[kgargiulo]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Perhaps I'm wrong about this, but can't Windchill handle non-Creo CAD systems? I've never used it myself, but that was my understanding when watching some videos about it.

Yes, Windchill can manage the CAD for anything that I've ever seen any FIRST team use and more.

Windchill Multi-CAD management

AutoCAD, Inventor, CATIA V5, SoildWorks, NX, FORAN, ECAD, and Cadence can all be managed in their native file format. For that matter, you can open (and change if you want) most (maybe all, I haven't checked recently) of them in their native format in Creo.

There is also a wide range of viewer support.

Using viewers so non-CAD team members can see the model in 3D without all the overhead of learning CAD is an underrated thing. This year our team permanently had a Creo View session running in the main fabrication shop. If someone's print wasn't clear they went to the model and measured directly off the model to clear up confusion - or to find out we had a design problem.