CONTACT Software

PLM, IoT and project software for engineering companies, built on one platform

CONTACT Software is a German software company that develops standard software for the process of creating products. Its site describes the software as open, and the company says it supports digital transformation in manufacturing and engineering. Its single platform is called CONTACT Elements, and the company sells five products that run on it, each aimed at a different engineering problem.

The platform and its principles

CONTACT Elements is presented as a platform on which engineers collaborate, speed up product development and put digital twins to work. The site stresses four design choices: modular rather than monolithic, open interfaces rather than vendor lock-in, configuring rather than programming, and continuous links between data and processes. The newest release adds an integrated AI layer called Fourier AI, which the company says brings AI into every phase of the product lifecycle, from change management through production to service.

Five product areas

Product lifecycle management is the first: it aims to speed up development of complex products by controlling the lifecycle from the start, cutting routine tasks and errors, and meeting regulatory duties. For connected products, a second area covers IoT and the digital twin of industrial assets, helping operators run machines and plant more reliably and develop service business. A third is project management, where a hybrid of agile and classical methods ties planning to execution in demanding engineering projects. Collaboration is the fourth, supporting joint ventures and supplier cooperation through continuous data and process flows. The fifth area is a system for shopfloor production control.

Examples the company points to

The company cites a global production control system for a drive-component manufacturer, built on its platform, which gives production staff and management real-time information. It reports a strategic OEM partnership with a shipbuilding software provider to bring out the first PLM solutions made for shipbuilding, and a wind service company that has adopted the platform as its central data foundation. It also reports that a business magazine ranked it first among Germany's digital pioneers of the mid-sized sector in 2022, and that it has set up a research department.