Case Study: Great Plains Manufacturing achieves 3x faster design and market-leading seeder performance with PTC PLM

Great Plains Manufacturing - Customer Case Study

Great Plains Manufacturing, a Salina, Kansas maker of large planting and seeding equipment, faced the challenge of designing complex, high‑accuracy machines (some with 4,000+ parts) that must be reliable, lightweight and quick to market. To overcome costly physical prototyping and support global engineering collaboration, Great Plains adopted PTC PLM solutions, notably Creo for CAD and simulation and Windchill for PLM and data-sharing.

PTC PLM’s Creo and Windchill enabled virtual testing, concurrent engineering across the U.S. and U.K., and faster stakeholder feedback, cutting design time threefold and bringing the 35‑5000/3S‑5000 seeder from concept to production in about 18 months. The new machines are about 40% lighter, achieve 35% higher seed‑placing speeds, plant substantially more acres per day, and delivered a ten‑fold increase in second‑year seeder sales — outcomes driven by PTC PLM’s tools.

Great Plains Manufacturing

Tanner McClure

Product Engineer