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“We can’t think in closed courses anymore” Dr. Ronen Ben Horin
This is what an automobile manufacturing An American company based in Boston and traded on the
Nasdaq, the scope of PTC’s activity is more important and
" plant in England looked like in the nineties,” revolutionary than just one automobile assembly plant. The
says Dr. Ronen Ben Horin as he shows me company’s technology enables 3D digital product planning,
an old black-and-white photo. The image which makes it possible to see all sides of the product and
is of a long line of cars, with two workers understand how its components work together. Customers
standing by each one and assembling one of the parts: one and suppliers can examine the product at the planning stag-
station is for doors, one for side mirrors, another for wheels, es and make changes relatively easily before it reaches the
and so on – the classic assembly line. manufacturing stage – but also far beyond: “We work from
But for Ben Horin, CTO of product lifecycle management the planning stage and on through production, operation
(PLM) software company PTC, this image has already lost and ongoing maintenance,” explains Ben Horin.
touch with reality: the pace of technological development
now requires engineers not only to think outside the box, but “This is all accomplished using a digital thread, which
also to understand a wide range of other disciplines. “Look transfers information to anyone who comes into contact with
at this picture of a modern automobile assembly plant that a product anywhere in its lifecycle. Whilst doing so, a me-
uses PTC’s services.” He proudly shows me the photo, ex- thodical process of learning about the product is conduct-
plaining: “At each manufacturing station stands a robot that ed using big data and machine learning systems in order to
knows how to accurately perform not only its own task, but predict glitches, use relevant information to fix them in real
also those of other robots. This way, if a robot malfunctions, time, and plan improved products in the future.”
it independently moves aside and its task is assigned to oth-
er robots while an automated system examines and repairs “Our clients were ready for the
the broken robot in real time. This innovation not only gives pandemic, and now they are thriving”
us better quality work, it also provides much more reliable
data about the manufacturing process and the lifecycle of PTC assists a variety of companies all around the world
the product. It also allows us to more accurately predict to use technologies to manage the life cycle of their prod-
what is going to break down, when the finished automobile uct. Among the company’s prominent clients are companies
will leave the assembly line, and so forth.”
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering | MEgazine | 31
