PTC and the Center for Automotive Research Forecast Future of Product

PTC and the Center for Automotive Research Forecast Future of Product Development in the Automotive Industry

    Business Editors/Automotive Writers/Technology Editors

    NEEDHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2005--

Study Reveals Increased Importance of Processes, Virtual Tools, DFx and Collaboration on Development Success
    PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company(TM), today announced the results of its most recent study of the automotive industry. The study, conducted by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, identifies major trends and changes in product development and provides a five-year forecast which addresses business philosophy, product design tools, communications and engineering efficiency. CAR is involved in the research of significant issues that relate to the future direction of the global automotive industry.
    The CAR study is a continuation of PTC's 2004 benchmark study "Best Practices in the Automotive Industry" which identified the capabilities necessary for success in the current automotive environment. The CAR study looks five years into the future and utilizes the Delphi forecast methodology, which offers the ability to successfully investigate industry trends utilizing a small panel of industry experts. The study panel included 21 experts representing 11 companies. The panelists identified the following major changes and trends in product development:

--	Using a more disciplined process - the current focus on increasing design process discipline will reduce the number of resources required for continued process improvement, enabling redeployment of those resources to focus on other strategic issues.
--	Transitioning to greater use of virtual prototypes - computer-based tools are forecasted to eliminate the need for physical prototypes.
--	Outsourcing more to global suppliers - outsourcing to tier one suppliers is predicted to increase dramatically, especially for interior systems product development with only ten percent of the development being conducted by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in ten years.
--	Focusing on design for manufacturability, reliability and durability - increased outsourcing to offshore and lower labor cost countries will increase the importance of design for manufacturing in reducing costs.

    The need for close collaboration and improved communications between organizations is a pervasive theme throughout the study. Researchers conclude that electronic communication is considered the most significant factor for successful product design and will continue to grow in importance. Email is replacing print communications and while in-person communication is being replaced by video conferencing and web based collaboration, it will remain an effective tool in situations requiring relationship building and the exchange of subjective information.
    "As product development becomes increasingly more important, companies are focusing on their product design processes to identify ways to increase efficiencies and reduce costs," said Dr. Richard J. Gerth, Research Scientist, Center for Automotive Research. "Product solutions that foster communication and support collaboration between geographically and organizationally dispersed teams will play a key role in optimizing the development process. Simultaneously, companies need to develop new processes that take advantage of the new communication technology across the entire value chain."
    "PTC's continued investment in research to understand the issues transforming the industry underscores the importance of the automotive industry to the company's overall corporate strategy," said Dr. Dhiren Verma, director, product and market strategy, PTC. "This study provides important insights into the future of product development and reinforces the need for leading edge collaboration solutions like Windchill(R) to help customers deploy standard and repeatable processes and facilitate global information sharing."

    A copy of the study report is available to interested parties at

    http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/forms/index.jsp?im_dbkey= 28705&icg_dbkey=482 (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste it into your Internet browser's URL address field. You may also need to remove an extra space in the URL if one exists.)

    About the Center for Automotive Research

    The Center for Automotive Research assists the global automotive industry's competitiveness and technological advancement by conducting unbiased economic, manufacturing and transportation systems research; forecasting industry futures; advising on public policy; and conducting industry conferences and forums. CAR achieves this through strong working relationships with industry, government agencies, labor organizations and other major stakeholders of the international automotive community and its multidisciplinary research and conference activities. For more information on CAR, visit www.cargroup.org

    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) software solutions to more than 35,000 companies worldwide. PTC customers include many of the world's most innovative manufacturing companies in the aerospace & defense, automotive, consumer, electronics & high technology, industrial equipment and medical products industries. PTC is included in the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indices. For more information on PTC, please visit www.ptc.com

--30--MW/bo*

CONTACT: PTC Nicole Rowe, 781-370-6369 nrowe@PTC.com or Weber Shandwick Jennifer Signorini, 617-520-7069 jsignorini@webershandwick.com

KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: AUTOMOTIVE SOFTWARE SOURCE: PTC

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