RPS and German-based DPS, a leading European software engineering solution provider, have signed an agreement under which the German firm is to add the Spanish firm’s integrated solutions for industry to the product range that it offers, on an exclusive distributorship basis. Through this agreement DPS’s 7000 customers in the DACH area (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Poland who have Solidworks in place will now be able to upgrade their operations thanks to RPS, Ibermática’s ERP system. This system can be fully integrated into the Solidworks engineering design solution and the Olanet in-plant data capture MES.
Its search for a partner in Europe led the German firm to RPS, which has a platform capable of integrating the three main solutions required by industrial production plants. RPS thus strengthens its position in the sector in the very birthplace of Industry 4.0, a field in which it already leads the market in the Iberian Peninsula. For its part DPS is able to move forward from its current position as a leading specialist provider of design technology software and gains the ability to offer overall solutions covering the full industrial process.
Manfred Gravius, manager of DPS, says that his team undertook a thorough process of benchmarking with the top German solutions “but Ibermática provides an innovative platform with a very high level of specialisation in industry, which makes it a highly competitive proposal for an advanced market such as that of Germany. […] The key factor in our final choice was the company’s total alignment with the Industry 4.0 philosophy and the overall value proposal that it provides in a fully integrated manner, from engineering to the plant, covering the latest technologies such as Big Data, the Cloud, etc. and providing fast, functional solutions”.
Long-term technology partners
DPS currently has 27 facilities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland where, employs 350 people and has a turnover of more than €55M. In the words of Javier Etxeberria, Head of RPS, “we are proud that a market as demanding as that of Germany has shown such support for us. It is an example of how competitive Basque industry is, since RPS is just an expression of its processes”. Mr. Etxeberria added that “the goal is to generate long-term projects and become technology partners of customers rather than just suppliers”.
“Aside from the major quantitative leap that this opportunity provides, there is an even bigger qualitative leap involved in extending into central Europe the benchmark position that we currently hold in Spain as regards the implementation of integrated technology solutions for managing entire industrial processes from product design to the manufacturing stage”, he concluded.
RPS has begun to hire German-speaking engineers to support the start-up of this project with its ERP, and expects more personnel to be needed as the Spanish company consolidates its presence in the DACH area. It also plans to undertake a further stage of business development in the IoT field with its own platform for the midmarket segment.
by Joan Carles Libori