2023 North America agenda

PLM Road Map & PDT North America 2023 | Washington D.C. | 3-4 May

The Digital Thread in a Heterogeneous, Extended Enterprise Reality

A call for PLM Professionals to share their knowledge and experience

Day 1 – 3 May

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. | Registration & Continental Breakfast in the PLM Collaboration Café

8:30 a.m. – 8:40 a.m. | Welcome

Peter Bilello, President, CIMdata & Håkan Kårdén, Director of Marketing, Eurostep

8:40 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. | Opening Presentation: Digital Thread: Why Should We Care?

Peter Bilello, President & CEO, CIMdata

Like most technology-enabled trends, there tends to be more hype than reality, especially during the early days of study and implementation. So, where are we today when we consider the digital thread? Have digital threads, or perhaps better stated, digital webs, reached their tipping point? In essence, the digital thread is a chart, or a map, of decisions that look like a web. For some, a web is a more realistic representation of how data and processes are interconnected in enterprises throughout the product lifecycle than any other representation. These webs, in concept, need to connect hundreds, thousands, and perhaps millions of information nodes and data repositories, and that is where the value is believed to exist. So, does it? This presentation will seek to understand that question and position the digital thread in the wider context of CIMdata’s Critical Dozen, which defines 12 critical trends and enablers of successful digital transformation.

9:20 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. | People, Process, and Technology: The Pillars of Digital Transformation Success

Christine McMonagle, Director, Digital Engineering Systems, Textron Systems

Change management is pivotal to the success of any modernization initiative within an organization. With multiple generations in the workforce, it is even more critical. Change management must be active, not reactive, and must be applied more broadly than just the management of technology change and modernization. Digital Transformation is an agile process that requires an iterative change in people, processes, and technology. Changing the mindsets of an entire organization can be daunting, but it is the most fundamental and impactful pillar of change. Creating a universal movement around a new concept with no universally accepted meaning, one that extends from the executive leadership team to the shop floor employee, is critical to Digital Transformation success. In this session, we will present the Digital Transformation change management plan developed and executed within Textron. The focus will be on the practical steps, critical success factors, and lessons learned.

9:50 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. | Sponsor Thought-Leadership Vignettes

10:10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. | Summary

10:15 a.m. – 10:40 a.m. | Networking Break & PLM Collaboration Café ​

10:40 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. | The Promise and Reality of the Digital Thread – Insights from Industry Research

James Roche, A&D Practice Director, CIMdata

CIMdata, on behalf of the Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group (AD PAG), recently completed an extensive industry research project on digital thread. For this effort, CIMdata and the AD PAG partnered with five PLM solution providers – Aras, Eurostep, Jama Software, PTC, and Siemens Digital Industries Software. The shared objective of the collaboration was to align perspectives on the topic and have a meaningful impact on solution strategies and implementation roadmaps. This presentation will begin with CIMdata’s perspective on the digital thread: what it is, what drives its value, and how value is effectively realized in practice. A report on the key findings from the industry research will be shared.

11:10 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. | An A&D Roadmap for Enabling Global Collaboration

Robert Gutwein, Associate Director, PLM Collaboration and Data Exchange, Pratt & Whitney & Ansel Koehler, The Boeing Company

Collaboration among Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their product design and manufacturing engineering partners and suppliers is key to any major aerospace and defence (A&D) program. Process analysis by an A&D PLM Action Group (AD PAG) project team has shown that the exchange of product data, such as 3D-MBD, Bill of Materials (BOM), and Model-Based Engineering (MBE), between multiple OEMs and suppliers presents a challenge within the industry. Currently, the exchange methods for long-term collaboration between OEMs and suppliers are independent and exclusive environments and protocols, each unique and complex. Improving the consistency and efficiency of establishing and managing OEM-supplier collaboration can significantly improve cost, schedule, and quality across all phases of the product lifecycle. This presentation offers a new “Desired State” for OEM-supplier collaboration through the application of and adherence to a set of guidelines defined by the project team. A description and a brief demonstration of the CMS application will be shared, concluding with the results of actual OEM-supplier evaluation trials.

