Digital PLM transformation for a global automotive and industrial leader

A global leader in automotive components—renowned for its spark plugs, vehicle electronics, and ceramics—faced significant inefficiencies in its product engineering and development processes.  

Key challenges included: 

• Highly manual and fragmented product engineering, development, value chain processes, methodologies, and data management practices 

• Reliance on paper-based documentation, leading to long cycle times and quality issues 

• Limited collaboration across internal teams and external partners 

Hitachi Digital Services partnered with the client to modernize and digitize their product value chain. The transformation included: 

• Strategic assessment of the product value chain and design of a future-state operating model 

• Evaluation and selection of right-fit PLM (PTC Windchill) and CAD (PTC Creo) platforms 

• Implementation of Digital PLM and Digital Thread capabilities, including: 

• 3D model-based collaboration 

• End-to-end Bill of Materials (BoM) management 

• Closed-loop change control 

• Seamless collaboration across stakeholders 

The transformation delivered measurable improvements in product development and operational performance: 

• Modern, digital, and closed-loop ways of working across the value chain 

• A single source of truth for product data, accessible to the right stakeholders at the right time 

• 40% reduction in product ideation-to-launch cycle time 

• 35% improvement in product and operational quality 

• 25% reduction in operational costs