Since the beginning of the year, Bechtle has bundled the competencies of four companies specializing in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) under the joint Bechtle brand. The individual companies Coffee, DPS Software, Solidline and Solidpro have thus become Bechtle PLM Deutschland GmbH, headquartered in Neckarsulm. With well over 600 employees at more than 40 locations throughout Germany, this creates one of the largest specialists for PLM solutions in Europe. Together, the companies, which have been part of the Bechtle Group for many years, serve more than 25,000 customers, mainly from the manufacturing industry. The previous managing directors will form the management team of Bechtle PLM with different responsibilities. "We want to use the outstanding business development in the PLM sector in recent years to achieve further significant growth - in our traditional and new business areas. The merger makes us stronger than ever," says Uwe Burk, Divisional Director PLM | Engineering & Manufacturing at Bechtle AG.

Synergy effects hoped for

Under the strong Bechtle brand, synergies are expected to be particularly effective in the marketing of joint solutions, in the uniform customer approach and in the cooperation with manufacturing partners. The portfolio of PLM solutions and services includes the key components CAD/CAM and product data management, sales configuration, digital twin, smart factory, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), digital manufacturing, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and 3D printing. Interfaces to applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Supply Chain Management (SCM) are also part of the PLM concept.

Strong manufacturer partnerships

Through its existing individual companies, Bechtle PLM has excellent, long-standing relationships with the most important manufacturers in the industry, including Dassault Systèmes, SolidCAM, HCL, DriveWorks, 3D Systems, Markforged, Sintratec and HP. In recent years, all four companies have received numerous Europe-wide partner awards for excellent performance. All certifications and partner status remain valid in the new constellation.

A wealth of experience under one roof

The four specialists have more than 30 years of industry experience and are well established within the Bechtle Group. Solidpro 2010, Solidline 2011, Coffee 2018 and DPS 2020 joined Bechtle through acquisitions. In addition, the Bechtle Group's PLM specialists outside Germany have included Solid Solutions since 2011 and SGSolution in Switzerland since 2023, Planetsoftware in Austria since 2014 and Cadmes in the Netherlands, Belgium and France since 2021. In total, Bechtle now has more than 800 employees in Europe who specialize in the growth market of PLM.

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