Commentaries & Highlights

Cyncly, the leading global provider of software and content solutions that help make amazing spaces for living, is celebrating the success of its partnership with City Plumbing following the nationwide rollout of its Virtual Worlds 3D design software across The Bathroom Showroom estate. The collaboration marks the largest implementation of Virtual Worlds by any company in the United Kingdom and is already delivering measurable improvements in customer engagement, design capability, and trade collaboration. The Bathroom Showroom is part of the award-winning Highbourne Group, which has a brand portfolio that includes some of the sector’s most well-known and respected names, including City Plumbing and PTS. City Plumbing, with over 300 branches and more than 3,000 colleagues, and The Bathroom Showroom, with 290 showrooms nationally, hold a unique place in the market, offering a one-stop solution that gives tradespeople confidence in sending their customers for expert service and advice. The rollout of Virtual Worlds

Hexagon’s Mining division has signed an agreement with Montana Technological University, granting access to the university’s Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC), including its training drifts and specialised equipment. The partnership provides a unique, real-world test environment to accelerate development of Hexagon’s next-generation underground technologies, particularly collision avoidance, operator safety, and advanced simulation. As mines expand deeper in pursuit of scarcer deposits, operators face tightening spaces, reduced visibility, and rising safety risks. Hexagon’s solutions already address fatigue, situational awareness, and underground development challenges. Collaboration with UMEC enhances this work while also supporting students, who gain exposure to cutting-edge technologies, hands-on learning, and access to internship opportunities that strengthen the school’s educational experience and value proposition. Hexagon has long supported and partnered with mining schools and students worldwide via sponsorships, scholarships, software licenses, and research collaborations. “As the industry pushes deeper beneath the surface, the risks to people and equipment only increase,” said Dave Goddard, President,

Centric Software® is proud to announce that Last Resort Design has selected Centric PLM™ to drive operational transformation and scalable growth. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, comply, buy, make, price, allocate, assort, sell and replenish fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, cosmetics & personal care products as well as multi-category retail, to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals. Founded by a team of experienced industry professionals, Last Resort Design has evolved into a thriving design studio serving a diverse portfolio of clients. Their work spans apparel, accessories, merchandise and soft goods design for sectors including fashion, music, entertainment and streetwear. The company partners with manufacturers in Asia while maintaining design studios in Australia, enabling rapid development cycles to support clients across multiple markets. In recent years, Last Resort Design has been experiencing the natural growing pains of a fast-scaling business. “Our revenue and workload have

PTC announced that HOLON, a subsidiary of the BENTELER Group, is using its Windchill+® product lifecycle management (PLM) software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution to help develop and bring to market an autonomous Level-4 electric vehicle (EV) that complies with automotive industry requirements. HOLON is dedicated to reshaping public transportation with inclusive, autonomous, and sustainable mobility solutions. Its first vehicle, the HOLON urban, will offer fully barrier-free access and space for up to 15 passengers and is designed for scheduled routes, on-demand service, ride-pooling, and goods transport. To support development, HOLON has introduced a flexible production concept that allows multiple vehicle variants to be built on the same assembly line, improving efficiency while advancing the company’s sustainability goals. HOLON implemented Windchill+ in six months, creating a fully digital product development environment that replaces manual, paper-based processes with modern workflows. With real-time access to accurate product information through cloud-based PLM, teams can collaborate more efficiently across the development center and future

Centric Software® is pleased to announce that schleich® has selected Centric PXM™, formerly Contentserv, to streamline data management and enhance the consumer experience. Centric Software delivers innovative, integrated, end-to-end AI-powered enterprise solutions to take products from concept to commercialization. Fashion, luxury, footwear, outdoor, home, consumer electronics, food & beverage, cosmetics & personal care as well as multi-category retail teams can plan, design, develop, source, comply, buy, make, price, allocate, assort, sell and replenish products to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals. Founded in 1935 by Friedrich Schleich, schleich® is one of the largest toy manufacturers in Germany, known for animal figurines that spark the imagination of children around the world. Today, the company maintains approximately 1,000 products and launches new collections twice a year. The figures and playsets span ten product lines, including Horse Club, Farm World and Eldrador® Creatures, captivating multiple generations. schleich’s renowned products sell across 60+ countries through e-commerce channels, distributors

