Industry Summary Articles

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 12 January 2026—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global research, consulting, and education firm specializing in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and the Digital Transformation it enables, is pleased to announce the promotion of James Roche to Vice President, Aerospace & Defense Practice.

Mr. Roche, who previously served as Director of the Aerospace & Defense Practice, has been instrumental in expanding CIMdata’s footprint within the global A&D community. In his new role, he will assume broader strategic responsibilities, overseeing the practice's growth and ensuring CIMdata continues to provide world-class insights into the complex requirements unique to the aerospace and defense...

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SSI enables digital shipbuilding design, planning, and production.

Key Takeaways

• Shipbuilders face challenges quite different from other manufacturing industries, requiring tools that capitalize on their unique experiences in both design and construction.
• AI concepts can be applied across all aspects of shipbuilding from design through maintenance and operations, but the challenge lies in building company-specific AI models that capture organizational knowledge and processes.
• SSI’s open architecture strategy recognizes that multiple AI models will exist within any shipbuilding organization. Rather than forcing a single model approach, SSI’s solutions can create and work with company-specific AI models...

This PLM-focused event will take place in May.

Ann Arbor, MI, USA 7 January 2026—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global PLM strategic management consulting and research firm, announces the theme and dates for the highly anticipated PLM Road Map & PDT 2026 North America conference. The event will take place at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia, USA, on May 6th and 7th. The theme for the 2026 conference is “AI in PLM: A Disruptive Opportunity and Challenge.”

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) moves from an experimental technology to a core industrial requirement, the PLM professional faces a critical turning point. PLM Road Map...

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 17 December 2025—The CIMdata-administered Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group (AD PAG) has released a new, authoritative report, Digital Twin-Digital Thread Solution Evaluation Benchmark Report of Findings: General Availability Edition.

Recognizing that the knowledge of what is currently possible with digital twin and digital thread (Dtw-Dth) was not widely understood, the AD PAG sponsored this extensive project. The findings reported are the culmination of a collaborative exploration of solution strategies, implementation approaches, current value delivery capabilities, and future visions of commercial Dtw-Dth providers. Domain experts from seven AD PAG member companies partnered with four industry organizations and...

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How SAP’s Solution Strategy for PLM Extends the Digital Thread Across the Enterprise

Key Takeaways

• SAP positions its solutions for PLM and the SAP Business Suite as providing the system of record for product data, ensuring seamless execution across the enterprise. This enables companies to connect design, supply chain, and service data in one integrated business platform.
• SAP’s solutions for PLM create and manage the product data backbone required to drive efficiencies throughout the supply chain.
• SAP’s solutions for PLM address the needs of businesses in both discrete and process industries.
• By embedding data, applications, and...

This CIMdata educational webinar will identify the problem and offer actionable ways to encourage executives to provide and maintain the level of support needed to ensure success.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 9 December 2025—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global research, consulting, and education firm specializing in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and the digital transformation it enables, announces an upcoming free educational webinar, “Winning the C-Suite: How to Build the Executive Case for Sustained PLM Investment.” The webinar will take place on Thursday, 8 January 2026, at 11:00 a.m. (EST) and last...

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Major announcements at IFS Industrial X Unleashed

Key Takeaways

• At their one-day IFS Industrial X Unleashed event in New York City, IFS highlighted the strategic importance of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) across their solution portfolio.
• Their June 2025 acquisition of TheLoops, now IFS Loops, added industrial-grade agentic AI capabilities to the AI functionality already embedded in their solution.
• At the event, IFS announced four new partnerships—with Anthropic, 1X Technologies, Boston Dynamics, and Siemens Grid Software—that bring new technology and industry expertise that should turbocharge IFS’ pursuit of their Industrial AI vision.

CIMdata had the pleasure of...

This series of five global events offers the first public release of 2025 PLM Market performance metrics and findings from CIMdata’s groundbreaking survey on AI in PLM adoption benchmarks.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA, 4 December 2025— CIMdata, Inc., the leading global strategic consulting and research firm focused on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and its digital transformation, announces “AI in PLM: Expanding Capabilities Across the Product Lifecycle” as the theme for its 2026 PLM Market & Industry Forum event series.

Today, following the disruptive rise of Generative AI (genAI), the PLM Economy faces an urgent mandate to operationalize AI capabilities. This massive market...

Eleven country-specific PLM market analyses are now available.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 4 December 2025— CIMdata, Inc., the leading global strategic consulting and research firm focused on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and its digital transformation, announces the release of ten country-specific 2025 PLM Market Analysis Reports. These reports follow the release of the 2025 China PLM Market Analysis Report earlier this year.

The CIMdata 2025 PLM MAR series presents CIMdata’s analysis of the 2024 product lifecycle management (PLM) market. The complete global analysis provides CIMdata’s perspective on PLM across a variety of industry and geographic sectors, identifies market trends, reviews investments in...

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Key Takeaways

• Oracle was one of the first enterprise software firms to embrace generative AI (genAI), and at Oracle AI World 2025 they announced new initiatives and technologies that highlight how AI is core to their business going forward.
• According to Oracle, 2026 is the year for “operationalizing AI,” and their announcements at this event can go a long way to helping their customers and partners make this a reality.
• The AI Data Platform provides a secure, managed environment to leverage data from a heterogeneous set of applications, and the AI Agent Studio is...