CIMdata Blog

Accenture and Google Cloud announced a significant expansion of their partnership, with the launch of a first-of-its-kind program focused on helping enterprises drive AI-powered reinvention and business value faster and at scale. Through the Gemini Enterprise Acceleration Program, Accenture and Google Cloud will bring together thousands of AI-skilled engineers, forward deployed engineers (FDEs) and industry domain experts, and Faculty’s deep expertise in applied AI. “AI is simple to try and hard to scale—and that’s the moment leaders are in right now,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “The real shift is moving from using AI as a tool to deploying agents that can take on meaningful work across the enterprise. We are excited to expand our collaboration with Google Cloud to help our clients make that shift at scale, with humans in the lead, so that AI is embedded in how work gets done, strengthens customer experiences and delivers measurable

The premier global event series highlights AI integration, a record-breaking US$87.25 BN market size, and an industry-leading Digital Twin/Thread benchmark. ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 23 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 the successful completion of its 2026 PLM Market & Industry Forum series. This year’s forums, hosted across the USA, France, India, China, and Japan, provided the "PLM Economy" with its first look at the 2025 market results and the emerging trends defining the future of digital transformation. The 2026 theme, "AI in PLM: Expanding Capabilities Across the Product Lifecycle," resonated deeply with an international audience of software and service providers. As AI shifts from experimental to essential, the forums served as a critical venue for discussing the state of AI adoption and how to absorb these technologies into the enterprise roadmap to

Trace Exactly What's Driving Your Milestone On a complex, phased project where a missed milestone means liquidated damages, the question "what's actually driving this date?" needs a direct answer. Inspect Path has always shown the full network of connected elements, but that view includes a lot of activities that aren't actually on the driving path. Two new toggles in the Inspect Path ribbon change that: one filters to only the elements driving the selected activity or milestone, the other controls whether you see predecessors, successors, or both. The result is a focused, clean view of the exact chain that matters, available in both the Gantt and the Canvas.  Focus on What's Driving Your Milestone, Not the WBSs Around It Inspect Path in Gantt is built for tracing what matters on your schedule. But when WBS groups show up alongside the activities, milestones, and tasks you're actually trying to analyze, the view becomes harder

At Hannover Messe 2026, Siemens has announced significant expansions to its Industrial Edge ecosystem, accelerating data and AI integration and releasing enhanced cybersecurity functionalities. These enable a seamless integration of IT and Operational Technology (OT) environments, optimize processes and reduce operational disruptions. “Siemens Industrial Edge is evolving into a comprehensive platform that combines AI, security and ecosystem innovation,” says Dr. Horst J. Kayser, CEO Factory Automation at Siemens Digital Industries. “This gives our customers greater operational flexibility, simplified IT/OT integration and certified security for critical operations – all from one scalable platform.” AI integration and decentralized SCADA for greater flexibility The Industrial AI Suite, based on Industrial Edge, is now generally available. It simplifies the entire AI lifecycle and enables embedding industrial AI via a complete infrastructure, easily scaling AI models and managing them across locations. The Industrial AI Suite supports a wide range of AI-based applications such as predictive maintenance and visual inspection to

Modelon, a leader in cloud-native, physics-based system simulation software, announced an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant integrated into Modelon Impact, its flagship platform for system simulation. The AI assistant will help engineering teams get started easier, generate results faster, enable more collaboration, and achieve higher productivity in their daily work. The AI assistant uses state-of-the-art commercial Large Language Models (LLMs) and has been trained with Modelon’s unique and proprietary simulation libraries, which have been built and refined for more than a decade. These libraries include a wide range of applications in different industry domains, covering data centers, building, thermal, energy, automotive, and aerospace. The AI assistant can suggest reference models and simulation components that are relevant for customers’ engineering problems. Users can get support in selecting parameters to study and optimize, helping them to reach faster and more accurate results. Traditionally, simulation software has relied on its users to create, simulate and analyze

