Like many organizations, Vaillant Group is faced with some extreme product development challenges including increasing competition from overseas companies as well as higher prices for raw materials that are critical for the production of its products. In fact, the more than 130 year-old, family-owned company has a long-term growth strategy to create a competitive edge through innovation and execution of a clear R&D strategy by highly qualified engineering teams. Vaillant Group’s R&D centers in Europe and China form one of the largest development teams in the industry. Around 70 percent of heating technology sales are achieved with products less than three years old. Accordingly, the company is investing significantly in research and development (64 million Euro in 2007) in order to safeguard its ability to respond quickly and efficiently to customers’ requirements in product development. The PTC product development system is an integral component of Vaillant Group’s R&D strategy with Pro/ENGINEER supporting the general development and, in particular, the development of technologies based on renewable energies. Solar thermal systems, photovoltaics, heat pumps and ventilation with heat recovery, all being designed in Pro/ENGINEER, have shown tremendous success with sales increased by 25 percent in this product segment. The newly developed heat pump proved to be an even stronger growth driver with a 40 percent sales increase. Additionally, Vaillant Group is making strides with the development of fuel cell heating appliances. These efficient, environmentally-friendly, hydrogen-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) units generate 50 percent less CO2 and consume about 25 percent less primary energy.
In order to continue to drive its competitive advantages, Vaillant Group keeps improving efficiency. In fact, the implementation of Windchill is one more milestone in optimizing development processes and driving innovation. With the implementation of Windchill, the Vaillant Group established global 3D CAD file access, control and visualization as well as improved collaboration between R&D and non-engineering departments. Furthermore, PTC enabled controlled, online 3D CAD data exchange with suppliers and established design workflows to enable repeatable and predictable product development processes.
“One of the greatest challenges for product development in the next few years will be how to share the right information with the right people at the right time. Engineering and non-engineering departments need to collaborate on a global scale and independently of the software system that created the original data. We are convinced that PTC products will help us overcome this challenge in the future,” said Dr. Gamal Lashin, head of R&D tools and standardization, Vaillant Group.
“To unlock business value by deploying PLM technology, you need to have the right processes in place and full management support through to each individual user,” said Josh Fredberg, senior vice president market and strategy, PTC. “Customers like the fact that our out-of-the-box solutions can meet their requirements without customization so that they can focus their services investments on process optimization and user adoption to ensure that they realize the maximum value from their software investments.”
About Vaillant Group
Vaillant Group is an internationally operating heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technology concern based in Remscheid, Germany. As one of the world's market and technology leaders, the company develops and produces tailor-made products, systems and services for domestic comfort. The product portfolio ranges from efficient heating appliances based on customary fuels to system solutions for using regenerative energy sources. In financial year 2007 the company, which has been family-owned since its founding in 1874, achieved with almost 12,400 employees sales totalling about € 2.4 billion.
About PTC
PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) provides discrete manufacturers with software and services to meet the globalization, time-to-market and operational efficiency objectives of product development. Using the company’s CAD, and content and process management solutions, organizations in the Industrial, High-Tech, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Consumer and Medical industries are able to support key business objectives and create innovative products that meet both customer needs and comply with industry regulations. 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 risks and uncertainties include: the successful development and integration of the technology necessary to offer an integrated and flexible product development system solution that is able to adequately respond to the evolving requirements of customers in multiple vertical industries; the continued success of PTC’s customer satisfaction initiatives in providing the foundation for long-term relationships and repeat business; the possibility that our customers may not continue to spend at recent levels or may elect to defer or forego investment in our solutions in the current economic climate and the possibility that we will experience a shortfall in revenue that causes us to decrease or eliminate planned strategic investments in our business 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 there from or the level of revenue for any particular period.
PTC and its logo, The Product Development Company, Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill, Pro/INTRALINK 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.
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