What's New in CST CAD Navigator 16

• 2D improvements
  • Improved import of DWG and DXF formats.
  • Added export to DWG and DXF 2010, 2013, 2018 formats.
  • Improved export to DWG and DXF formats.
• 3D improvements
  • Improved import of STEP, ACIS (SAT, SAB), and SLDPRT formats.
  • Added support for SLDASM format.
• PDF to DWG/DXF conversion improvements
  • Improved overall conversion quality.
  • Added option to apply transparency to fills.
• Added a Batch Conversion feature that allows users to convert multiple 2D files to a specified format in one go (Tools -> Batch).

• Improved G-code generation.
• 2D mode improvements:
  • Improved 2D navigation.
  • Improved measurement tools.
  • Added the display of print settings on drawings.
  • Added the ability to create new layouts.
• Bug fixes and performance improvements.

Download the latest version of CST CAD Navigator and try it out for free for 30 days. Click here for the free trial.

If you have an active subscription, you will receive CST CAD Navigator 16 for free. If you own a lifetime license, you can purchase an upgrade at a special price at https://cadsofttools.com/products/cst-cad-navigator/lifetime-license-upgrade/.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

AI Meets Design Environment

The Creo AI Assistant gives engineers a resource embedded directly in their workflow. Through a chat interface in Creo, engineers can get instant guidance of best practices. Whether new to Creo or an experienced user with an unfamiliar workflow, the assistant enables a more efficient process, according to PTC.

In addition to the available Creo AI Assistant functionality, this release also previews a beta capability that reads directly from the 3D model, extracting insights intended to help engineers catch design issues early, validate compliance, and surface key design data on demand. PTC describes it as an early look at how AI will become an active part of the design process, rather than a generic tool layered on top.

"AI in the design environment is changing how engineering teams operate, helping them work faster and make decisions with greater confidence,” says Brian Thompson, general manager of Creo, PTC. “With the Creo AI Assistant, our customers are no longer limited by how much institutional knowledge any one person carries."

Powering Entire Design Process

In addition to the new AI Assistant capabilities, Creo 13 and Creo+ 13.3 deliver improvements across product design workflows:

• User Productivity: Expanded feature presets, improved surfacing, sketcher, sheet metal, welding, and multi-body design capabilities.
• Faster Assembly Management: Up to 70% faster assembly loading from Windchill over a Wide-Area Network, improving performance for remote users working with large CAD assemblies.
• Model-Based Definition: Expanded 3D PDF export and improved annotation tools to share design intent with everyone involved.
• Composite Design & Manufacturing: Reuse composite design structure and intent with copy-paste capabilities. 
• Simulation-Driven Design: Simulation coverage in assemblies and electronics scenarios enables engineers to resolve problems in the digital model.
• Generative Design: Optimization of designs in the assembly context, expanded multiphysics scenarios, and constraint cases help achieve best designs.
• Advanced Manufacturing: Expanded 5-axis toolpath options, improved toolpath setup workflows, and mold design options.
• Design for Electrification: Enhanced workflows expand harness assembly design and early cable routing.

Creo 13, Creo+ 13.3, and Creo AI Assistant were showcased at the PTC NEXT Chicago event on June 9-10 at the Swissôtel Chicago. The PTC NEXT On-Demand Experience Hub is now live, with new content added to ensure customers and partners can access the content shared during the event.

To learn more about Creo, visit www.ptc.com/en/products/creo/whats-new.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

New solutions, such as the PTC Orbit AI-first, cloud-native solution, connect data from product lifecycle management, enterprise resource planning, Internet of Things, and enterprise asset management systems into a single, unified asset record. The solution also applies AI to maintain data quality and make asset information accessible across the enterprise. The PTC Jetstream cloud-native solution enhances collaboration across product data by enabling internal and external teams to share, review, and capture traceable feedback, while staying integrated with PLM, asset lifecycle management, and CAD and powered by AI.

PTC also previews its new AI platform, which, along with AI agents and assistants embedded across its portfolio, helps set up a new Intelligence Layer across its portfolio.

