Commentaries & Highlights

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 14 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 an upcoming free educational webinar, “2026 PLM Status & Trends.” The webinar will take place on Thursday, 14 May 2026, at 11:00 a.m. (EDT) and last for one hour.

This eagerly awaited annual webinar provides exclusive insight into CIMdata’s global PLM Status & Trends research survey results. Each year, the cumulative research aims to deepen the global PLM community’s collective understanding...

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 26 March 2026—The CIMdata-administered Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group (AD PAG) is sharing a catalog of 80 use cases for digital twin-digital thread (DTW-DTH). This document marks the culmination of an intensive benchmarking project designed to bridge the gap between theoretical potential and industry reality.

Recognizing the need for clarity in a complex digital landscape, an AD PAG-sponsored project team undertook the challenge of advancing the industry’s understanding of current DTW-DTH capabilities. By benchmarking use cases using commercially available software and services, the team has provided a roadmap for organizations looking to scale their digital maturity....

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Technical and architectural best practices for implementing AI across PLM-centric Digital Threads

Takeaways

• AI in PLM environments must be grounded in authoritative lifecycle data and governed by digital thread semantics. Retrieval-based approaches tied to product structures, configurations, effectivity, and change context are more reliable than unconstrained generative methods.
• Embeddings, vector databases, and retrieval pipelines are lifecycle infrastructure, not implementation details. They require versioning, refresh policies, authorization filtering, and traceability back to source artifacts.
• Model orchestration is essential to scale AI responsibly. Different tasks require different models, routing logic, latency targets, and cost controls, which must...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 17 March 2026—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, Digital Threads and Twins in Theory and Practice: Benchmarked Industry Use Cases." Hosted by James Roche, Aerospace & Defense Practice Vice President, and Janie Gurley, Director, Data Governance Practice, the webinar will take place on Thursday, 9 April 2026, at 11:00 a.m. (EDT) and last for one hour.

Today's complex engineering systems...

CIMdata’s flagship education program will be available in Paris in June.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA, 12 March 2025—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global strategic consulting and research firm focused on PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) and its digital transformation, announces the offering of its industry-standard PLM Certificate Program in Paris (La Defense), France, from 8-12 June.

This intensive, week-long program is designed to equip PLM professionals with the actionable strategic frameworks and high-level knowledge they need to formulate and execute effective PLM strategies. Participants gain expertise in addressing common challenges while taking a deep dive into advanced topics—including the practical application of AI, IoT,...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, USA 13 March 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 publication of a new white paper, Product Lifecycle Management as a Catalyst for Brand Integrity & Agility.

As global supply chains shift toward mass customization and outsourcing, a brand’s value is increasingly tied to its underlying tangible components: formulations, packaging, compliance data, and manufacturing specifications. A brand is more than a marketing campaign; it is a set of technical promises that must be defined and managed rigorously. Traditional, fragmented methods of...

Leading the Digital Frontier

Ann Arbor, MI, USA & Stockholm, SWEDEN 12 March 2026—CIMdata, Inc., and Håkan Kårdén AB announce the keynote lineup 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 is “AI in PLM: A Disruptive Opportunity and Challenge.”

The landscape of engineering is shifting. From the integration of certifiable AI to the transformation of defense acquisition, the "Next Era" of Product Lifecycle Management is no longer a distant vision; it is being built today by...

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SAP’s Next Generation Specification & Formulation Solution

Takeaways

• Formulated products are found in all aspects of daily life. They include food and beverage items, grocery store goods, restaurant meals, cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, as well as materials used in manufactured items, such as plastics, paints, coatings, and resins.
• Spreadsheets and documents are still widely used to define formulated products. However, sophisticated companies have been leveraging PLM solutions for years to gain a competitive advantage by effectively managing product information.
• SAP recently released new specification and formulation management capabilities as part of the SAP Integrated...

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 5 March 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 highlight the contributions of Dr. Diego Tamburini, CIMdata’s Executive Consultant and AI in PLM Practice Director, to an elite panel of manufacturing visionaries that took place at the 67th TCS Forum Reimagining PLM for Future-Ready Manufacturing.

The session, which also featured leaders from TCS, JLR, and Siemens Digital Industries Software, explored how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is being elevated from a support platform to the "strategic nerve center" of the...

Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 5 March 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 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 "Strategic Patterns for Implementing AI in Manufacturing" provides a roadmap for industrial leaders navigating the complexities of artificial intelligence.

Drawing on over 25 years of experience in innovation at organizations including Microsoft, Autodesk, and Siemens Digital Industries, Dr....