Ricky Jordan
Thirty years building the systems that CAD, PLM, PDM, and ERP hang together on — one accurate record of the product, from first sketch to as-built.
Baselines, change requests, and revision control built so the paperwork matches what actually shipped — not just what the dashboard says. The discipline everything else in engineering data depends on.
The same part number means the same thing in design, manufacturing, and procurement. No shadow spreadsheets, no second version of the truth.
Setup, workflow, and the ongoing administration that keeps a PLM system actually adopted a year in — instead of abandoned for a side channel of email and spreadsheets.
Vaulting, check-in/check-out, and revision schemes tuned to the tools already in use, so the process disappears into the workflow instead of fighting it.
Interfaces between PLM/PDM and ERP, MES, and everything else that touches the product record — built once, monitored, and kept honest as the systems change underneath them.
CAD files, assemblies, and the first part numbers. Get the numbering and the vault structure wrong here and every downstream system inherits it.
A release turns a working file into a controlled document. Approvals, effectivity, and a baseline the whole program can point at.
Change requests, impact review, and the revision bump. This is where most systems quietly lose the thread between what was approved and what got built.
ERP and MES pull the bill of materials, the routings, and the effectivity dates. If PLM and ERP disagree, the floor finds out the expensive way.
Audits, as-built configuration, and the long tail of sustainment — where good configuration management is the difference between an afternoon and a program-level problem.
'26
PTC NEXT — ChicagoCustomer & Partner Panel, alongside NASA and Johnson & Johnson
'26
PTC Disruptors SpotlightFeatured disruptor
'26
On stageHow the record keeps a program honest
'13
The blog yearsConference coverage, USS Midway
'12
The blog yearsPress events & launch coverage
OFF
Off the clockWith his wife
OFF
Off the clockMagic Kingdom, after hours
It started in mechanical design engineering — years at the CAD workstation, close enough to the hardware to know exactly where a process breaks down when nobody's watching. He's the kind of engineer who takes the system apart to see why it works, then rebuilds it so it can't quietly fail.
From 2012 he wrote one of the CAD community's staple blogs, right here at rickyjordan.com — launch coverage, conference reporting, and a running argument about where CAD should go next. Then he crossed to the other side of the data: running configuration and change for programs where a wrong revision isn't a typo, it's hardware.
The best configuration system is the one engineers stop noticing — because it never gives them a reason to work around it.R. Jordan
Earlier programs and certifications slot in here — the sheet is built to extend.
Let's make your product data boring to work with — in the best possible way.