PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) hosted both its CREO product launch and its customers and partners meetings in Las Vegas last week.  A large ecosystem assembled to see the latest evolutions in the fields of 3D CAD, PLM, 3D printing, 3D monitors and also the transformation of the design paradigm.

So long 2D design and paper, the latest platforms truly allow for a full digital life-cycle of product development and thus the shrinking of With the state of the US economy and some momentum in the manufacturing sector recovery, there was large participation and media interest in this PTC PlanetLive in LasVegas.

PTC and a host of partners ranging from Microsoft, to 3D Systems, Nvidia, Dell and HP engaged a large customer base in presenting and discussing the strategy for supporting ever faster new product development process.

As Chief Information Officer of a discrete manufacturing company, I had decided to be an early adopter of CREO, the latest development in CAD that allows for flexible modeling processes, and was able to present the first product developed with this tool.

In a number of industrial sectors, corporations have tackled the economic crisis by speeding up the launch of new products and shortening their supply chains. This can be seen as growing trend since outsourced operations in China (and other low cost countries) suffer from steep increases in labor and freight costs.

It is therefore logical to think that the wave of investments in these technologies, supporting faster and more collaborative product development that allow manufacturing to be closer to consumers and thus relocate to US, is set to grow.

http://www.glgroup.com/News/New-era-in-3D-CAD-and-product-development-technologies-54482.html