PTC’s David Katzman Moves Ahead in AI: ​”The New Conversational AI Assistant is a Boost for Arena PLM”

"Like having a PLM expert by your side," says PTC’s head of Arena PLM and Onshape, David Katzman. When PTC recently launched an AI assistant for its cloud-based PLM and QMS (Quality Management System) system Arena, the solution takes a step that is now a must for a platform with aspirations to follow its users into the future. With the new assistant, Arena PLM, which in combination with PTC's cloud CAD system Onshape is intended to be a mainstream option, gets a well-motivated technological push forward. This by delivering real-time expertise and best practices for PLM and QMS workflows in a conversational interface, which allows users to efficiently navigate technical change orders, manage corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), as well as maintain traceability and related compliance requirements via the assistant.
“Exactly,” says David Katzman. “Using Arena AI Assistant is like having an Arena expert at your side to help you with the next step in a process or answer questions without having to search through documentation or contact support. It’s perfect for both new and experienced users – whether they’re in the early stages of onboarding or navigating more complex technical challenges.”
Generally speaking, Arena and Onshape are a PTC’s mainstream cloud and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) PLM and CAD package. At least that was the starting point for former PTC boss Jim Heppelmann when he, somewhat surprisingly, bought Arena for $715 million on behalf of PTC in 2020.
In general, however, the Arena PLM part is mainly used in the high-tech/electronics, medical device and consumer product industries to manage product development and quality processes from concept to manufacturing. As cloud-based software, it is also particularly well-suited for medium-sized to large companies to streamline collaboration between distributed teams and global supply chains. The latter is also an approach that has given Onshape, which also has built-in PDM functionality, rapid growth.
With Onshape's CAD platform and Arena's PLM and quality management functions, PTC positioned itself to deliver a unified, cloud-based system for companies to collaborate on product design, manufacturing and the extended supply chain. Through seamless integration, the suite has enabled efficient workflows by connecting design, engineering, operations and supply chain partners. This means, for example, that BOMs created in Onshape can be synchronized with Arena PLM via the Onshape-Arena Connection feature, which enables real-time synchronization of BOM data between engineering and operations teams. This creates a single, integrated design and change management process, ensuring that product data, including BOMs and revisions, is automatically updated and available across both platforms.
But today’s announcement of the AI Assistant adds exciting new capabilities – what are they about?