PTC Creo vs. PTC Windchill

I wouldn't suggest it to my worst enemy. My colleagues worked with other CADs and, in my experience, complain every day about this CAD, about how much things it doesn't have or do, etc. One of them keeps telling me, in their opinion, how even CREO Direct is far superior, easy to use, faster and better. In my opinion, it's a CAD that requires constant attention at what you do, how you do, when you do because it doesn't do it for you.

It provides in-depth product information such as Technical Data, CAD model, 2D drawing, ECR document, ECN document. Integration between windchill and creo is seamless. In addition to it, it provides necessary tools for data transfer, distribution, reviewing, and publishing of product data. Moreover, one can manage the complete product life cycle just on the web.

• PTC Creo contains many advanced tools with better optimization for creating part models and other production related drawings.
• The initial concept designs can be done more adequately.
• The parameters of 2D drawings can be changed easily by editing the 3D model.
• The productivity can be increased by customized tools for modeling.

Incentivized

• Part Number Creation, BOM Creation
• Engineering Change Notices
• Release of part numbers in to ERP system
• check in/check out of CAD & 2D data
• Document control & management

Incentivized

• Providing guidance through using tools is lacking in Creo. There is a small area where the text is displayed at the bottom that is supposed to help guide you, but many times the guidance doesn't make sense.
• Layers are a hassle in Creo. Unless you know how to set up your config file to do it automatically, you have to add each item to the appropriate layer.
• There is a lack of automation in Creo. In some other CAD packages, you can add holes or the like on a pattern of features. Not so in Creo.

Incentivized

• Extract partlist should be directly in Excel because everyone time we have to convert it to Excel.
• ECN report formatting need improvement.
• Many times part no doesn't go to ERP even after ERP released state.

Windchill is an extremely verbose and unintuitive system, with masses of unnecessary duplication of fields, convoluted workflows, unclear roles and terrible search capabilities. It is one of the worst software products I have ever seen to propose solving something that is actually factors quicker to do with manual writing and paper work

I liked the training manuals I used to learn some, as I didn’t have CAD background in college or before this job. My coworkers were able to share with me what they learned in PTC training and I was able to get support online and through reading.

Incentivized

PTC Creo is much better than other software at allowing collaboration across multiple users, even multiple plants/locations. We went from an older non-parametric industry standard software to PTC Creo because we could save massive amounts of time by using the parametric assembly features of PTC Creo along with the the Windchill drawing organization functions.

Incentivized

It can be compared directly to any CMS at the base level. SharePoint/Drupal are in this category and support document versioning, search, collections. Furthermore, certainly in SharePoint you can build flows and manage system logic through power automate, SharePoint lists and power apps. Furthermore, it is possible to assign a multitude of roles/groups to SharePoint. SharePoint can present documents in-frame, it can search and so on. Where Windchill proposes to improve upon the CMS is in providing the roles and flows, in this case, specific to a QMS. Unfortunately it does not include the grass roots level build of something like SimplerQMS which incorporates even the generation of the required documents in phase through templates and suggestions. Windchill proposes to address the niche problem of an eQMS, without really providing anything that is implied by the "e" for electronic, meaning faster and more efficient. No, everything in Windchill is manual, intensive and convoluted. I don't have a good word to say about it.

• Having PTC Creo as our primary tool positions us as forward thinking and creative in the eyes of our clients.
• PTC Creo constantly evolves in the ability to increase our productivity; new capabilities and features are added, which reduce our level of effort for some tasks.

Incentivized

• Saves time as all of our drawings and business instructions and procedures are housed in a central location with check-in/out capability and version control.

Incentivized