Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 22 April 2026—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global research, consulting, and education firm specializing in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and the Digital Transformation it enables, announces that Dr. Diego Tamburini, Executive Consultant and Director of its AI in PLM practice, was recently featured on the Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering podcast. Hosted by Razorleaf, the episode titled "Build, Buy or Wait, Navigating the AI Implementation Stack" takes a deep dive into what it actually takes to move from AI experimentation to production-ready deployment in manufacturing and engineering organizations.
Drawing on over 25 years of experience at organizations including Microsoft, Autodesk, and Siemens Digital Industries, Dr. Tamburini Diego walks through the full AI implementation spectrum, from off-the-shelf embedded tools to fully custom builds, and explains the critical difference between AI-augmented workflows and true agentic AI. He also shares where most organizations go wrong, what skill sets are needed at each level, and how the digital thread concept is powering smarter cross-system AI reasoning.
Key Insights from the Discussion included:
- Workflow Automation vs. Agentic AI: Understanding the critical distinction between these two approaches and why conflating them leads to poor strategic decisions.
- Tools for Every Level of Builder: A breakdown of the implementation spectrum, from low-code platforms like Microsoft Copilot Studio and Amazon Bedrock to full custom development in Python.
- The Rise of the SME Developer: Why subject matter experts and not only software engineers are becoming the primary architects of AI agents in the industrial space.
- The "Make, Buy, or Wait" Framework: Practical guidance on prioritizing AI initiatives and deciding when to purchase existing capabilities versus building internal ones.
- Security and Compliance Pitfalls: Addressing the essential challenges of traceability that organizations must navigate, particularly in regulated industries.
- Digital Thread as a Knowledge Backbone: How the digital thread provides the necessary context for AI to perform sophisticated, cross-domain reasoning across enterprise systems.
The full episode is available at https://staysharpindigitalengineering.com/podcasts/ai/.
