Crossland Tankers Case Study

Driving Digital Efficiency – Crossland Tankers Ltd

Introduction

Crossland Tankers Ltd is a specialist engineering and manufacturing company based in the UK and Ireland, known for designing and producing high‑quality tankers and bespoke liquid handling vehicles for industrial, commercial, and agricultural clients.

As a business with complex engineering needs and a multi‑site production footprint, Crossland needed a robust product data management strategy that could support engineering innovation, supplier collaboration, and consistent delivery of quality products across its operations.

Before engaging PLM Central, Crossland Tankers faced challenges with fragmented engineering data and processes that limited consistency and slowed product development cycles. As the company expanded its operations across multiple locations, ensuring smooth information flow between design, manufacturing, and supply partners became increasingly important. Crossland needed a solution that could standardise data management, improve collaboration, and reduce inefficiencies such as design rework and data ambiguity, all while supporting growing complexity in product variations.

We worked closely with Crossland Tankers to implement an enterprise‑wide Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution based on PTC Windchill Technology, a platform designed to centralise engineering data and streamline lifecycle processes. Over a multi‑year digital transformation roadmap, Windchill became the cornerstone of Crossland’s PLM strategy, providing a single source of truth for product data, improved change control, and enhanced design transparency.

In addition to core PLM functionality, Crossland has planned next‑phase initiatives that include the use of Manufacturing Bill of Materials (M‑BOM) tools, ERP integration, and enriched manufacturing information for downstream processes, all part of building a scalable digital thread across engineering, production, and operational teams.
The training emphasised practical, real‑world methods that participants could immediately apply to their ongoing work, while coaching on how to use Creo’s advanced tools more effectively.

With the Windchill PLM solution in place, Crossland has been able to get designs out faster and implement more effective supplier collaboration across sites. The unified data environment has reduced design rework and scrap while enabling teams to work from consistent, up‑to‑date information. Real‑time visibility of engineering data has improved decision‑making and coordination between departments, resulting in more efficient product development processes overall. In embracing Windchill as a central platform, Crossland has strengthened its engineering capabilities and laid the groundwork for future integrations that will further enhance manufacturing traceability and performance.

“Since our migration from DDM, the PLM Central team has worked extremely closely with Crossland Tankers, working towards the implementation of our enterprise‑wide PLM solutions, in both our Burnley and Ireland sites. We’ve been extremely impressed by the level of knowledge from the team, and in accordance to this, have made the executive decision to sign a long-term agreement with them, for support, consultancy, and much more. By implementing PLM Central’s industry solutions, we’ve been able to get our designs out faster, implement better supplier collaborations & reduce scrap.”

Design Manager, Crossland Tankers Ltd.