“In a constantly changing world, the manufacturers and product companies that win move the fastest without sacrificing cost, traceability, and meeting regulations,” says Neil Barua, CEO, PTC. “Every innovation we launch at PTC NEXT is designed to help our customers move faster, improve access to product data, and accelerate their transformations with the Intelligent Product Lifecycle.”

PTC NEXT is PTC’s twice-yearly innovation launch moment, with a spring season and a fall season. Each season consolidates all major product releases, allowing companies to build AI strategies and digital transformation roadmaps with a view of what is available and what is coming.

PTC NEXT Chicago, the Spring 2026 season event, took place June 9-10, at the Swissôtel Chicago, where attendees could learn about the spring product innovations, hear executive keynotes, and experiance hands-on demonstrations.

The new PTC NEXT On-Demand Experience Hub is also now live.

Spring Season Product Innovations Overview

• New Solutions:
  • PTC Orbit: Provides manufacturers with a single trusted source for asset-centric data across operations.
  • PTC Jetstream: Enables internal and external teams to share, review, and capture traceable feedback.
• Creo computer-aided design (CAD) solution: Introduces AI-assisted engineering capabilities, with expanded support for model-based definition, composite design, simulation-driven optimization, advanced manufacturing, and electrification.
• Onshape computer-aided design (CAD) and product data management (PDM) platform: Expands AI-assisted design feedback, next-generation model-based definition, robotics simulation, cloud-connected ECAD-MCAD collaboration, and ITAR/EAR compliance support.
• Windchill product-lifecycle management (PLM) solution: Delivers a modernized UI/UX experience, AI-assisted PLM workflows, expanded enterprise collaboration, and strengthened digital thread connectivity across design, manufacturing, and service engineering.
• Arena product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management system (QMS) solution: Enhances AI-assisted search, component risk management, GovCloud analytics, and rich text communications.
• Codebeamer application lifecycle management (ALM) solution: Advances AI-powered assistance, configuration management with streamlined delta merging, product line coevolution, and end-to-end digital product traceability.
• ServiceMax field service management solution: Unveils AI controls, adaptive scheduling automation, intelligent work plan dependencies, and smarter parts handling.
• Servigistics service supply chain optimization solution: Advances AI-powered service supply chain optimization with intelligent assistants, self-healing autonomous workflows, machine learning forecasting, and enterprise-wide SIOP collaboration.
• Integration Highlights Include:
  • Product Lifecycle: New Windchill Connectors to Onshape (beta), ServiceMax, ERP systems
  • Product Line Engineering: Codebeamer and Windchill connections to the Pure Variants™ ALM solution
  • Digital Product Traceability: Windchill, Creo, and Codebeamer connectors
  • NVIDIA Connectors: Windchill and Creo to NVIDIA Omniverse and Onshape-to-Isaac Sim
  • Electronic Product Development: Onshape Connector to Altium 365

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

TRD, the high-performance division for Toyota and Lexus, designs motorsport engines for participation in NASCAR, GR Cup, off-road, and numerous other racing competitions. From its Costa Mesa engineering team to trackside staff, TRD uses PTC’s Creo CAD and Windchill PLM solutions for early design through race-ready production of its motorsports engines.

“PTC has been a trusted part of our engine development process for many years, supporting our teams from initial design through production,” says Tyler Gibbs, president, TRD U.S.A. “As our engineering programs continue to evolve, partnering with PTC allows us to further leverage PTC’s expertise and technology to improve collaboration, efficiency, and development speed across our organization.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

By entering TDK's global manufacturing network, Fabric8Labs' ECAM technology would gain the production scale, supply chain resiliency, and operational infrastructure to serve a growing base of enterprise customers across data center infrastructure and next-generation electronics, the companies report.

Fabric8labs' ECAM technology addresses markets including advanced liquid cooling for data center infrastructure, passive components for power regulation, and RF components for wireless communications systems. 

In data center deployments, where thermal management is a critical constraint on compute density and system reliability, ECAM enables advanced liquid cooling products that reduce accelerator temperatures by up to 7°C/kW. 

