TPT March 2010

I ndustry N ews

data M Software gets new name DATAM has been renamed due to a gradual change in its core business activity. The company said the former name no longer accurately described what the company offers. data M Software GmbH was founded in June 1987 with the objective of developing software. At that time the industry was convinced that as much as possible in a production process should be automated. Out of this work slowly arose the process simulation sector, but very soon the founders, Albert Sedlmaier and Stefan Freitag, realised that the design software alone was not sufficient since the customers requested additional technical services. Consequently in 1989 offered services and commenced design work themselves. Beside the work with software developing this sector very soon became a business pillar of its own. With immediate effect the software development was adjusted from this strategy to fully automatise everything “at the press of a button”. Even the marketing was changed

accordingly, and data M insisted from that time on that its software was not meant to automate everything. “That changed a lot with us,” said Albert Sedlmaier. “Henceforward the designing engineer was our friend and not our enemy any longer. We increasingly focused on process simulation – a designing engineer designed something and we wrote an analysing program, which calculated the result of the rollforming process and simulates the process.” R&D work is a daily routine for the data M team. That is what established the reputation of the company as being a problem solver or, as Albert Sedlmaier comments, as a trouble shooter. Companies from all over the world called for the Upper Bavarians and asked for assistance. Very soon Sedlmaier realised the high potential, which derives from the internationalisation of his firm and its services. Consequently he and his co-founder Mr Freitag began to look for distribution and engineering partners in Europe and overseas with whom they could market not only its software products but also its services. The goal of this expansion policy is to establish a number of “data M competence centres”, in which the parent company holds the majority. So far data M has delivered the feasibility

studies and the tooling as well as the roll forming concept to its customers. These services will in future be complemented by a machine that can produce prototypes of rolled sections. Not only on the basis of “flexible roll forming” or so-called “3D roll forming”, on which data M has been working for many years, the company in future will be in a position to offer its customers a complete concept consisting of theory and practical experience – from feasibility studies and the tooling concept as well as the rollforming concept to the prototype of the section. data M Sheet Metal Solutions GmbH – Germany Fax: +49 8024 6400 Website: www.datam.de

One of data M’s COPRA designed punched hole shapes

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M arch 2010

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