise, but the knowledge to fully take advantage of your software investment.
EAC was one of the first authorized training partners. Why should you care? We have more experience mapping organization’s needs to the perfect PTC Training Course. We have more experienced instructors ready to deliver PTC Training Class content and customized training to create additional value for students and organizations. It also means we know a lot about what people want from a training experience, and what they should ask of their provider.

Many people see professional development, or continuing education, to somehow be exempt from the due diligence one would apply to…say, selecting a college. The truth is, it is important to carefully choose the company and people your organization uses to deliver a comprehensive PTC training course schedule or a single PTC training class.

Here are some questions you should ask a potential training provider:

• Do they have real-world experience using the products?
• Do they understand how various solutions work together?
• Do they offer training on multiple PTC training course segments (PLM, PDM, CAD, AR, IoT, etc.)?
• What delivery methods to they offer? (in center, onsite, remote (EACLive!)
• Do they offer extended access to Instructors for questions after a course ends?
• Do they offer the ability to audit a PTC training class for a year, in case a student needs a refresher?
• What is their cancellation policy? (Things come up, sometime a plan doesn’t work out. Here’s ours)
• Do they offer volume pricing discounts?
• Are there any current promotions?

We are here to help you know all the picks, clicks, and technology tricks to make sure everyone on your team is a power user. You need to complete projects as fast as possible – good training makes that possible. Here is our current training calendar. It displays all of the currently scheduled Creo training, Windchill training, and Arbortext training. Please contact us if you don’t see a specific training course. We may be able to add it to the existing calendar or deliver the training class specifically to your organization.

Part II – (You can read part 1 here) Evolving your BoM strategy, tools, and abilities. “EBoM vs. MBoM” transforms into “EBoM integrates with MBoM.” This integration includes associativity to one another, time saving tools, elimination of error prone manual steps & more.
Imagine eliminating the common disjointed processes, additional time, and error prone manual steps involved in the creation of downstream BoMs from Engineering into Manufacturing, Production and Service management.

Concepts & examples such as Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBoM) are shown below, all under one system, integrated & associated, and created with a single click. Then they’re easily edited to meet downstream BoM needs.

BoM creation can be streamlined & improved by associatively creating downstream BoMs (S or M or other) and eventually, connecting them to your ERP system. For now, we’ll focus on the first step of this business transformation concept; the creation of the second, or downstream M or SBoM, starting with a simple EBoM example, created in minutes, and easily viewed & tracked.

Who should be involved in this topic at your company? Ideally, your Configuration Manager role should be leading or heavily involved in this process.

The starting point & tool is PTCs Windchill and your willingness to change & improve.

Once your CAD data is ready to check into Windchill, there is an option (check box) to auto-associate the EBoM to a downstream BoM such as an MBoM. It is a 1:1 relationship for starters. Options can branch out from here into many CM (Configuration Management) directions. Such as multi-level BoM management, uses, visualization and more.

Once created, you can manipulate & edit the default 1:1 downstream BoM to your needs; adding bulk items, manufacturing specific sub assemblies, (build throughs) even new service end items. You can also flatten out an EBoM to meet assembly or production needs. BoM items such as adhesive, lubricant, paint or coatings, packaging items, all things that typically are not on an EBoM, can and do belong on the M or SBoM.

If this fits your company’s needs? consider using Windchill’s auto-associate feature.

This article covers a couple examples. If this is not deep enough…here are even more tools to consider. Topics such as creating associated manufacturing instructions, work instructions, work plans and more. Change Management is shown as reference only, it is an optional element of Windchill for another blog.

There are many options to this topic, these are common examples that fit a lot of needs and is considered a starting point.

1^stexample shows all BoM & change components all connected in one system vs. manually done in silo fashion, which is industry’s most common method today. These examples are shown in PTCs Windchill reference viewer tool, which ties all related objects into view for easy visibility with just a few clicks.

1. 1. EBoM structure (highlighted in green) 
2. 2. Change requests, notices and tasks (highlighted in red) 
3. 3. MBoM structure (highlighted in blue) with their own, or connected Change Management Requests, Notices & Tasks

2^ndexample shows an EBoM, SBoM (Service Kit in this example), with a saleable end item service kit, as well as components for service or manufacturing BoMs. It also shows Changes, these can also be created, edited, routed, approved or rejected, and even include the SBoM if need be. 

Please connect with EAC to learn more, to discover your company’s transformation opportunities with an assessment, maybe see a demo, or attend a webinar. The goal is to help your company transform how you design, manufacture, connect to and service your products.

1. Why do I need to do regular maintenance on my PTC Windchill system?

Critical systems, like Windchill PLM, must be available to users. This is why it is so important to do regular maintenance on your PTC Windchill system. Windchill system outages can be costly and impact system adoption and usage.  Therefore, it is recommended that you complete regular, preventative maintenance to identify and resolve issues before they cause performance problems or service interruptions.

