Yazaki North America Selects PTC as Its Software Systems Solution for Electronic Instrumentation

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Yazaki North America Selects PTC as Its Software Systems Solution for Electronic Instrumentation

NEEDHAM, Mass., March 19, 2012 - PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) today announced Yazaki North America, Inc., a Tier 1 automotive supplier, has selected PTC as the software systems platform for its electronic instrumentation. 

Software and electronics cost in a vehicle

In today's highly competitive automotive industry, software is quickly becoming an important differentiator as automobiles increasingly include advanced instrumentation and high-definition displays. The business research firm Frost and Sullivan estimates that cars will require 200 million to 300 million lines of software code in the near future. As a global supplier of vehicle power and data solutions, Yazaki recognized the increased significance and volume of software in its products and realized that the complexity of its product development processes could not be effectively managed with the current infrastructure.  The company recognized the value of a solution that enables global software development collaboration and code reuse.

"Yazaki chose PTC's Integrity software because it offers a single software engineering platform that can manage process complexity and support strategic quality, compliance, collaboration, and release readiness initiatives," said Larry Engelhardt, senior product manager electronics and instrumentation business unit, Yazaki North America. 

Integrity integrates well with Yazaki's other product lifecycle management applications.  Key to Yazaki's decision was PTC's commitment and certification of Integrity for developing safety related systems in ISO 26262 compliant development processes, an automotive safety mandate that requires safety-related embedded systems to qualify the tool chain being used to produce these systems. 

Continues Engelhardt, "Yazaki products depend on the quality of the software that drives them.  PTC's Integrity enables us to better manage the increasing complexities of electronic instrumentation. With this integrated approach we are able to quickly make better design decisions so we can rapidly deliver innovative new products to our automotive customers." 

"Yazaki is one of many automotive customers using Integrity as the platform for the collaborative integrated development of software systems," said Andrew Wertkin, chief technology officer, PTC. "PTC understands that successful management of embedded systems can provide a strategic business advantage for manufacturers. We look forward to working with Yazaki to drive greater value to its automotive OEM customers using this technology." 

Additional Resources

• Automotive business challenges (web site)
• PTC Integrity resource center (web site)
• PTC's Product Information Lifecycle Management (PLM) Resource Center(web site)
• Tech-Clarity Perspective: Developing Software-Intensive Products (Tech-Clarity Report)
• Embedded Software - The Future of Innovation in Tomorrow's Products(Aberdeen Research Report)
• Gartner Predicts 2012: Product Design and Life Cycle Management (Gartner Research Report) 

About Yazaki Yazaki Corporation is a global leader in the research, development and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions for vehicle applications. Yazaki produces electrical distribution systems, vehicle information products, solid-state power centers, connection systems and electronics. Worldwide, the company employs nearly 200,000 people in 39 countries. Yazaki has been committed to the preservation of the environment for over 70 years. The company continues this commitment today through the development of advanced electric components for hybrid electric vehicles, the promotion of recycling and the efficient use of resources. For more information about Yazaki North America, Inc. and its vision for a greener tomorrow, log onto www.yazaki-na.com. 

About PTC PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve maximum value from their product strategies with software and services that optimize key business processes throughout the entire product lifecycle - from conception and design to sourcing and service. The company's integral solution portfolio unleashes product innovation, improves collaboration and ensures product data integrity within engineering and across the enterprise, supply chain and service partner networks. Founded in 1985, PTC employs nearly 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 customers worldwide.  More information can be found at www.ptc.com. 

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U.S. Tax Code Favors Debt

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

U.S. Tax Code Encourages Corporations to Take on Debt

By STEVEN M. DAVIDOFF

Corporate America's love affair with debt is driven by a heavy subsidy, courtesy of the federal tax code. It's an unhealthy preference that the Obama administration is now reviewing.

The problem arises because the interest that corporations pay on their debt is deductible on their federal taxes.

To understand the effect of this deduction, imagine if you could deduct the interest you pay on your debt. I am not just talking about the deduction on your home mortgage. This would be a deduction for all of the interest paid on your credit card bills, auto loans and any other loans you had, including the one from Uncle Mikey.

What would be the effect? First, you would have more money in your pocket. That 10- or 15-something percent interest rate on your credit card would be effectively reduced by up to a third, depending upon your tax rate.

But because debt is now cheaper, you may be more likely to borrow to make purchases rather than purchase items outright. If so, you would end up taking on more aggregate debt and saving less. Before the 1986 tax overhaul, credit card interest could in fact be deducted. Congress eliminated this loophole, in part, because members thought it encouraged just this sort of behavior.

This is what is occurring in corporate America. Companies can finance investment from either debt or equity. But profit on an investment financed with equity - stock issued by the company - is taxed. In contrast, if the project is financed with debt, then only the profit after interest payments are made is taxed. This means debt-financed investments are cheaper than equity.

This creates a bias by corporations toward debt.

The Bankruptcy Cliff

Excerpt from the The New York Times
Sunday, February 19, 2012

Jefferson County, Ala., Falls Off the Bankruptcy Cliff


By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

ONE county jail here is so crowded that some inmates sleep on the floor, while the other county jail, a few miles down the road, sits empty.

There is no money for the second one anymore.

The county roads here need paving, and the tax collector needs help.

There is no money for them, either.

There is no money for a lot of things around here, not since Jefferson County, population 658,000, went bankrupt last fall. There is no money for holiday D.U.I. checkpoints, litter patrols or overtime pay at the courthouse. None for crews to pull weeds or pick up road kill — not even when, as happened recently, an unlucky cow was hit near the town of Wylam.

“We don’t do that any more,” E. Wayne Sullivan, director of the roads and transportation department, said of such roadside cleanup.

This is life today in Jefferson County — Bankrupt, U.S.A. For all the talk in Washington about taxes and deficits, here is a place where government finances, and government itself, have simply broken down. The county, which includes the city of Birmingham, is drowning under $4 billion in debt, the legacy of a big sewer project and corrupt financial dealings that sent 17 people to prison.

If you want to take a broad view, the trouble really began with the Constitutional Convention of the State of Alabama in 1901. The document that emerged there — written to empower business interests and disenfranchise African-Americans and poor whites — gives towns and counties little authority over local issues. Local taxing power rests with the state, though state lawmakers are loath to wield it today, in an age of anti-tax populism. Last summer, the Supreme Court of Alabama struck down a tax that was a crucial source of revenue for Jefferson County, finally pushing the county over the brink.

Officials here have only begun to grapple with the implications of life under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, a municipal form of debt adjustment, rather than reorganization or liquidation. Until now, the most famous example was Orange County, Calif., which filed for Chapter 9 in 1994, after risky investments went horribly wrong. Many local governments are struggling to pay their bills these days, but hardly any have filed for bankruptcy. Notable exceptions include Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, Vallejo, Calif., and Central Falls, R.I.

FedEx CEO on Job Growth & Competitiveness

This morning FedEx founder and CEO Frederick Smith was interviewed on CNBC's Squawk Box.  Smith said that changing certain policies, especially the tax code, is needed to make the U.S. an attractive place to do business.  Of course, more business means more jobs.  To watch the interview, click the link below:

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000070059