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About the author

Julian Weyer

Making complex products manageable — through PLM, ALM, and a continuous Digital Thread.

Senior Consultant at PROSTEP/BHC. My approach: understand first, then design.

About

Who is Julian

variantmanagement.com is the personal project of Julian Weyer — a consultant at PROSTEP/BHC specializing in PLM, ALM, and variant management for complex, software-driven products. His clients include manufacturers of automotive systems, automation components, industrial equipment, and medical devices working through the challenges of increasing product complexity.

What sets Julian apart: he knows PLM from both sides of the table. Before moving into consulting, he held roles in product marketing, sales, and order engineering — which means he has lived with the consequences of processes that don't match reality. When the first question in a project is "which system?", something is usually already wrong.

His methodology — first understand, then design — means starting with the actual problem, not the tool, and building solutions that stay efficient and maintainable over time. The goal is always a clear, continuous Digital Thread: from requirements through development, production, and the product in the field.

Focus areas

PLM/ALM for variant-rich products
Variant management & configuration
Digital Thread architectures
Systems Engineering — processes & methods
IT sovereignty & toolchain independence
AI in PLM/ALM

Career

PROSTEP/BHC 2020–present

Senior Consultant — Expert Processes & Methods PLM/ALM

Solution design for complex, software-driven products. Projects span Software-Defined Vehicles (packaging, process design & UN/ECE R156-compliant SUMS methodology), configuration management, ALM migrations (incl. medical technology), and Digital Thread architecture. Portfolio development for ALM consulting; member of the prostep ivip Strategic Council. Currently building an AI consulting portfolio for complex product industries and exploring what AI-native Digital Thread Consulting looks like.

SCHUNK 2007–2020 (12+ years)

PLM · SAP LO-VC · Variant Management

Led the SAP-based product configurator rollout across business divisions and built the team responsible for ongoing configuration model maintenance. Responsible for material master and BOM governance, and legacy system data migration to SAP. Also led the special chuck technology sales team and contributed to the TENDO E compact product launch.

J.A. Becker & Söhne 2004–2007

Database Development · Technical Documentation · Marketing

Database application development, user-centered technical documentation, marketing materials, and customer satisfaction analysis.

Hochschule Heilbronn Graduated 2007

Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) — Production & Logistics

Practical semester at Veeco Metrology, Santa Barbara (USA). Diploma thesis at BASF AG (XML feasibility study for research automation).

Speaking & publications

Publication — Integrating Hardware- and Software Development
Publication — Traceability over Lifetime
Talk — Leveraging Long-Term Software Update Strategies · Siemens Realize LIVE Las Vegas 2024
Talk — Is your PLM/ALM still keeping pace? · Siemens Realize LIVE Boston 2023
Member, prostep ivip Strategic Council
Background

Julian works as part of PROSTEP/BHC – The Digital Thread Experts — a consultancy with 30+ years of PLM ecosystem experience, proprietary integration solutions (OpenPDM, OpenCLM, RelAIable), and a specialist network spanning strategy, architecture, and implementation. Julian brings the end-to-end perspective; the team brings the depth.

Want to talk about your variant management challenge?

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