Darmstadt, February 2006  - In cooperation with Delphi Deutschland GmbH, the ProSTEP iViP Association again invites all PLM experts to attend the ProSTEP iViP Symposium. The largest product lifecycle conference in German-speaking countries is being held on 25 and 26 April 2006 in Cologne under the motto

Enabling Innovation - Integrating Processes

Experts from all over the world will be meeting up to exchange information on the experience they have already gained and their visions for the future, as well as to discuss strategies. This year, UGS, a longstanding member of the Association, will be acting as sponsor.

After the success enjoyed by last year’s Symposium, with over 360 people attending, the 9th symposium will offer visitors an even more comprehensive program of events with 30 presentations and five workshops. The presentations provide those attending with an ideal opportunity to obtain wide-ranging information about the latest projects and solutions. The workshops provide the perfect platform for discussing experience already gained and requirements. The program of events is neatly rounded off by a number of invited guest speakers.

The two-day conference will be kicked off by Bette Walker, Vice President and Chief Integration Officer at Delphi Corporation, who will be highlighting the challenges being faced today by global suppliers. Together with the subsequent keynote speakers, including Dr. Trac Tang, Process Integration Officer at Volkswagen AG, she will set the parameters for the presentations that will be made over the course of the two days. Topics such as engineering change management, mechatronics, new means of exchanging data between OEMs and suppliers, and the protection of intellectual property will addressed.

This year’s symposium offers all those attending a wide ranging program of information, as well as a popular parallel exhibition which is appreciated by visitors and exhibitors alike as an ideal communication platform. The following companies will be participating in the exhibition:
CIMPA GmbH, :em engineering methods AG, Eurostep AB, IBM Deutschland GmbH, KISTERS AG, Life Cycle Engineers GmbH, Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG, MatrixOne GmbH, Mentor Graphics GmbH, PartMaster GmbH, PDTec GmbH, PROSTEP AG, Parametric Technology GmbH, sd&m AG, Siemens Business Services GmbH & Co. OHG, T-Systems Enterprise Services GmbH, UGS, Unity AG, Valtech GmbH, xPLM Solution GmbH & Co. KG.

You will find the complete program of events and the latest information on the symposium in the Internet at www.prostep.org.

About the ProSTEP iViP Association

The ProSTEP iViP Association is an international branch-specific community comprising leading companies in the automotive and aerospace industries, system vendors and research institutes. The aim of the ProSTEP iViP Association is to find solutions for the challenges facing the manufacturing industry as a result of networked collaboration in a worldwide development network.

A concept based on a coherent, cross-organizational and cross-domain view of data, processes and systems provides a solid foundation for meeting these challenges. The Association’s five main areas of focus reflect this approach: process management, system integration, product data standardization, engineering collaboration and knowledge transfer.

The ProSTEP iViP Association is headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and was founded in October 1993 by 38 industrial companies and a number of system vendors as part of the German STEP initiative. Members of the ProSTEP iViP Association currently include almost 200 companies and organizations from 17 nations.

Further information at www.prostep.org.