Aras Corporation: Enterprise PLM Software Provider

“Today’s automotive industry has turned into a data center on wheels, which is a very complex thing to manage,” aptly said Peter Schroer, CEO of Aras Corporation, an enterprise Product Lifecycle Management software provider. Over the past several years, the amount of electronics and software integrated with the mechanical components of a vehicle has increased dramatically. This increasing complexity, combined with greater compliance and regulatory requirements, gives rise to new risks and potential liability every time an automobile goes into production. “Hence, everyone in the product lifecycle, from engineering and product development, to manufacturing, quality, purchasing and compliance, and throughout the extended supply chain must be able to collaborate on product-related information under a single, connected system,” said Schroer.

Founded in 2000, Aras provides an enterprise PLM software platform called Aras Innovator that enables large global production teams to securely collaborate on the development of complex products, including automobiles and automotive components.

Aras’s uniqueness lies in the architecture of its PLM platform. The model-based service-oriented architecture enables real-time drag and drop customization without complex programming, saving time and eliminating the need for high-priced programming resources. As Schroer explains, “traditionally, implementing a PLM solutions was a 3 to 4 year project with extensive hard-coded customizations which became difficult to upgrade to newer versions, leaving companies stuck on outdated versions of the software or paying huge upgrade fees. The Aras modeling engine, which is more or less like liquid software, is design to be customized to the business environment, and to change as frequently and rapidly as the business itself changes. ” Aras is up and running in a fraction of the time of legacy PLM products and it is so flexible that the company includes upgrade fees in its annual support agreement, regardless of the level of customization.