Case Study: MEILLER achieves 41%–81% faster PLM performance and reduced infrastructure costs with Aras Corporation (Aras Innovator)

Replaces Legacy PLM and Accelerates Performance to Drive Innovation

MEILLER, a family-owned German maker of heavy-duty truck bodies and systems founded in 1850 with about 1,500 employees, faced growing performance, cost and scalability problems with a legacy UNIX-based PLM system that managed its extensive CATIA V5 CAD library. The old environment required three servers, 14 CPUs and large memory, yet offered limited automation for global product development — prompting MEILLER to seek a modern, web-based PLM on a Microsoft platform to improve speed, reduce complexity and add functionality.

Working with T‑Systems, MEILLER implemented Aras Innovator in a six-month, phased project, migrating 2.8 million records (including 350,000 CATIA files) and consolidating infrastructure from three servers to one. The switch cut database size from 32 GB to 7 GB and reduced memory needs from 50 GB to 20 GB, while Aras delivered 41%–81% faster performance (and successfully loaded large assemblies the legacy system could not). The result: lower maintenance costs, greater PLM functionality, improved global development speed and the ability for MEILLER to customize and extend processes in-house.

Meiller