Press Release

PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER Brings X-38 Crew Return Vehicle to Market Faster

By SpaceRef Editor
July 24, 2000
Filed under

As part of its
focus on the aerospace industry, PTC , a leading provider
of collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions, today showcased its
part in the design of NASA’s X-38 Crew Return Vehicle. The X-38, the
pathfinder for the lifeboat at the International Space Station, is a
collaborative design effort of hundreds of people in 17 different
countries.

Implementing PTC solutions radically decreased the X-38’s time to
market. Instead of the expected three-year project, Aerojet created
the model for the deorbit propulsion stage on the X-38, in just over a
year and a half. The early completion of their project supports the
first X-38 test flight from space to be scheduled for April 2002. The
X-38 Program, once thought to cost billions, is now designed and
built, including test flight of two prototypes, for just 90 million
dollars.

“At a time when the motto for businesses is `faster, better,
cheaper,’ we needed to outperform previous projects in both quality
and cycle time,” states Aerojet Engineer Jim Hansen. “We’ve used
Pro/ENGINEER successfully before in conjunction with many of our
smaller projects; the next logical step was to incorporate this
technology into the X-38 program. Other computer aided design (CAD)
solutions are limited by their inability to interface with other
disciplines and companies. Previously, the only method for Aerojet to
communicate with vendors was via hard documentation. Pro/ENGINEER
enabled us to wire information directly to vendors, saving valuable
time and money.” Hansen estimates that his team saved up to fifty
percent of their time by utilizing Pro/ENGINEER to decrease interface
time with everyone involved in the project.

Aerojet’s success even impressed PTC; Aerojet returned from PTC’s
2000 Pro/USER International Conference in Orlando with a PTC Award for
Innovative Computer Aided Design in the category of Aerospace.

Aerojet’s relationship with PTC is ongoing; the company also takes
advantage of the other Flexible Engineering solutions in conjunction
with Pro/ENGINEER, including, Pro/MECHANICA. PTC is equally dedicated
to Aerojet and the whole aerospace indsutry, providing innovative
solutions for the aerospace industry, offering classes and on-site
training.

“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. By creating products
that enable companies to be time and cost efficient, we participate in
some of the most exciting innovations in the aerospace industry
today,” said Barry Cohen, executive vice president of marketing at
PTC. “In particular, it is necessary to understand and respond to the
needs of specific industries. For example, the aerospace industry is
currently dealing with the need for flexible design and production
planning, decreased time to market cycles, and increased demand on
design technology among other things. These are issues that we are
addressing with our best-in-class software solutions for the
collaborative product commerce market.”

About PTC’s Flexible Engineering Solutions

The PTC i-Series of flexible engineering solutions, based on PTC’s
award winning Pro/ENGINEER software and the practices of PTC Global
Services, is a group of design and engineering solutions focused at
addressing collaborative product commerce engineering initiatives.
These solutions are relied on daily by more than 250,000 users to
drive their worldwide product development and engineering functions.
The solutions use unique approaches with many patent-pending and
award-winning technologies such as Pro/ENGINEER behavioral modeling
that captures engineering knowledge and allows designers to innovate
new products more rapidly and effectively. The PTC i-Series of
flexible engineering solutions, underpinned by PTC’s Windchill
software, also features Pro/MECHANICA, DIVISION, Pro/DESKTOP, ICEM,
CDRS, InPart, CADDS 5i, and MEDUSA.

About PTC

PTC, founded in 1985 and headquartered in Waltham, Mass., USA
(Parametric Technology Corporation), develops, markets, and supports
collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions that help manufacturing
companies shape innovation and achieve sustainable competitive
advantage in the Internet age. These B2B e-commerce solutions employ
powerful Web-based collaboration and flexible engineering technologies
to streamline product development and delivery processes. PTC’s
software solutions are complemented by the strength and experience of
PTC Global Services, which provides training, consulting, support, and
e-commerce services to customers worldwide. With PTC’s CPC solutions,
manufacturers can take advantage of the Internet to improve product
quality, reduce costs, and shorten time-to-market cycles. PTC can be
reached at 781-398-5000, or via the Web at http://www.ptc.com.

About Aerojet

Aerojet is a leader in propulsion, electronics and weapon systems.
Aerojet is a segment of GenCorp, a technology-driven company with
strong positions in polymer products, automotive, and aerospace and
defense industries. Since its founding in 1942, Aerojet has led the
way in the development of technology and products that have made their
mark in history. Aerojet launched the first rocket into space, aided
in the development of infrared technology, and developed an all
weather day or night sensor system, which is used by Coast Guard
aircraft to detect spills and drug smuggling and to help in search of
rescue missions.

Except for the historical information contained herein, matters
discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks
and uncertainties include PTC’s ability to anticipate and adequately
respond to evolving customer requirements and to deliver products and
services that meet those requirements together with such other risks
and uncertainties as are detailed from time to time in reports filed
by PTC with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including PTC’s
most recent reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q.

PTC, Pro/ENGINEER, Windchill, Pro/MECHANICA, DIVISION,
Pro/DESKTOP, ICEM, CDRS, InPart, CADDS, MEDUSA, and all PTC product
names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric
Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in
other countries. Names of products from other vendors mentioned in
this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.

SpaceRef staff editor.