Kalyan Sridhar: Leveraging the Power of AI-Driven Generative Design to Thrust Innovation Across Market

PTC is at the forefront of creating platforms and solutions that drive the current industrial revolution. It helps companies around the world reinvent the way they design, manufacture, operate, and service things in and for a smart, connected world. In 1986, PTC revolutionized digital 3D design, and in 1998 it was first to market with Internet-based product lifecycle management. 

Today, the company's leading industrial innovation platform and field-proven solutions enable other organizations to unlock value at the convergence of the physical and digital worlds. With PTC, manufacturers and an ecosystem of partners and developers can capitalize on the promise of the Internet of Things and augmented reality technology today and drive the future of innovation.   

PTC is uniquely positioned in the market as one of the few companies that provide a suite of technologies that can help other organizations through the life-cycle of the product – from design to engineering, to manufacturing to deploying products in the market and after-sales service. 

The company's technology helps industrial companies to create value for themselves, their customers, and the world. From hospital equipment with increased uptime and a spacesuit that is just as durable at half the weight to more sustainable buildings and more efficient manufacturing—each improvement PTC's technology helps to create makes the world a better place. 

A Progressive Leadership 

 Kalyan Sridhar is heading the company as an MD and is responsible for managing its operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He has 28 years of experience in senior executive roles spanning Sales, Business Development, Business Operations and Channel Sales in the IT industry. Kalyan also possesses expertise in business operations and managing change in operational processes such as price structuring, licensing models, revenue recognition, and sales order management, forecasting, and planning business. 

 He joined the company in 2015 and has put PTC India on a very aggressive growth trajectory buoyed by a very strong portfolio as well as a vibrant market for it in India. Prior to PTC, Kalyan was the Business Unit Executive for Systems Software for India / South Asia. Kalyan was with IBM for 17 years and has done a variety of roles. Kalyan joined IBM via the Lotus acquisition and went on to run the Lotus business for India / South Asia. He's also led the Rational Software business before moving into the Channels role. Kalyan also had a stint in running the Sales and Operations for IBM Software. A science-graduate with post-graduation in business administration, Kalyan is an avid Golf and Cricket enthusiast. 

Leading the Way with Innovative Technologies 

 According to Kalyan, PTC is invested in Artificial Intelligence and has built AI capabilities by a  generative design approach that leverages the technology to generate design options, which is a transformative addition to the PTC Creo portfolio. 

 The company's capabilities in AI now elevates Creo, CAD software to a leading position in the world of design and simulation. With new breakthrough technologies such as AR/VR (Augmented and Virtual Reality), high-performance computing, IoT, AI, and additive manufacturing entering the picture, the CAD industry is going through a renaissance period, and the company is committed to leading the way. 

The Power of Generative Design  

 With generative design, engineers can interactively specify the functional requirements and goals of their design, including preferred materials and manufacturing processes—and even indicate key design parameters that take into consideration purchasing decisions, manufacturing capacity, supply chain status, and regional-required product variances. The system then uses AI and powerful high-performance computing techniques to present design alternatives for consideration as a starting point or as a final solution. By removing the constraints of human imagination and experience, engineers will be able to interact with the technology to create superior designs and innovative products more quickly. 

Generative design is appealing to PTC's vast customer base as they seek ways to: 

•  Increase engineering productivity 

•  Improve innovation and conceptual design exploration 

•  Develop higher-performance designs that are lighter weight, with improved durability 

•  Optimize new products for improved manufacturability, reduce material costs, and decrease manufacturing cycle times 

•  Create complex geometries optimized for additive manufacturing 

•  Deliver better products faster 

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence 

 While explaining how artificial intelligence as a disruptive technology impacts PTC's operations, Kalyan said it provides valuable feedback to a designer early in the design phase and helps optimize designs for multiple objectives simultaneously and offering a designer with multiple novel design alternatives, which enables companies to substantially reduce engineering cycles. 

 AI also powers the modification of designs to manage multiple requirements and constraints, physics, materials availability, manufacturing processes, and design objectives. It further helps to automate testing the outcomes of the design with other enterprise insights, including costing, supply chain, and quality data. 

Treasured Global Recognition  

  PTC has been consistently ranked as a global leader across the world. The company was ranked as a leader in Forrester Research's Industrial IoT Software Platforms Report in 2018 and 2019. Gartner's Magic Quadrant ranked PTC as a 'Visionary' among its Industrial IoT Platforms (2018 and 2019). Moreover, the company was ranked among the top 4 in IDC's MarketScape Report for Industrial IoT Platforms (2017 and 2019).   

Sincerity: A Key to Dynamic Success 

 Being a long-serving professional with a strong background across the business-technology industry, Kalyan through his experience suggests the budding and emerging business executives to "be sincere, do the basics right and stay the course."