According to Automation, Prostep, the leading PLM integration specialist in the area of product data integration and supplier communication, announced that it has expanded its global presence by opening a new office in Michigan's Automotive and High Tech Corridor, in the Detroit regional city of Troy effective July 1st, 2006.

"North America is a key market for PROSTEP's customers in Automotive, Aerospace, Heavy machinery, and Electronics," said Bernd Pätzold, President & CEO - PROSTEP AG. "Our expansion will enable us to better serve our current and future customers, while exploring new market opportunities." PROSTEP, Inc. will be headed by the team of Andreas Schreiber - President & CEO and Paul W. Downing - Vice President. Mr. Schreiber previously was in charge of the Competence Center OpenPDM and has been with the parent company PROSTEP AG (Darmstadt Germany) for almost 10 years. Mr. Downing brings over 20 years of IT, and Automotive experience in the Michigan area working for and with Global OEM's and Suppliers. "We are highly confident in our leadership team that we have placed in the US," said Bernd Pätzold. "We have put our best people on the ground in Detroit, and with the full resources of our Headquarters behind them we are well positioned to succeed."

PROSTEP is a leading product-independent service provider of turn-key solutions for engineering processes in areas of product data integration, migration and communications for manufacturers and industry, thus making e-engineering a reality. PROSTEP has positioned itself as a provider for both users and developers of CAD/CAM and product data lifecycle management (PLM). PROSTEP products like OpenPDM and OpenDXM are founded upon proven industry standards and open architecture platforms (STEP, XML, J2EE) and provide connections into all popular CAD and PDM systems. By offering customers standard and customized solutions PROSTEP creates significant returns on investment related to savings from automated labor saving processes with a focus on Data Quality, and Integrity. OpenPDM allows users with different PDM systems to exchange not only CAD data, but complete Product data Structure including metadata and position information. OpenDXM automates all aspects for data sharing workflow, including translations, quality checking, and supplier portals.