ORLANDO, FL -- PTC's top executive today declared a new era of manufacturing competitiveness driven by technology solutions that help companies achieve product and service advantage.

In a keynote address at the software company's annual worldwide customer gathering, president and CEO Jim Heppelmann argued that the world is poised to enter what The Economist magazine recently labeled a “third industrial revolution.” In this new era, a concerted focus on strategy will lead a renaissance in global manufacturing that will be led by those that focus their service and product offerings.

“Over the past few decades, global manufacturers have made massive investments in technology and process change aimed at improving operational efficiency,” said Heppelmann. “Today, however, we are reaching the limits of the competitive edge these investments can deliver. Manufacturers need to be operationally efficient to stay in the game, but they can no longer achieve meaningful advantage from that alone. The time has come for a new source of competitive advantage – product and service advantage – from technology and process change that improves strategy decision-making across the enterprise, from engineering to the supply chain to sales and service networks.”

The decisions that relate to how products are designed and engineered, how a supply chain is optimized, how quality and compliance is assured throughout the manufacturing process and, ultimately, how service is efficiently delivered against a product once sold are collectively the new source of competitive advantage, PTC says.

“A new era is upon us,” said Heppelmann. “To win in the new century requires a new way of thinking. For manufacturers, it’s about making fundamentally smarter strategy decisions. Today, advantage goes to those who differentiate their product and service offering, and PTC is proud to align itself with leading global brands that are poised to win in the new competitive era by achieving product and service advantage.”