June 1996: Spanish software specialist Lantek opens its office in Germany at a time that can be described as "prehistoric" from a digital perspective. Worldwide, software applications in industry and everyday life are still in their infancy. Digitalization is still a foreign concept in sheet metal production. Windows 95, the first graphical user interface for PCs, was launched just one year ago. The first smartphone came onto the market 11 years later. And it was only another four years later - 15 years after the opening of the German Lantek office - that the German government coined the term "Industry 4.0" at the Hannover Messe 2011. Today, it stands for the networking of machines and processes worldwide with the help of information and communication technology.

Drivers of Industry 4.0 in sheet metal production

"Industry 4.0 is tailor-made for us," says Christoph Lenhard, Lantek 's first employee in Germany and head of the German office. "Lantek is the driver of Industry 4.0 in sheet metal production." With its machine manufacturer-independent software portfolio, Lantek supports companies of all sizes in the metal and sheet metal processing industry on their individual path to digitalization.

Christoph Lenhard is the face of Lantek in Germany. Hardly anyone in the German-speaking world knows as much about software for sheet metal processing as he does. He remembers the beginnings of the Darmstadt office, at the time the second outside Spain after France: "Back then, people started programming the CNC on the PC and no longer on the machine." One of the first customers was Messer Cutting Systems in Groß-Umstadt, not far from Darmstadt. "They were looking for screen-supported Windows-based software for their beam-guided cutting machines - and Lantek was one of the first to offer this. Their machines are still running with our software today."

Lenhard studied mechanical engineering, speaks Spanish and had the task of opening up the German market for Lantek - and communicating the approach to the industry: Software can work independently of machine manufacturers, giving users the greatest possible freedom when developing their machine parks. Lenhard relied on the machine manufacturers as OEM partners: He established the Lantek brand in Germany, Austria and Switzerland through their systems equipped with Lantek CAD/CAM software. Today, the German office has 15 employees and supports around 900 customers - from contract manufacturers to international corporations. The great market potential that Lantek saw in Germany in 1996 has been confirmed: In the internal ranking, the German office occupies 3rd place. Worldwide, Lantek now has more than 220 employees in 20 offices in 14 countries, serving more than 25,700 customers in over 100 countries.

Intelligent software decides on the machines

The CAD/CAM beginnings have now evolved into a comprehensive portfolio of software modules for networked sheet metal processing. This represents a standardized platform solution against landscapes of software islands, which are often unable to communicate with each other, mean additional work for many companies and stand in the way of a comprehensive overview. The software portfolio covers all processes in the plant - from automated quotation creation and production control, including external work outside the plant, to invoicing, warehousing and business processes. However, a company does not have to say goodbye to the tried and tested: The experts simply integrate existing software systems into the new complete environment via interfaces.

Long gone are the days when the machine decided over the software. "Today, intelligent software decides which machines it communicates with. It allows each component to find its own way through production," explains Lenhard. Entering data multiple times is a thing of the past - and companies no longer need to set up and maintain their own cost-intensive networks to keep up with the digital age: cloud-based applications and virtual desktop solutions free them from the burden of having to finance, provide and maintain the necessary infrastructure on site, including sufficient computing power.

OEM partners are still among Lantek's most important customers and multipliers. The strategic partnership agreed in spring with the German machine tool manufacturer Trumpf does nothing to change this. "Lantek will remain an independent brand," emphasizes Lenhard. "And our development offices will also remain separate. However, our customers will benefit from each other's expertise - for even better and more future-proof solutions. That's the really good news this year for sheet metal production."