IWT Strengthens Its Digital Thread with Aras Innovator to Support Global Growth

“After eight years of successive projects with Aras, we at IWT are now much more aware of the strategic importance of having centralized, interlinked product data, without duplication. We strongly believe that a digital thread improves the quality of our data and supports our overall performance.”

Maurizio Cosolo, Operations Director IWT
IWT logo
Headquarters
Milan, Italy
Founded
1991
Employees
220
Industry
Pharmaceutical

Challenges

  • Centralization and reliability of data: implementation of a single source of reference for all data.
  • Control of changes and regulatory compliance: structuring of engineering change management (ECO) and associated documentation to ensure traceability, reduce the risk of errors, and meet increased regulatory requirements.
  • Supporting growth with PLM: supporting strong business growth without slowing down processes, while maintaining the agility of engineering teams.

Outcomes

  • Standardized processes: internal workflows structured around a single platform, improving development and collaboration.
  • Trusted, enterprise-wide product data: a secure, centralized digital thread provides consistent, high-quality product data across the organization, significantly reducing data inconsistencies, rework, and internal information requests.
  • Scalable adoption: Aras serves as an enterprise-wide product management foundation, supporting business growth, maintaining engineering agility, and enabling broad user adoption.

Explore This Story

    IWT specializes in the design and manufacture of cleaning, decontamination, and sterile isolation solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Founded in 1991, IWT draws on the expertise of the Techniplast Group, founded in Italy in 1949 and recognized internationally for its research and healthcare equipment.

    Over the years, IWT has developed solutions that comply with cGMP requirements and meet the highest standards in contamination control. In 2017, the IWT Pharma division was strengthened to focus entirely on the specific needs of the pharmaceutical industry. Today, IWT Pharma offers a comprehensive range of services, from engineering and qualification to after-sales service, and is positioned as a trusted partner for controlling critical environments and pharmaceutical production processes.

    Challenges

    In 2018, IWT needed to evolve its product data management practices to support rapid growth and meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. The limitations of its legacy PLM system, combined with manual processes, highlighted the need to better structure, secure, and centralize information across the product lifecycle.

    This assessment led to the identification of several key challenges:

    • Centralizing and securing product data by establishing a single reference source for all data, in order to replace the manual tools and exchanges scattered between design, ERP, and production.
    • Controlling changes and regulatory compliance by structuring the management of engineering change orders (ECOs) and associated documentation to ensure traceability, reduce the risk of errors, and meet regulatory requirements.
    • Supporting growth with a PLM platform capable of scaling the business while maintaining the agility of engineering teams.

     

    Requirements

    IWT set a clear objective: strengthen its digital thread to support the company’s growth.

    Its first requirement was to find a solution that would provide a single, centralized source for all product data while preserving the agility of its engineering teams. In 2019, IWT launched this transformation program with Aras Innovator®. In the first year alone, more than 25,000 parts were integrated into the program with enriched data, without increasing workload.

    Since the initial launch, IWT has deployed Aras Innovator in successive stages aligned with its business priorities, including:

    • Engineering workflow and ECO management
    • Project data management to support customers’ regulatory compliance requirements, particularly in the pharmaceutical sector
    • Spare parts management and maintenance kit assembly for highly customized equipment
    • Quotation management, from customer request to costing

    Next steps are currently under evaluation, including the implementation of a digital twin for post-production equipment tracking. In addition, the product variant management module, which has already been tested, is expected to begin deployment in 2026.

     

    Benefits of Aras Innovator

    After more than eight years of collaboration, IWT has significantly improved the quality, availability, and consistency of its product data. Revisions caused by data inconsistencies have virtually disappeared, production priorities are now managed in real-time, and internal requests for information have significantly decreased. Teams have direct access to trusted data and share a common understanding of the product across its entire lifecycle.

     

    Results

    80% of IWT employees use Aras Innovator as their primary access point for product information, with 150 people serving as direct contributors, transforming the platform from an engineering tool into a true enterprise-wide product management foundation.

    The flexibility of Aras’ low-code platform has also enabled IWT to develop and deploy approximately 20% of its own unique features, while continuing to benefit from the platform’s core capabilities to support more standard needs.