Global PLM Migration Across Regions

Global PLM Migration Across Regions

Millions of records. Multiple regions. Near-zero data loss.

A global medical technology company needed to migrate their entire PLM environment across platforms and databases - without disrupting engineering workflows or losing a single record. We made it happen.

The Situation

A global medical technology company was running Windchill 13 on Windows with Oracle. They needed to move everything - and we mean everything - to Windchill 13 on Linux with MSSQL. Different operating system. Different database. Same expectation: every record, every relationship, every audit trail had to arrive intact.

This wasn't a simple lift-and-shift. CAD structures were tightly coupled with BOM hierarchies. The medical device industry demands strict audit and traceability requirements. And with teams spread across multiple regions, the migration had to be seamless for everyone, everywhere.

What Made This Complex

Cross-platform, cross-database

Moving from Windows to Linux and Oracle to MSSQL simultaneously. Every data type, every schema mapping, every integration point had to be re-validated for the new stack.

Deep CAD-to-BOM dependencies

CAD assemblies don't exist in isolation. They're linked to bill-of-materials hierarchies, engineering change orders, and approval workflows. Break one link and you break the entire product structure.

Medical device compliance

In regulated industries, you can't just move data. You have to prove every record arrived correctly, that nothing changed in transit, and that every audit trail is preserved. The validation requirements alone are a project within a project.

How We Did It

We designed a migration architecture built around one principle: rehearse until it's boring, then execute with confidence.

Extract, Transform, Load

We used Windchill Bulk Migration (WBM) for extraction and loading, with Talend handling the transformation layer in between. Custom utilities handled data reconciliation and validation at every checkpoint. Nothing moved forward until it passed quality gates.

Rehearsal-Based Execution

We ran multiple full dry runs before the production cutover. Each rehearsal caught edge cases, refined timing, and built confidence. By the time we went live, the team had done it so many times that the actual migration felt routine.

Technology Stack

  • Windchill 13 (source and target)
  • WBM (Windchill Bulk Migration) for extraction and loading
  • Talend for data transformation pipelines
  • Custom validation utilities for reconciliation and quality checks
  • Platform shift: Windows/Oracle to Linux/MSSQL

The Results

  • Near-zero data loss across millions of records. Every CAD file, every BOM relationship, every audit entry accounted for.
  • Predictable cutover. The rehearsal model meant no surprises on go-live day.
  • Platform standardization across all regions. One stack, one set of tools, one way of working.
  • Repeatable framework. The migration architecture we built can be reused for future platform moves.

Planning a PLM Migration?

We've moved millions of records across platforms without missing a beat. Let's talk about your migration.

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