You can reduce time to market and cut costs by advancing your digital thread with PTC Windchill, the industry-leading Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Windchill consolidates data so that your team can work faster and more accurately so you can focus on product innovation.

See how Virnig Manufacturing uses PTC Windchill to change the way their data is delivered within their organization.

Business Initiatives 

Located in Rice, Minnesota, Virnig Manufacturing has been designing and producing skid steer attachments for over 27 years. This family owned one-stop shop does all steps of the manufacturing process in-house: engineering, cutting raw materials, machining, welding, and painting the finished product. Virnig dominates the industry by offering high-quality skid steer attachments and continually innovates to maintain a strong competitive advantage in a challenging and competitive market.  

Business Challenges 

Virnig has grown exponentially in the last decade, prompting the on-boarding of more employees 
to keep up with the growth. The expanding workforce introduced a new challenge of organizing critical work documents. The process of finding documents every day began to inhibit productivity. The need for a file management system became obvious and critical.  

Finding a solution became a top priority as Darin Virnig, Engineering and Production Manager, and his team found themselves taking on projects that required “more time in a day” to complete. Darin stated, “When there were just a few of us looking at files we weren’t quite as concerned about file management and having things get overwritten. But as we had more and more people working we all looked at each other and decided it was time to implement a file management system so that we didn’t start losing data or have
 it changed accidentally.” Prior to implementing a system, Darin and his team kept product content and design data in large red binders throughout the manufacturing facility. Engineers would leave their workstations to access folders in designated areas – sometimes on the other side of the manufacturing floor. Virnig was losing precious time to their paper-based processes. Darin needed to find a quicker way for his team to access data if he wanted to achieve maximum productivity on the shop floor. 

Solutions 

EAC Product Development Solutions (EAC) is an engineering and technology services company headquartered in Burnsville, MN. They provide product development solutions that transform the way small to medium sized companies design, manufacture, connect, and service their products. Virnig had partnered with EAC to implement PTC’s simulation software and trusted them with this new file management challenge. PTC is 
a global technology provider and the maker of tools such as Creo Parametric CAD software and the Windchill line of product lifecycle management solutions. “It was only logical to go with PTC products since we have been doing all of our modeling with their products,” says Darin.  

The benefits of going paperless exceeded Virnig’s accuracy and collaboration goals, and provide an ancillary benefit of reducing the cost
 of paper and printing. The decision was made to implement Windchill, PTC’s product lifecycle management software to streamline operations and control files. 

The Paperless Movement 

Windchill PDM Essentials, PTC’s Product Data Management tool empowers companies to organize and manage their product content to improve access to accurate, timely product data. Darin and his team have implemented Windchill across their engineering and manufacturing facility with 10 different access points for each department on the shop floor. Darin chuckles as he talks about removing the now-unnecessary red binders, “we took away their file cabinets.” The new process didn’t require any paper documents
 on the floor – everything was now digitally stored in their workstation computers throughout the facility. The implementation prevented wasted time that was previously used to sort through red binders, and avoided the use of old, irrelevant information.  

Darin talks about the success of the new data management system, “Paperless provides access on the floor which has increased accuracy and quality that will give us the competitive advantage we were looking for.” He describes how his team members used to take over 30 minutes a day searching for the data needed to complete a specific task. “It was a company initiative to go paperless in all areas to increase accuracy – the accuracy is where the cost savings would come in for us.” Going paperless has allowed Virnig to take advantage of that 30 minutes a day to add over 325 productive hours to their operation each year. 

Learn more about PTC Windchill, contact us, download the case study, or watch the video.

Manufacturers always try to find a ways to streamline processes and ‘do more with less.’ It drives success in a world full of competition. One way organizations do this is by reducing process complexity with powerful product life cycle management (PLM) or change management software. Connecting your team directly to live operational data increases efficiency in all departments and allows your organization to save money and manufacture products faster.
EAC Product Development Solutions has partnered with PTC, the world’s product development technology leader, to bring organizations the products and services that they need to succeed in their industry. As a PTC Solutions Provider, we provide the maintenance, support, configuration, and training you need to implement change management software as easily as possible.

PTC Windchill Data Management

If you’re looking to do things like keeping better track of files, create and store Bill of Materials (BoMs), put CAD models and drawings in one place, eliminate the risk of two individuals working on a file at the same time, or secure your data without burdening IT – you’re looking for PTC Windchill.

PTC software – specifically Windchill – is a complete PLM solution that provides capabilities such as:

• Bill of Materials (BoM) Management (EBoM, SBoM, MBoM)
• Configuration and Change Management
• Requirements Capture Management
• Early insight into product quality, reliability, and risk
• Efficiently making product variations with a structured platform
• Product Data Management
• Collaboration across all departments with accurate, up-to-date information
• Seamless software integration and defining standards

PTC Windchill is a PLM solution that provides a smooth transition from design to manufacturing with universal access to all critical product data information so that the process isn’t fatigued with delays.

PTC Windchill, Change Management, eBoM Case Study

ALM Positioners, a leading manufacturer of positioner lifts located in Rock Island Illinois, needed PTC Windchill. The company offers unique, customizable weldments and assemblies that require a lot of CAD models and other product information from engineering before manufacturing even begins. Due to extensive product customization and configuration depending on the needs of their customers, ALM needed a better solution to manage product data. They were drowning in paper files – a lot of which had outdated information.

EAC’s implementation team helped ALM Positioners transition to a digital workflow using PTC’s Windchill software. Windchill helped ALM save up to 4 hours per project by integrating EBoMs and MBoMs into their ERP system.

Watch the ALM Case Study on PTC Windchill to see how it has consistently proven to be a leader in the industry and outperformed competitors when it came to product lifecycle management.

We have had a long-standing relationship with a local manufacturing company over the years and are proud to share their success story with the rest of the product development world. PTC Windchill, PTC’s PLM solution, helps Virnig Manufacturing go paperless, streamline operations, and save over 325 hours per year.
What stands out about this case is the fact that the company was able to reduce or eliminate paper trails in all departments in less than one month thanks to a single tool. Why is going paperless such a big deal? Companies go out of their way to eliminate unnecessary processes in order to operate at a maximum efficiency. Most companies will invest in a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system to streamline the flow of product data through the organization, improve quality and efficiency, and better manage their business. PLM systems organize a company’s product data in one place so there are no obstacles between departments and accurate product, manufacturing, and service information.

Virnig Manufacturing has been designing and producing skid steer attachments for over 27 years. Due to an expanding workforce over the years, Virnig faced a new challenge of organizing the over-flowing piles of critical work documents. Darin Virnig, Engineering and Production Manager, and his team kept all work documents in large red binders throughout the facility and in each department. Due to the recent growth and expansion of the business, Darin needed to find a file management solution.

Download the case study to see how Virnig Manufacturing is leveraging a right-sized PLM solution — PTC Windchill — to overcome some of their biggest challenges.

If you don’t have PLM in your organization at all, reach out to us. We have a team of experts ready to answer any questions you may have. They would love understand your situation and the benefits of implementing PLM in your organization.

Click above or watch the video here.