FACE TO FACE
“ SPI’ s manufacturing-focused software solutions are designed for companies facing cost increases and skilled labour challenges. Its approach bridges the gap between design and manufacturing, with fully integrated add-ins to create a seamless user experience.”
A SEAMLESS
EXPERIENCE
SPI’ s CEO, Jeanette Rouvel, outlined her strategic and technical focus for the company to ISMR, as well as the trends and customer requirements that are shaping the market for sheet metal software.
SPI Sheet Metal Solutions helps sheetmetal fabricators and sheet metal service providers to achieve an integrated process chain from the idea to the finished product. SPI GmbH has been developing specialised software solutions for the sheetmetal industry since 1980. The North German specialist is a development partner for SolidWorks, Autodesk and TRUMPF.
“ Our flagship SheetMetal software enhances the functionality of leading CAD applications with specialised sheet metal commands and calculations, significantly reducing design errors and accelerating fabrication timelines. The SPI unfolding algorithm guarantees production-ready flat patterns for complex geometries including multi-body parts, assemblies and freeform or curved surfaces. Seamless CADto-CAM connectivity is achieved through dedicated machine interface add-ons, while the SheetMetal Calculator add-on provides integrated cost calculation,” it explained.
SPI’ s CEO, Jeanette Rouvel, outlined her strategic and technical focus for the company to ISMR, as well as the trends and customer requirements that are shaping the market for sheet metal software.
ISMR: Please give a brief background to SPI and highlight any notable successes and achievements over the past two years.
Jeanette Rouvel( JR): SPI has been making software for the sheet metal industry since 1980. We will be celebrating our 45th anniversary later this year. Our customers are sheet metal fabricators and sheet metal service providers who specialise in laser cutting and bending manufacturing processes.
Over the past few years, our manufacturingfocused software solutions have proved particularly valuable as the industry faces increasing cost increases and skilled labour challenges. Our approach bridges the gap between design and manufacturing, ensuring that designs that look good in CAD also work seamlessly in production.
ISMR: Can you elaborate on‘ bridging the gap between design and manufacturing’? How does SPI achieve this?
Above: SPI headquarters at Ahrensburg, Germany. Left: Jeanette Rouvel, CEO, SPI.
JR: From the outset, we saw that our customers couldn’ t achieve satisfactory results
58 | ismr. net | ISMR October 2025