Eurostep Group
Innovative Solutions for Secure PLM Collaboration

Today’s markets are global, fast moving and highly competitive. Networked innovation with suppliers, partners and customers are the key to survival. This is driving companies to adopt Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions in new ways. “A PLM vision and strategy must acknowledge the complexity of products and systems and it has to look beyond the engineering division and even the company borders,” delineates Hakan Karden, CEO, Eurostep Group. With companies increasingly joining hands with other firms, “they will only be able to leverage their partnerships to the fullest when all companies can collaborate at the full PLM level,” remarks Karden. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Eurostep offers a portfolio of software and consulting services with a particular focus on the sharing and exchange of data within and between engineering domains and enterprises.

Founded in 1994, Eurostep set out to deliver data integration and collaboration across engineering domains, systems, and enterprises. The idea stemmed from consistent interactions with the firm’s blue chip clients from industry verticals like automotive, aerospace, defense, energy, and construction. “We noticed that information in companies was scattered across multiple systems. This data should be shared among partners and stakeholders for enhanced business decisions,” states Karden. Moreover, collaboration and data integration has to be maintained alongside ensuring robust security standards.

In order to efficiently achieve this, Eurostep has designed software that makes it possible to exchange and share information between heterogeneous IT systems and processes in a controlled and secure way. Eurostep’s flagship product, ShareAspace, is a neutral data sharing hub that extends—rather than replace—existing systems such as Product Development Management (PDM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO). ShareAspace facilitates change and business agility by making it easy to add and remove systems and partners.

ShareAspace allows organizations and teams to share documents as well as fine grained product information.

ShareAspace provides a neutral repository for shared product information

ShareAspace manages information from heterogeneous information systems and provides a standards-based and consolidated view of the information. “ShareAspace brings consistent details, change management, quality control, and security to collaboration,” states Karden. Additionally, ShareAspace ensures that information is available to the right people and systems within a project and, very important, the data is available in standard format and not locked into a vendor’s proprietary PLM format.

Eurostep recently launched its next generation ShareAspace products—InReach, InControl,and InLife. ShareAspace InReach captures internal engineering data adding consolidation and security, while also sharing it with business partners. InControl combines various information-sets managing data ownership and quality. “InLife handles the information of products in use connecting to the real world including Internet of Things (IoT),” adds Karden.

Over the years, many companies have benefitted from incorporating Eurostep’s PLM Collaboration solutions into their environment. In one instance, Volvo was moving from a point to point integration process with one of their partners to an integrated collaborative process with better control and predictability. After deploying ShareAspace, customers gain a stable data sharing framework with configuration control, improved data quality and Intellectual Property (IP) protection.

Eurostep continues to build and deliver enhanced capabilities and focus on improving its solutions. Examples include out-of-the-box collaboration best practices as well as integration with Microsoft Office 365 and Azure. “With increasing product complexity and more and more networking we look forward to support our clients in their quest towards collaboration excellence,” concludes Karden.