11:40 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. | Sponsor Thought-Leadership Vignettes

11:50 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. | Summary

11:55 a.m. – 1:10 p.m. | Networking Lunch & PLM Collaboration Café

1:10 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | The Digital Twin/Digital Thread and BOM View Capabilities of the US Navy’s Enterprise PLM Program

Robert Lamanna, ePLM IDE Project Manager, Office of Product Support, Naval Surface Warfare Center, U.S. Navy

Abstract to come.

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Why a Digital Thread makes a lot of sense, why it goes beyond manufacturing, and why it should be standards-based

Dr Mattias Johansson, CEO, Eurostep

The digital thread is more than manufacturing. CIMdata’s recent A&D PAG survey highlights significant business benefits with the digital thread related to the configuration management of products as they are used and maintained. It is not time-to-market but rather the cost of maintenance, risk management, and the cost of unhappy users. Digital threads are not a PLM project with a clear start and finish. PLM should not even own them. They typically evolve over time based on a vision, business strategy, and a need to solve the most urgent issues or respond to the most promising business opportunities. A Digital thread, with a heavy emphasis on a part of the product’s life cycle, can easily result in sub-optimization. What if there is a way to start neutral with a predefined model to be implemented piecemeal? This session will share such an approach where a standards-based digital thread is presented. Such a thread will not just span the total life cycle of a product but also be vendor-neutral, making implementations more resilient and investments less risky.

2:30 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. | Summary

2:35 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Networking Break & PLM Collaboration Café

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | To come

Darren Nice, BAE Systems

Abstract to come.

3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Engineering Bill of Materials with Live Parts List at GE Aerospace

Kedar Kayal, Senior Director, GE Aerospace & Shyam Rangaswamy, Senior Manager, GE Aerospace

During the process of engineering design for jet engines, there are numerous instances where multiple teams have to work on different sections of a large assembly. These teams should be aware of what the other teams are working on so that they can react more efficiently to changes that might be impacting their own design. This would avoid costly rework and redesign after incorporating the changes. In essence, this would be a live parts list/Engineering Bill of Materials (EBOM) where all teams are aware of all the open changes impacting an assembly so that they can proactively modify their designs for changes that may be in progress. At GE Aerospace, the PLM team was on a multi-year effort to consolidate PLM systems, providing an excellent opportunity to change processes, tools, and methodology to realize this long-term goal and bring about significant benefits. This presentation will present the plan focusing on the practical steps, critical success factors, benefits, and lessons learned along the way.

4:00 – 4:45 p.m. | Debate: Tug of War – How OEMs and First-Tier Suppliers enable the Digital Thread in spite of themselves

Craig Brown, ex-General Motors (representing the voice of the OEM)

Mark Pendergast, ex-Delphi, and Aptiv (representing the voice of the Supplier)

Relations between an OEM and a First-Tier supplier are always genuine until contract negotiations start and profit and loss take precedence. Each party has something the other wants but is also suspicious of the other. In spite of this, they need each other to be successful. Forging a digital thread in this environment requires technology and standards, but also bridging the gap of trust that is often present. This session will have a moderated interchange between prominent thought leaders representing both ends of the OEM-supplier digital thread. Craig Brown, former PLM chief for General Motors, representing the OEM perspective, and Mark Pendergast, former PLM chief for Delphi, representing the First-Tier perspective, will answer questions and dialogue on the evolution of the digital thread across the Supply Chain.

