Product development software offerings provider PTC has acquired 4CS Solutions, a developer of warranty management and service lifecycle management software, in an effort to broaden its portfolio of offerings for product support and service organisations.
The acquisition is expected to supports PTC’s vision for offerings that span both product and service lifecycles.
The terms of the acquisition of privately-held 4CS were not immediately disclosed.
4CS has developed an approach to warranty and service lifecycle management that leverages a product-centric data model to capture service history and product updates in the form of an "as-maintained" bill of material (BOM).
The company said this approach helps original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to have valuable insight into product performance and service effectiveness once their products have been sold, which they fail to capture value throughout the entire service lifecycle.
4CS’s technology will support PTC’s existing service information offerings which empower an OEM’s product-support ecosystem with configuration-specific service procedures, 3D parts lists, and interactive training materials.
It will complement PTC’s quality lifecycle management offerings which manage every aspect of product quality, reliability, and safety to ensure products meet the requirements set for them.
PTC president and CEO Jim Heppelmann said with this acquisition, PTC is separating itself from other PLM vendors in its ability to support manufacturers across the entire product lifecycle.
The combined offerings from 4CS and PTC will enable companies to develop and provide guidelines and service policy coverage before service is performed; automate warranty and service processes; and analyse product and service performance.
Following the acquisition, PTC expects that it GAAP and non-GAAP financial results in fiscal 2011 and 2012 will remain unaffected.