"Joining TDK group is a defining moment for Fabric8Labs, our technology, and most importantly our customers. We developed ECAM to solve manufacturing challenges at the frontier of performance — and we always knew that reaching its full potential would require a network with global reach and operational depth. TDK is that network," says Jeff Herman, CEO and co-founder of Fabric8Labs.

For TDK, the acquisition will add a manufacturing capability that strengthens its position in data center infrastructure and advanced electronics.

"Fabric8Labs' ECAM technology is exactly the kind of foundational manufacturing innovation we look for — one that doesn't just improve on TDK's existing solution but enables products and performance levels that weren't previously achievable, contributing to the transformation of society." says Noboru Saito, president and CEO, TDK Corp. "As data center infrastructure continues to scale and the performance demands on advanced electronics intensify, we envision that by bringing this technology into our global manufacturing network and providing products that determine the performance of next-generation data centers, it will be a significant advantage for our customers."

About Fabric8Labs

Fabric8Labs, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, CA, offers Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM) 3D printing technology. Founded in 2015, the company delivers breakthrough solutions across electronics, medical devices, communications, and semiconductor industries. Fabric8Labs’ ECAM technology empowers data center infrastructure, enabling advanced thermal management solutions, power management components, and semiconductor packaging. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

ELEMENTS 4.5.1 is a maintenance release focused on bug fixes, stability improvements and code refinements to address issues identified in previous versions. Existing users should refer to the Release Notes provided with the software for more details.

To download the latest release of ELEMENTS,  log in to the ENGYS Customer Portal and navigate to the Downloads section to access the latest installation files for Linux and Windows.

If not currently using ELEMENTS, or you'd like to explore the software capabilities in more detail, visit the ELEMENTS product page.

About Streamline Solutions

Streamline Solutions LLC, a joint venture formed between ENGYS and Auto Research Center, was founded in the United States in 2012 to service the vehicle design software market, covering automotive, motorsports, commercial and military applications. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

“You might notice that, in some premium luxury cars, the speakers are from Bose,” says Santosh Kottalgi, senior architect, Application Engineering Vehicle Electrification, Ansys, part of Synopsys. “As vehicles get more automated, you get more opportunities to enjoy the music. So the acoustics [are] part of the experience of the car.”

From the 1950s to the 1970s, cars typically had one speaker, which was mounted next to the driver in the middle of the dashboard. (“The Evolution of Car Speakers”). “Now, some cars have 15 to 16 speakers, with some tuned to lower frequencies, some to higher frequencies, set to different orientations and sizes. If you’re talking about premium cars, even the car seats’ headrests might come with their own speakers. That means everyone doesn’t have to listen to the same music,” Kottalgi points out.

Aiming to promote factory-installed stereo speakers, Bose launched Bose Automotive in 1982. The company currently lists a variety of Porsche, Cadillac, Audi, and Volvo models as those equipped with its sound systems. Other speaker makers like Bang & Olufsen, JBL, and Blaupunkt have also forged partnerships with automakers.

In this article, we speak to—and listen to—the experts in the realm of acoustic simulation to understand the new challenges that come with the sound of silence.

Too Silent for Comfort

The loud gas-guzzling combustion engine, now viewed by many as detrimental to the environment, is ironically safer for the pedestrians who might be distracted by their phones and streaming music, or those who are vision-impaired. 

“When a car with a combustion engine comes close to you, you can hear it, so you can react to it,” says Siva Senthooran, Transportation, Mobility, and Acoustics Industry Process Director, SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes. “But an electric vehicle is very quiet, so it needs to alert you somehow.”

In December 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. The summary says, “This standard will help to ensure that blind, visually impaired, and other pedestrians are able to detect and recognize nearby hybrid and electric vehicles, as required by the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act.”

The combustion engine also makes ambient noises, such as wind noise at low speed and cabin rattles. “But now, with electronic cars, that has gone away, so you start to notice the other sounds much more,” says Senthooran.

A COMSOL gearbox multiphysics simulation. Image courtesy of COMSOL.

Sound testing is part of the NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) study in automotive design. Prior to digital simulation, sound testing often involved driving the prototype vehicle on the road to evaluate the audible squeaks and grumbles. But advancement in physics and increased computing capacity changed the practice. Now acoustic simulation is the favored approach. “Now we can make much better predictions of cabin sound. We can also visualize them in 2D and 3D. We can also hear sounds,” says Senthooran. 

