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Faster delivery times, better quality, and breaking down silos
When the world’s foremost rail technology company Wabtec needed to go beyond 3D PDF to accelerate production, they turned to Anark. The goal? A technical data exchange for the shop floor and suppliers that drives "faster delivery and better quality in a collaborative environment that breaks down silos and becomes an information source for future projects with a history maintained by the digital thread."
In this Customer Spotlight interview with Anark’s Patrick Dunfey, Wabtec’s Allen Garver shared how model-based strategies are reshaping their manufacturing operations—unlocking productivity on the shop floor and bringing clarity across the extended enterprise.
It started with Anark's model-based 3D PDFs: Garver explained how they got started 8 years ago, “Anark 3D PDFs dramatically simplified the workflow for weldment teams, who previously had to navigate through as many as 50 pages of drawings to find necessary information. Balloons, callouts, and dimensions were often scattered across multiple sheets, creating confusion. The 3D PDFs consolidated this information, streamlining work instructions long before Wabtec had adopted GD&T practices. Anyone could consume and understand the 3D PDF without any PLM or CAD expertise."
Building model-based collaboration momentum across the digital thread: One early shop floor success stood out in the interview: a skeptical operator went from making 4 parts an hour to 40, simply by accessing model-based information at a digital workstation instead of relying on printed drawings. “He didn’t have to keep running back to the bench. The information was right there—and he ran with it,” Garver said. “Then he helped train others. That’s how momentum builds.”
Garver emphasized that change must be championed, and it starts with the operators doing the work. “You only get one shot at a good first impression. If the solution isn’t mature and ready, that bad experience can ripple quickly.”
Wabtec set out to find a seamless, scalable technical data exchange where engineering, manufacturing, and suppliers all work from the same source of truth. “Collaboration is important. Anark's collaboration platform lets you ask questions, mark up models, and get answers quickly—without email chains or lost context,” said Garver. “It breaks down silos and gets everyone aligned.”
Extending the digital thread to the supply chain: And this isn’t just an internal benefit. Wabtec’s suppliers are also part of the digital thread. “I’ve been in the tool shop. If you don’t fully understand a drawing, you won’t quote it accurately,” Garver noted. “But with a 3D model, you can see exactly what you’re quoting—no guesswork.”
To Wabtec, model-based isn’t just about visualization. It’s a system-wide transformation. “We’re moving from manual, document-based processes to one where the model carries the metadata—and the business consumes it automatically. That’s the real power of the digital thread.”
From the shop floor to the supply chain, Wabtec is proving that model-based strategies aren’t just for engineering—they’re a catalyst for enterprise-wide clarity, speed, and collaboration.
