Around one billion people in the world today cannot hear well, yet the great majority of them never get a hearing aid. Sonova aims to change that.
Sonova is a hearing health provider founded in 1947 in Staefa, Switzerland. Over the years, it’s grown to a billion dollar company with offices in 90 countries. The company has developed technologies like:
- The Phonak MicroLink: the first miniaturized ear-level FM receiver. With the MicroLink, students with hearing loss can hear the teacher well in a child-friendly way.
- The Unitron AntiShock: the first technology capable of identifying and instantaneously controlling sudden impulse noises, without distorting speech or environmental sounds.
- The Phonak Spice platform: 16 million transistors packed in 65 nanometer chip technology for fast processing speed — over 200 million operations per second. The Spice is making hearing possible in situations where it was impossible to hear in the past, for example, a quiet conversation with surrounding low-level environmental sounds.
Sonova now has headquarters for each of its brands (Phonak, Unitron, Advanced Bionics, and Connect Hearing), as well as operation centers, in Europe, Asia, and the United States—all working to help people everywhere “Hear the World.”
But you might ask how this company with 9000 employees, 4 major brands, 8 major sites worldwide, and a commitment to continue expanding keeps all those engineering, developing, and manufacturing sites aligned. If a design engineer in California makes a small change, how will a manufacturing team in Switzerland know about it?
That’s where PTC comes in. Sonova uses PTC Creo and PTC Windchill PDMLink.
With PTC Creo, everyone has the CAD software they can use to create and work with 3D models. Designers can create new, precise designs, or start with older data and modify it to integrate new technologies and ideas. Analysts can use PTC Creo Simulate to run simulations. And marketing can use PTC’s viewing apps to show off the latest revisions and gather feedback from the field.
PTC Creo designs can also be leveraged for tool design and manufacturing, developing tooling, production equipment, and even documenting processes. Best of all, it supports formats from other major CAD packages, making it easier to work with partners along the supply chain and with newly acquired businesses.
PTC Windchill PDMLink provides the global data management system that ensures geographically dispersed teams can access the most up-to-date product data. Plus, it helps Sonova manage critical processes such as change/configuration management, and detailed design. Now anyone, anywhere within the enterprise or extended supply chain can communicate and collaborate on product development by accessing the tools in PTC Windchill PDMLink.
The results? According to Novita Engineering, a PTC authorized reseller, Sonova has “streamlined internal product development processes from engineering to manufacturing.” The company has also enjoyed noticeable improvement in its communications between the Swiss locations, Canada, and the US.
The bottom line is looking good too. According to the company’s latest reports, sales are up more than 10% in the past year, and 729 employees have been added.
Is Sonova unique? Maybe not. We’ll be telling you about more companies using both PTC Creo and PTC Windchill to effectively connect sites, improve collaboration, streamline development, and more.