Dassault Systèmes offers CST Suite, for 3D electromagnetic simulation; Manatee, for electromagnetic noise and vibrations study; Simpack, for simulation multibody system (useful to study motion and roll); Wave6, for vibro-acoustic analysis; PowerFLOW, for aeroacoustic simulations; and Abaqus, for structural vibrations simulation.

What Do You Want to See and Hear?

In standard structural analysis and flow simulation, engineers want to see the concentration of stress, deformation, and flow patterns in the results. This gives them insights into the geometry changes necessary to counteract the design’s vulnerabilities. In sound simulation, the software can literally let you listen to a cabin that has not been built yet, by producing an audio file based on simulation.

“You have three types of noises: noise from the structure itself; noises from the operating environment, like wind, rain, tires, and honking from the nearby cars; and noises created within the cabin, like conversation, music, and warning indicators,” says Kottalgi. “So you want to study how the shape or cavity of the cabin responds to these noises.” 

“You want to see the sound distribution patterns and hear the sounds. Both are important,” says Jinlin Huang, principal applications engineer, Acoustics and Vibrations, COMSOL. “You want to study the key listening positions, like the area around the driver’s head.”

COMSOL offers multiphysics simulation modules under the COMSOL Multiphysics software suite. The Acoustic Module, an add-on package, provides tools for modeling and studying the acoustics and vibrations in speakers, mobile devices, microphones, mufflers, sensors, sonar, flowmeters, rooms, and concert halls, among others. 

“You want to be able to measure certain engineering data from the simulation, like sound pressure level, how it’s distributed throughout the cabin. But you also want to see how the intensity changes over time, so that may be a time-dependent graph,” says Kottalgi. Ansys offers Ansys Sound, for studying and optimizing sound quality; and Ansys Mechanical and Ansys LS-Dyna, for simulating Aero-Acoustic, Vibro-acoustics, and non-linear multiphysics acoustic events.

In COMSOL Multiphysics, you can model and simulate a gearbox’s vibration and noise. Image courtesy of COMSOL.

Typically, music, human speech, and everyday noises fall between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, considered the audible spectrum for healthy humans. In COMSOL, acoustic simulation allows you to see the frequency responses. “It contains both magnitude and phase data, so it’s very useful for spotting peaks caused by cabin resonance, or dips caused by phase cancellation. It also lets you judge the tonal balance: whether the bass is too heavy or the treble is too sharp,” says Huang.

COMSOL can also provide impulse responses or conveniently convert frequency responses to impulse responses and vice versa. “These are two sides of the same coin,” notes Huang. “Impulse responses let you see how the sounds from different sources arrive at a listener. COMSOL can export them as wave files you can listen to.”

High-accuracy acoustics simulation relies on full-wave modeling up to the highest practical frequencies, making it computationally intensive. “It helps that we now have GPU acceleration. With it, we have seen 20 to 50 times speedup in acoustic analyses,” says Huang. “COMSOL supports the use of not just one but multiple GPUs.”

Give Me Real Audio

Sound simulation output is much more reliable—that is, much closer to what you would hear—if the source file used as input is derived from the real world. In other words, you use the actual recording of a device instead of an idealized sound or generic approximation to represent the source audio. 

“Usually, there’s a sound source, like the wind outside, the speaker inside, or the powertrain. Figuring out the travel of the sound waves inside the cabin is a multiphysics calculation, so you might use a mix of tools,” says Senthooran. The simulation could involve structure mechanics and acoustic vibrations, among others. 

“Tire noise, like when you’re traveling at 30 mph or 80 mph, or when someone rolls down the window and it creates buffeting sounds, or when it’s raining outside— these are very difficult to obtain, even if you have a vehicle or a prototype,” says Kottalgi. “If you don’t, then simulation is the only way to get it.”