2. What is included in the Alliance program?

We start by assessing your department and company’s needs. We combine the assessment results with our understanding of successful Windchill implementations and deliver recommendations and a plan for a stable, high-performance Windchill instance. The flexibility of the Alliance program allows us to configure an engagement as needed. This gives us the ability to tailor the program specifically to your company.

3.  Can my staff complete the Windchill maintenance activities?

Certainly!  Keep in mind that preventative Windchill maintenance tasks are commonly an afterthought, and other projects are likely to take precedence.  As the staff becomes busier, their dependence on a functioning Windchill system increases.  These would be times when a system outage during a critical project could prove to be disastrous.

4. Can you train my staff to complete Windchill maintenance tasks?

Yes, in fact we would love to help train your staff how to complete Windchill maintenance tasks.  EAC has PTC certified instructors that are available to deliver all of the Windchill Business and System Admin training courses offered by PTC.  After attending these classes your staff will be ready to take on their new Windchill responsibilities.  Additionally, we can provide mentoring with our Windchill experts to answer all of your Windchill maintenance questions.

5. What are some benefits of using the EAC Alliance program?

One of the core benefits of the EAC Alliance Program is the ability to take a proactive approach to maintaining your Windchill system – ensuring high availability and performance.  By completing regular system maintenance and software updates you are able to better leverage your PTC investment.  You can also eliminate the need to maintain a staff of Windchill Administration experts by assigning these system and business admin tasks to our EAC’s expert consultants.  Our Windchill consultants have years of experience and complete these same activities on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for many Alliance Program customers.

6. Are Windchill system updates and upgrades included in the Alliance Program?

Yes, the EAC Alliance Program can be structured to include Windchill system updates and upgrades. When you include this in your Alliance Program you can easily budget a fixed cost over the upcoming months and years.

7. Can you support my Global company?

Yes.  While EAC is based in the United States, we are part of the PTC Strategic Partner network giving us access to many additional resources overseas.  We call on these partners to help with implementation, training, and support services local to international facilities.

8. Are you able to provide 24/7 Windchill support?

Yes.  We can provide your company access to our support case submission system, which will allow your Windchill users to log cases at any time of day.  If emergency Windchill support is required (noted by the priority level assigned to your case), our team will be notified immediately and begin support.  If you require overseas support, and international support is included in your Alliance Program agreement, we will coordinate with a local PTC partner to address the issue.

9. Doesn’t my PTC Maintenance agreement include similar Windchill services?

No.  Your PTC maintenance agreement covers all Windchill updates to software that you have purchased as well as technical support should you have a problem that requires resolution.  It does not include the services necessary to update, upgrade and maintain your Windchill system.

10.  How much does the EAC Alliance Program cost?

This varies based on the complexity of your Windchill environment and the level of support you would like to include in your service level agreement (SLA).  This can be determined by having a quick conversation with your team and proposing a solution that correctly addresses your needs. Contact us today for further information!

Windchill is a mission-critical enterprise system with multiple components and touch points across an entire enterprise. Because of this complexity, you might recognize the need for Windchill Managed Services.

EAC has created a managed services program for your Windchill system – The EAC Alliance Program. The Alliance Program provides PTC Windchill managed services such as Windchill administration and support.

Our team of expert system administrators help improve system performance, optimize server and license configurations, and maintain a stable PLM environment for your organization.

Here’s what customer’s see with our Windchill Managed Services and what you can expect.

Windchill Managed Services Percent of Uptime

95.1% of our EAC Alliance Program customers achieve 100% Windchill uptime. Our customers that do not have 100% Windchill uptime still maintain over 99% availability.  This is an overall average of 99.95% or more uptime.

Windchill Managed Services Predictive Maintenance 

Our Alliance program executes planned (weekly, monthly, etc) Windchill maintenance.  Predictive maintenance is more efficient and the preferred approach to system maintenance. Roughly 1/4 of Alliance customers choose to implement PTC System Monitor (PSM) as a way to bolster EAC’s already rigorous proactive maintenance.

Speed/Performance of Windchill with Managed Services

100% of EAC’s Alliance Program customers see an improvement in the speed and performance of their Windchill system.  Out of the box, Windchill leaves a lot of room for performance tuning and server optimization. Our EAC Alliance Program Team are skilled in analyzing  and optimizing system resources to suit your individual needs

Windchill Managed Services Security/Patches

100% of our EAC Alliance customers receive (or are notified) of patches.  This way you can be assured that your system is running with maximum security at all times. 

Want to learn more about what our EAC Alliance Program has to offer? Download our Alliance Program Brochure and check out the top 10 questions we get about our Windchill Managed Services.