Autodesk’s recent announcements at Autodesk University 2026 caught my attention. AutoTimeline and AutoAssemble in Fusion aim to reduce manual work in design, while Autodesk is also developing an agentic PLM experience for Fusion Manage to connect product data, requirements, and…
The question of the future of PLM is becoming more interesting as products, engineering processes, AI, connected systems, and sustainability become increasingly interconnected. Where Do We Take PLM Next? A weekend conversation with my college mate recently took me somewhere…
AI · Manufacturing · PLM AI in Manufacturing: Before Asking What AI Can Do, Ask What It Should Change AI is everywhere in manufacturing conversations today. The harder question isn’t where AI could go — it’s what should actually change…
Reflection · 25 Years in PLM My PLM Journey Sometimes it is useful to go back to where a journey started. In 2021, I wrote about my PLM journey after finding some of my postgraduate notes from 2001–2003. Those notes…
PLM Strategy & Digital Transformation If PLM Is Becoming Difficult to Manage, Where Is the Real Problem? Before asking which PLM system to implement, it’s worth asking a harder question: is the software the problem — or is it everything…
Invited Expert Speaker | LEOS–ISRO | Zero Defect Program Table of Contents What the Audience Took Away The Information Exists. Continuity May Not. From Digital Engineering to Engineering Intelligence Quality as Part of the Learning Loop Digital Twins and Real…
Reflections from Business Beyond Boundaries 2026 | Neel SMARTEC Business Beyond Boundaries 2026 · 11 September 2026 · PSGR Krishnammal College for Women, Coimbatore On technology adoption, transformation, and the human judgement that still decides what is worth doing. I…
Introduction Most manufacturers recognize the cost of machine downtime, production delays, and quality defects. These costs appear on dashboards, financial reports, and management reviews. Yet another cost often goes unnoticed because it is distributed across engineering, procurement, manufacturing, quality, and…
Engineering-to-Operations Intelligence: Why Information Flow Matters in Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing Every Engineer-to-Order (ETO) manufacturer has a unique way of working. Each customer brings different requirements. Engineers modify existing designs or create new ones. Procurement sources materials, manufacturing builds the equipment, quality…
Over the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to audit two SME manufacturing companies. On the surface, they couldn’t have been more different. The first company had invested in modern technology. Dedicated engineering applications, manufacturing systems, structured business processes,…
Rework rarely begins on the shop floor. More often, it starts much earlier, with outdated information, unclear ownership, or disconnected processes. In one SME manufacturing environment, the root cause was surprisingly simple: BOM updates arriving through email attachments with no…
The role of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is changing rapidly. What was once primarily viewed as a system for CAD data management, engineering changes, and BOM control is now evolving into a connected intelligence environment supporting engineering, manufacturing, quality, service,…