4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | First-day summary

5:00 p.m. | Conference Adjourns for the Day

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Happy Hour – avoid the traffic and join us for drinks and snacks in the PLM Collaboration Café

Day 2 – May 4

7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. | Registration & Continental Breakfast in the PLM Collaboration Café

8:00 a.m. – 8:05 a.m. | Welcome

Peter Bilello, President, CIMdata & Håkan Kårdén, Director of Marketing, Eurostep

8:05 a.m. – 8:45 a.m | KEYNOTE: Wholehearted Engineering

Boris Martin, CEO, Engineers without Borders USA

The world is changing fast. Our climate, a pandemic, war, social media, and polarized public discourse have altered the type of crises we face and how we attempt to overcome them. These problems can’t just be outsmarted; the solutions must be based not only on innovation but on compassion and humility. Making an impact today requires a different kind of leadership, leadership of the wholehearted brand. Accessing clean water for drinking, enjoying a reliable and nutritious food supply, a decent income, and safe infrastructure are basic necessities that are still not afforded to close to one billion people today. What is our part in this? Drawing from community-level experiences, Boris Martin will reflect on what it takes to lead and create deep change from within and in the world. His call to action is for all those who shape society through technology to recognize the power they have and use it for good.

8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. | The Past Century Has Not Prepared Us For The Next Decade 

Dr. Patrick Hillberg, Professor, Oakland University

For the past century, producers serving multiple geographies could choose to distribute factories worldwide, increase production capacity in a few regional factories, and ship products globally. Their choice for the latter led to the globalization seen now, and decisions based on comparative wage advantages in the 1990s have evolved into economy-of-scale decisions reinforced through efficiency and advancing technology. Humans maximized the effectiveness of the global supply chain, until we didn’t. Digitalization may provide a solution to supply chain shocks and implies a substantial change in how we evaluate efficiency vs. resiliency in pursuit of societal value. This session explores the use of Digital Twins and Threads to trade in locally manufactured virtual products rather than physical products to be shipped globally. But the greatest challenge in this will be in developing a digital-capable workforce.

9:15 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. | Summary

9:20 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. | Sponsor Thought-Leadership Vignettes

9:50 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. | Networking Break & PLM Collaboration Café ​

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. | Supporting the Digital Thread – A Case for Agile Prioritization to Guide Disruptive Change

Paul Kaiser, Director of A&D Product Lifecycle Management, Moog Inc.

The implementation of digital threads is poised to disrupt traditional companies’ business operations. This session will delve into the challenges of introducing end-to-end traceability (digital thread) to a traditional 70-year-old aerospace company. The presentation will highlight the disruptive power of the digital thread and the critical role of agile prioritization in modernizing business processes. A particular focus will be on the need for Platform Governance and Lean Portfolio Management concepts to support the digital thread and drive change. The need for and challenges of shifting the business case decision process towards a more holistic collaborative approach across the C-Suite will be highlighted.

10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | To come.

Monica Schnitger, Founder, President, and Principal Analyst, Schnitger Corporation

Abstract to come.

11:15 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. | Summary

11:20 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. | Executive Spotlight: What Does it Take to Make the Digital Thread a Reality? Moderated by Peter Bilello, President & CEO, CIMdata

Rob McAveney, Chief Technology Officer, Aras

Philippe Laufer, CEO, Dassault Systèmes

Kevin Wrenn, Executive Vice President of Products, PTC

Dale Tutt, Vice President, Industry Strategy, Siemens Digital Industries Software

This executive spotlight offers an insightful discussion between those in the know and in control of where digital thread enablement is heading. All of the solution providers represented on this panel are deeply committed to addressing the digital thread challenges of industrial companies. Over the past several years, they have invested heavily to deliver the technological advances that have made the implementation of the digital thread a practical possibility. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from those responsible for strategy and roadmaps for some of the critical technologies we will rely on to realize our digital thread vision. In this session, we will probe the panellists’ perceptions of the drivers, needs, opportunities, soft spots, and gaps. We will ask for their assessment of the most significant barriers to success and areas where we can cooperate as providers and consumers of technology to expand the opportunity and accelerate the time-to-value from our digital thread investments.

