One of the oldest names in motorcycles decides PDM is not enough for managing its global design and manufacturing processes.

From humble origins in 1902 the UK’s Triumph Motorcycles has grown to become an iconic worldwide brand. Today Triumph stays competitive with a global product development and distribution strategy—including bikes being assembled in Thailand with parts supplied from the United Kingdom with 80% of these bikes being exported, predominantly to the American market. To manage it all Triumph recently selected PTC Windchill as its product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, extending and replacing its existing product data management (PDM) installation.

“Triumph motorcycles have always had a special character,” said Geoff Hurst, Chief Information Officer, Triumph Motorcycles Ltd.  “We pride ourselves on our distinctive design, performance pedigree, outstanding engineering and unique engine sound.  With that reputation and our annual production level of 50,000 motorcycles—which includes the design of 4 new models each year and numerous updates—we felt it was key to move our product development to another level and implement a fully integrated PLM system.”

As a long-time user of PTC products, including Creo Parametric (formerly Pro/Engineer) for product design and Pro/Intralink for PDM, Triumph was no stranger to the PTC line. “We had used Pro/Intralink to its maximum capacity and, after a business evaluation, decided to deploy Windchill as a single, comprehensive PLM system to support the entire design from early-stage product development to manufacturing,” continued Hurst.  “We believe we will see a significant improvement in the design, production and manufacturing development times.”