New capabilities accelerate simulation review, improve communication with operators, enhance machining strategies, and introduce practical AI assistance inside the CAM workflow Faster program verification: simulation rewind is now up to 30 times faster, allowing programmers to review complex machining sequences without losing momentum Clearer shop-floor visibility: interactive 3D simulation recordings can be shared through Live Job Reports, giving operators a clearer view of machining processes before the job reaches the machine Enhanced machining and usability: toolpath improvements strengthen cutting performance while Hexagon Copilot for EDGECAM introduces natural-language assistance inside the CAM environment As machining strategies become more sophisticated and delivery expectations continue to tighten, CNC programmers are under growing pressure to prepare reliable programs quickly while maintaining confidence on the shop floor. Modern CAM systems provide powerful capabilities to support complex machining. But with longer programs, more operations, and increasingly demanding parts, programmers are also spending more time verifying toolpaths, reviewing simulations, and communicating machining strategies to operators. To help manufacturers keep pace with these demands, Hexagon’s

Agiloft, the global leader in data-first contract lifecycle management (CLM), announced Agiloft Astra™, a contracts AI platform built for legal, procurement, sales, and finance, which illuminates contract data to create actionable decisions, designed to help enterprises unlock the full business value of their contracts. The platform introduces a free tier, giving teams a way to get started without the cost and rollout typically associated with enterprise-grade contract analytics tools.  Astra addresses two of the primary barriers to adopting contracts AI: cost and data security. With Astra, teams can begin using AI immediately to analyze agreements, identify risks, and extract insights, without entering a procurement process or committing budget. The platform operates under the Astra Clean Data Promise, ensuring that all customer data in Astra is used solely to deliver the service and comply with applicable laws. Unlike many AI providers who use data from free accounts to train their models, Agiloft Astra guarantees the same data policies and protection to free users as it does to paying customers. “One of the biggest barriers to contract technology has always been access, and Astra is built to tear that down,” said Otto Hanson, VP of Product and GM of Astra at Agiloft. “Its power is not only in what

Simulations Plus, Inc. (“Simulations Plus” or the “Company”), a global leader in model-informed and AI-accelerated drug development that advances biopharma innovation, announced a funded research collaboration with Lonza Group AG (“Lonza”), a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) dedicated to serving the healthcare industry, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop and validate a mechanistic, predictive framework for assessing the in vivo performance of amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) drug products. “Complex oral formulations such as amorphous solid dispersions present significant scientific and regulatory challenges due to their sensitivity to physiological and manufacturing variables,” said Dr. Viera Lukacova, Chief Scientific Officer of Simulations Plus. “Through this funded collaboration, we aim to integrate advanced in vitro systems with mechanistic modeling to improve prediction of in vivo performance, support regulatory decision-making, and enable more efficient development pathways for these high-impact therapies that deliver faster dissolution and more drug absorption.” Advancing Mechanistic, Model-Informed Approaches for Complex Products ASDs are

Schneider Electric, a global energy technology leader, began its participation at the 2026 BloombergNEF (BNEF) Summit (April 21–22) in New York, outlining the importance of addressing both an energy demand and energy intelligence challenge to effectively help close a growing global power gap and accelerate U.S. competitiveness. Artificial Intelligence (AI), data centers, electrification, and digitalization are driving a historic acceleration in global electricity demand. Schneider Electric’s Research Institute finds that AI could account for up to 50% of U.S. electricity demand growth between 2025 and 2030, with high‑end scenarios projecting total additional U.S. electricity demand reaching 157 GW by 2029.  “A new energy landscape—driven by AI, data centers, and electrification—is creating unprecedented needs which can be solved by advanced energy technologies,” said Pankaj Sharma, Executive Vice President, Software and Services at Schneider Electric. “This calls for a fundamental shift towards energy intelligent ecosystems that can dynamically sense, predict and optimize in real time to unlock

With new features for greater efficiency and flexibility, NUM is setting clear trends in digital tool manufacturing at GrindingHub 2026 in Stuttgart. The focus is on furthering the development of the proven tool grinding software NUMROTO, as well as the unveiling and launch of the new NUMROTO X. These advancements help to specifically optimize grinding processes and tailor software functions precisely to diverse manufacturing requirements. Focus on measurable productivity gains At GrindingHub 2026, NUM will present the latest enhancements to NUMROTO, which are designed to meet the key requirements of modern tool manufacturing: greater efficiency, higher process reliability, and software functions that can be specifically adapted to different production requirements. The focus is on the new feed rate optimization feature via 3D material removal rate in NUMROTOplus. It automatically adjusts machining feed rates based on the calculated material removal volume from the 3D simulation. This is particularly advantageous for machining operations with