It’s not an everyday event in PLM that a large automotive OEM makes a major swap from one CAD system to another—but it happened today.

Global truck giant Volvo Group—owners of Mack and Renault Trucks, among others—made the decision to consolidate all its CAD operations on a single platform: PTC's Creo.

But this announcement from Lars Stenqvist, EVP and CTO for Volvo Group Trucks Technology, extends beyond just the CAD and truck side of business. The cPDm/PDM area will also be affected by today's news. Namely, not only will all companies in the group be consolidated over time on the PTC platform, but even if Volvo initially moves only the truck area to a pure PTC environment for CAD, the indication today is that buses, VCE (Volvo Construction Equipment), boat engines (Penta) and more in the group will also move to the PTC platform.

Furthermore, with this change, the company will switch to using only PTC's PLM/PDM solutions in the Windchill suite.

“Using a single PLM and CAD platform will serve as an important enabler in our digital technology transformation,” says Stenqvist. “By using this foundation, we see great opportunities to connect PTC's IoT and AR solutions to our digital thread strategy.”

Today's announcement is a tough one for Dassault Systèmes, as it means that the company's CAD software CATIA will be replaced by Creo. CATIA has been used mainly for cabin design in Volvo Trucks, but we are still talking about a couple of hundred licenses that are now being replaced with Creo—which could reach a total of over 1,000 licenses at Volvo.

“By adapting to PTC around the CAD platform, we will work together to create a world-class capacity, which we expect will be a competitive advantage for many years to come as we strive for the future landscape for sustainable transport and infrastructure on Volvo,” says Lars Stenqvist, CTO within the Volvo Group.

With the announcement of today’s decision, Volvo Group will be one of PTC's largest customers and it is a customer with big muscles. The Volvo Group employs almost 100,000 people and serves customers in more than 190 markets, and last year the company withdrew approximately €33.6 billion.

It should also be said that it is not really a major surprise that Volvo Group made today's consolidation announcement. For many years, they have been moving in the PTC direction, and as of today they already use Creo for the design of engines, drivelines, chassis and other areas.

In addition, Volvo has been working within PTC's Windchill suite when it comes to PLM and cPDm, with solutions such as MPM Link and PDM Link, in addition to the configuration logic that was and is still in Volvo's product database KOLA.

A Logical Business

Overall, Volvo's announcement today is a logical continuation of previous decisions, which in most cases have gone in PTC's direction.

Basically, it may be less about individual gains in the CAD work, and more about the company's willingness to streamline its total workflows in the product development process.

“This solution, which will utilize all the features of PTC's Windchill PLM software and Creo on the CAD design side, is designed to promote collaboration between the Volvo Group's PLM and CAD features and significantly increase the reuse of digital product data in the Volvo Group,” PTC writes in its press release.

Behind this lies the fact that Volvo Group is in a transformation phase in general, driven by digitalization efforts, new technologies, development of new energy sources and e-mobility.

In addition to transforming its product innovation process, Volvo Trucks, like today the entire transport industry, is trying to shape a future with technology and system solutions that are safer, cleaner and more efficient.

Wider Use of Windchill on the PDM Side

The bottom line is that Volvo has decided to unite its CAD platforms in a way that positions PTC's products to function as the primary CAD and PLM solutions used in the Volvo Group for complete vehicle design.

The company intends to transform its IT architecture by consolidating PLM and CAD platforms to enable better use of product data throughout the value chain.

In recent years, Volvo has also worked towards not only using Windchill's PDM solutions as a cabinet for CAD files, but also working to gather things such as BOMs, change management solutions and more.

PTC chief Jim Heppelmann demonstrates how to use PTC's Augmented Reality platform Vuforia in the quality work on the workshop floor in connection to a Volvo truck engine. The event took place during a PTC LiveWorx session where he used a tablet to show how the software identified the individual engine and the parts that were included. He could also pick out the 3D models of each component and at the same time check that everything was in place.

"By working together for a common vision, we have pursued important improvements to PTC's product package and important improvements to enable the Volvo Group to bring good products to market," commented PTC’s CEO, Jim Heppelmann.

“We are pleased to be a partner for Volvo Group's product development team,” he added. “The digital technology approach that we will achieve together will serve as an example for companies around the world.”

According to Heppelmann, the direction of Volvo’s journey can mean expanded PTC installations in the production area as well, where today PTC's IoT and Vuforia platforms are used in six to eight of Volvo's factories.

Competition Hardens for Dassault

For Dassault Systèmes, today's announcement comes as a tough reminder that the company's CAD solution, CATIA, is exposed to fierce competition in the automotive industry that the solution once dominated. Of course, the CATIA V5 solution still exists in many places, but the competition from systems such as those from PTC (Creo) and Siemens Digital Industries (NX) creates an increasingly narrow space for the French PLM developer's classic CAD software.

At the same time, the CATIA V6 version or 3DEXPERIENCE has had considerable difficulties breaking through in automotive.

However, Dassault’s digital manufacturing software, Delmia, is still within the Volvo Group.