Archive for the ‘Industry 4.0’ Category
Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
The future of PLM is characterized by smart networked products and new, data-driven business models that extend the product life cycle into the operating phase. For us, this future has already begun with important decisions such as our acquisition of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting and our planned participation in groundbreaking research projects for the validation of autonomous driving functions.
“PLM is back in,” my fellow board member Karsten Theis wrote correctly in the editorial of the last newsletter. But a different kind of PLM that takes into account the challenges of interdisciplinary, model-based system development and the integration of E/E (electrical/electronic) and software development into classical, mechanics-oriented PLM processes. For us as one hundred percent PLM specialists, this means that we have to deal intensively with these challenges and build up additional know-how for E/E and software development.
A few months ago, we took an important step in this direction by acquiring a majority stake in Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting. Our new PROSTEP Company specializes in PLM consulting for electrical/electronic and software development and currently supports companies in the automotive and mechanical engineering industries in the design and implementation of corresponding solutions for mechatronic and E/E-dominant products. This will enable us to significantly expand our know-how in an area that is of central importance for the automotive industry, especially with regard to e-mobility and autonomous driving.
Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting was founded three years ago and will continue to operate as an independent brand on the market. Together we offer our customers a more comprehensive range of consulting and solutions and address demanding topics such as conception, requirements engineering, software quality assurance or application lifecycle management. We have already proven in joint projects that we can optimally support customers in their daily work with these topics.
We expect the new PROSTEP Company to strengthen our market position as a vendor-neutral PLM consulting and software house. Without know-how in the areas of E/E and software, we will not be able to maintain our claim to be the leading PLM think tank in the long term. The combination of our 25 years of experience in PLM consulting, system integration, migration and collaboration with the special know-how of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting in E/E and software development enables us to support our customers even more comprehensively in digitizing their PLM processes.
In addition, the acquisition of Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting strengthens our position in pioneering research projects in Advanced Systems Engineering and in the verification and validation of autonomous driving, in which we intend to participate. We see these fields as a promising market for our PLM consulting and solutions offering, which we intend to develop into a strategic business area, not least with the support of our new colleagues. We will consistently expand our know-how in the areas of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), E/E and software development, but also by hiring additional employees. In keeping with our guiding principle “How Integrate the Future”, they can actively shape the future of PLM at PROSTEP.
By Bernd Pätzold, PROSTEP AG
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Tuesday, November 19th, 2019
With the appointment of Dr. Karsten Theis as a new member of the Executive Board, PROSTEP has initiated a generational change in management just in time for the company’s 25th anniversary. In an interview with the PROSTEP Newsletter, Theis explains how the PLM consulting and software company will position itself to be prepared for the challenges of the digital future. “We Integrate the Future” remains the company’s DNA.
An Interview with Karsten Theis
Question: PROSTEP sees itself as a 100-percent PLM specialist. Is this the right way to prepare for the future?
Theis: What we mean by 100% PLM is the digitalization of the entire product lifecycle from development to production and operation through to service. This vision is exactly what the market is demanding and what we – and only we – are able to deliver in this form. Our core focus lies in the integration of complex processes and systems – including at a cross-enterprise level. The market for such solutions is growing strongly because the topic of integration is becoming ever more important. Digitalization, Industry 4.0 and IoT are bringing new players whose systems have to be integrated into the existing processes and IT landscapes. I therefore think that we are very well positioned for the future.
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Friday, October 11th, 2019
Industry 4.0 is here, and it’s no secret that your business and product development processes will be affected. The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Additive Manufacturing (AM) and other innovative technologies add more dimension and depth to the never-ending amounts of data produced by the industry. How will you effectively manage and use this data to enhance your product development processes? It’s important to know the answer to this question, because Industry 4.0 shows no signs of slowing down.
What challenges will you face with Industry 4.0’s integration, implementation and education in your company? How will it affect your PLM infrastructure and product development processes? How will you adopt new business models and increase value by intelligently linking your products? Are you ultimately prepared for digital transformation?
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Friday, September 27th, 2019
PROSTEP is actively participating in key funding projects for the validation and verification of autonomous driving functions such as V&V and SET Level 4to5, which are of strategic importance for the digital transformation of the automotive industry. As the leading, vendor-independent PLM consulting and software company, we will support its partners from industry and the research community in the testing and industrialization of project results.
Autonomous vehicles must be able to master all critical driving situations in order to obtain approval. Testing their behavior on the road alone would be far too risky and time-consuming. Therefore, the driving functions must be validated digitally. That is why major carmakers and automotive suppliers such as Audi, BMW, Continental, Ford, MAN, Opel, Robert Bosch, VW and ZF Friedrichshafen are developing uniform methods and tool chains for the digital validation of highly automated (Level 4) and autonomous (Level 5) vehicles in urban environments together with leading German research institutes and software companies within the framework of the funding projects V&V and SET Level4to5.
PROSTEP will be playing a key role in both projects, which have a total volume of 77 million euros. As an intermediary between the research community and industry, we will assume the task of ensuring the industrial applicability of the project results and promoting their industrial implementation. Specifically, we will provide the project partners with support for industrial testing, requirements definition and feedback of the test results into the respective subprojects. The project team I have the honor to lead will also contribute its comprehensive process and integration know-how to the design of the data models and simulation environments.
In addition, we will be developing the demonstrator for a traceability solution based on its open, standards-based software tools within the framework of the project. Among other things, the demonstrator will make it possible to verify when which simulation models led to which results and decisions, using which software and hardware configuration, and subject to which constraints and requirements.
The reason behind the demonstrator is the fact that there is currently no neutral system available on the market for this “baselining” of simulations in a heterogeneous IT landscape. Once the project has been completed, we will develop the demonstrator into a commercial product and market it under the name OpenCLM. The knowledge gained in the projects will also be incorporated in consulting projects with customers.
PROSTEP sees autonomous driving as a key future technology and a promising market for their wide range of consulting and solution offerings, and one that the company will be expanding into a strategic business segment, as Dr. Bernd Pätzold, our CEO emphasizes. In recent months, we have rigorously expanded our know-how in the areas model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and electrical/electronic (E/E) and software development to ensure that we are able to tackle the new topics in a professional manner, among other things by acquiring the consulting firm Bartscher & Hasenäcker Consulting, which specializes in PLM for E/E.
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