IFS, the leading provider of Industrial AI software, announced that Tekniska verken, a Swedish municipally owned energy and utilities group, has selected IFS Cloud™ to support its mission of delivering essential services in a sustainable, innovative, and integrated way. Serving households and businesses with essentials such as heat, energy, water, waste management, fiber and biogas, Tekniska verken is embarking on a major digital transformation to unify operations and strengthen service delivery even further. With IFS Cloud, the company will replace several legacy systems with one single, connected and composable platform powered by Industrial AI. The solution will give Tekniska verken a real-time view across its entire value chain – from power generation, distribution and water treatment to field service and customer (engagement) interactions. This will increase efficiency regarding planning, decision-making and coordination between business units. By integrating ERP, EAM, FSM, and AIP, IFS Cloud enables Tekniska verken to optimize maintenance, safeguard project

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% stake in Coastal Cloud, a leading Salesforce Summit partner that specializes in Salesforce Consulting for an all cash consideration of $700 Million. Founded in 2012, Coastal Cloud is a leading multi-cloud Salesforce consulting firm, specializing in enterprise-scale transformations. They bring AI-led advisory and business consulting capabilities to help customers reimagine Sales, Service, Marketing, Revenue, CPQ, Commerce and Salesforce Data Cloud. As a Salesforce Summit Partner, Coastal Cloud excels in building deep customer relationships and partnerships. Coastal Cloud also has nominations on the Salesforce Partner Advisory Board which enables them to shape product innovations and develop the services required to support new launches. Coastal Cloud is led by Eric Berridge, a proven Salesforce veteran who has built and scaled category-leading Salesforce services ventures. Salesforce Ventures has been a strategic investor in

DXC Technology, a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner, announced the appointment of Russell Jukes as Chief Digital Information Officer (CDIO). In this expanded role, Russell becomes the first to lead DXC’s end-to-end digital and AI agenda, accelerating the company’s AI-powered transformation and ensuring its global technology environment is optimized to support customers’ strategic operations and our employees AI fluency. Since joining DXC in 2017, Russell has played a pivotal role in shaping DXC’s digital strategy and global technology capabilities. He has overseen DXC’s enterprise technology environment and has been central to advancing modernization across platforms, applications, and employee experience. Most recently, he was part of the team that developed Xponential, a proven, AI framework that simplifies the complexity that often stalls large-scale AI adoption. As CDIO, Russell will bring together digital, information, and AI transformation agendas across the groups delivering services, solutions, and software to our customers. This approach reflects a broader

Flexxbotics, delivering digital solutions for robot-driven manufacturing at scale, and IPR Robotics, a global leader in robot peripherals, announced a partnership to deliver IPR’s innovative StackTrax dual-rail robotic transfer unit (RTU) as an option with the Flexxbotics™ solution. Now, the robot’s effective reach is further extended across multi-machine rows with Flexxbotics orchestrating advanced robotic machine tending autonomy for lights out operation. With Flexxbotics robot-to-machine compatibility for over 1000 makes & models of factory equipment and StackTrax 7th axis multidirectional robotic tending motion, companies can quickly automate a wide range of machines for processes with multiple operations. The partnership’s design collaboration also resulted in a new level of standardization for greater maintainability and operational safety. “StackTrax combines our standard rails into a compact, flexible dual-rail solution which is highly configurable and reliable for the diverse types of advanced machine tending where Flexxbotics is used,” Anthony Leo, President of IPR Robotics. “StackTrax works together

Gamma Technologies (GT), a global leader in multi-physics systems simulation software is proud to announce the launch of a new direct entity in Japan, Gamma Technologies G.K., a major step forward in strengthening our commitment to supporting innovation and transformation for our customers in the region. Complementing this strategic move, GT is also extending its long-standing strategic partnership with our exclusive distributor in Japan, IDAJ Co., Ltd., a premier provider of analysis solutions. This enhanced collaboration will further deepen access to GT’s cutting-edge simulation tools and provide expanded support to customers in the automotive, aerospace, and energy sectors. For 30 years GT’s partner, IDAJ, has played a vital role in introducing and supporting GT’s solutions across the Japanese market. The partnership has been instrumental in enabling automotive OEMs, suppliers, and technology developers to achieve product excellence and engineering efficiency using its flagship product, GT-SUITE. In continued collaboration with IDAJ, this strategic step