12:20 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Networking Lunch & PLM Collaboration Café

1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | An Approach to Enabling Model-Based Collaboration with External Stakeholders

Brendan Mark, The Boeing Company

Traditionally, engineering data has been exchanged with external stakeholders (customers and suppliers) in 2D drawings and written documents. As part of the digital MBE transformation, we are accelerating the use of 3DMBD (CAD), system architectures, and behaviour models to replace traditional data exchanges between the OEM and external stakeholders. This presentation will introduce the MBE Supplier Engagement Framework (SEF) to classify these MBE engagements and develop standardized solutions to address our challenges as we move towards an Integrated Digital Environment (IDE). This presentation will also describe a systematic approach to evaluate whether the minimum capabilities needed for a successful model-based collaboration exist for a given engagement. This includes a model-based exchange (MBX) tool evaluation used to mature new and developing tools by continually benchmarking them against the MBE SEF.

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | Engineering Design for Weaving a Heterogeneous Digital Thread

Rosemary Astheimer, NIST

Abstract to come.

2:30 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. | Summary

2:35 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. | Networking Break & PLM Collaboration Café

2:50 p.m. – 3:20 p.m. | Digital Transformation and Digital Thread – A PLM Ecosystem Perspective

Robert Rencher, Sr. Systems Engineer, Associate Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company

The concept and constructs of the digital thread introduce change to the business and its processes, system definitions, and technology. Each of these changes needs to be identified and incorporated into business, system, and technical architectures. The use of digital thread requires interoperability between participants in the aerospace and defence (A&D) ecosystem. The foundational need is for a revision of business architecture and methods to incorporate digital twin/thread functional, system, and technical definitions. This presentation addresses the utility of the digital thread in the context of the A&D PLM ecosystem and the need to incorporate digital thread definitions into the enterprise business architecture. The speaker will share the A&D PLM Action Group (AD PAG) Digital Twin/Thread project team’s recent findings regarding using business architecture frameworks and methodologies to model and design digital threads within the ecosystem. Five key issues are discussed, and recommendations are proposed to improve the utility of the digital thread in the A&D ecosystem.

3:20 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. | Enabling Marketing, Engineering & Manufacturing Digital Thread thanks to PIM / PLM integrated applications

Jean-Christophe Bertrand, Global Digital Program Manager, Mersen US

The Mersen Electrical Protection (EP) business unit started its PIM/PLM journey by digitalizing its broad catalogue of over 15,000+ standard product SKUs and managing hundreds of technical characteristics. This transformation enabled Mersen to feed its website with product attributes, provide automated product data export reports to meet all main global e-commerce industry standards, and always generate up-to-date product data sheets for standard products. The “Voyager PLM” program was then launched to build a global PLM backbone on top of the PIM application, replacing four legacy PDM systems. Voyager has enabled digital thread through the entire life cycle of MERSEN EP products: from marketing to engineering and manufacturing, throughout the extended enterprise. This presentation will share this end-to-end PIM/PLM return on experience, starting from the business stakes, going through the Marketing/Engineering business processes and information model and highlighting the lessons learned from such a transformation program. A specific focus will be made on sustainability, showing the PIM/PLM application features in terms of control of substances and compliance with regulations such as REACH and ROHS.

3:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Conference summary

4:00 p.m. | Conference Adjourns

What have previous events been like?

Read the following press from PLM Road Map & PDT 2020 event:

Watch a 25-minute video from engineering.com of PDT Europe 2017 Click here

Watch a 24-minute video from engineering.com of PDT Europe 2016 Click here

Watch a 22-minute video from engineering.com of PDT Europe 2015 Click here

Watch a 24-minute video from engineering.com of PDT Europe 2014 Click here

Watch a 18-minute video from engineering.com of PDT Europe 2013 Click here

Most welcome to great events!

If you have any questions about PLM Road Map & PDT 2021, please contact:
Håkan Kårdén
e: hakan.karden@eurostep.com
p: +46 (0)708 300 398