For in-cabin acoustic analysis, a detailed CAD model of the cabin is important. So are the interior surface properties available from measurement or simulation. “You use it to figure how sound interacts with cabin components, like roof and carpet surfaces, windshield, seat, even human passengers,” says Huang. “Surface conditions are very important. They have properties like reflection, scattering, absorption, and impedance, which affect the frequency responses. COMSOL created an app that lets you extract frequency-dependent surface properties of configurable sound absorbers for use in larger simulation models, with adjustable materials, backing conditions, and layer geometries.”

“If you’re going to look at conditions that influence the audio quality, then you need to know the wind speed, the type of road you’re traveling on, the type of tires involved, the insulation inside, and the shape of the cabin, among other things,” says Senthooran. “Many engineers also want to look at the frequency, amplitude, and changes in decibel over time.” 

Fix That Sound

Fixing an acoustic issue might involve changing the speaker mount, swapping out one surface material for another, adding surface treatment (like coating) to change its behavior, and identifying and addressing the acoustic dead zones. “When you’re speaking to your passenger, if they cannot hear you well, that’s not a good experience,” notes Kottalgi. 

“The goal is usually to get a more uniform sound distribution inside the cabin,” says Huang.

When something is about to break down, your sensor-equipped smart car will likely become aware of the problem before the driver does. Therefore, it will issue critical warnings and alerts. In this case, instead of eliminating the sound, you may want to find ways to amplify it. 

“One solution is to increase the number of sound sources—that means, adding more speakers,” says Kottalgi. “The reverse is to introduce white noise to cancel out the harsh noises, to make the cabin quieter. A quieter car means whisper-level sound, usually 30-50 dB. But how can you achieve it if the engine itself is running at 60 dB?” 

What Did You Say to My Car?

Cars are not only making sounds but also listening. This is especially true of autonomous vehicles equipped with sensors. In the future, with AI and machine learning, cars may be able to distinguish and label the voices of the occupants, which opens new opportunities for providing a personalized experience.

“Cars are now connected to Google or Android, so you can tell it to set your destination, find the nearest gas station or restaurant, turn down the volume, or turn up the air conditioner,” notes Kottalgi. “So it’s important to place the receiver microphones in the correct position to get these instructions from the driver and passengers.”

“The downside of working in this field is that, now, when I am driving or riding, I notice more flaws than others,” says Senthooran.

The partnership supports Aurelia's continuous improvement plans, including design consolidation, faster iteration, supply chain resilience, and cost reductions, according to Velo3D.

Velo3D says it values the collaboration because it supports the role of additive manufacturing in advanced energy and propulsion systems. 

Aurelia's Move to Adopt AM

As Aurelia works to improve its turbine platforms, additive manufacturing has emerged as a tool to simplify designs, reduce part counts, and make improvements in high‑temperature, high‑stress environments. Aurelia is using additive manufacturing to consolidate traditionally multi‑part assemblies into fewer, more integrated components, reducing fasteners, joints, tolerancing stack‑ups, and long‑term maintenance risk.

"Additive manufacturing allows us to simplify designs, reduce failure points, and move faster while staying grounded in proven turbomachinery fundamentals and materials science," says Karol Hricisak, PE, director of Technology at Aurelia Technologies.

Under the partnership, the companies are collaborating on a phased additive manufacturing program that includes component feasibility evaluation, material and process development, and progression toward qualification and low‑rate initial production using Velo3D's Sapphire XC platform.

Initial efforts focus on evaluating where additive manufacturing can deliver tangible benefits in performance, lead time, and manufacturability across select turbine components and high‑performance alloys.

Supply Chain Resilience 

By reducing dependence on long‑lead forgings, tooling‑intensive processes, and large inventory commitments, Aurelia is improving responsiveness to design updates and market demand. Additive manufacturing also enables faster design iteration, allowing geometry updates or feature changes to be implemented and produced in weeks rather than months, the company reports.

Aurelia says it selected Velo3D based on its deep experience in metal additive manufacturing, qualification approach, and ability to support development and scalable production. 

"Advanced energy systems are pushing the limits of traditional manufacturing," says Michelle Sidwell, chief revenue officer of Velo3D. "Aurelia is taking a thoughtful, engineering‑driven approach by designing with additive manufacturing in mind from the beginning, which is where the greatest impact can be realized."

About Aurelia Technologies

Aurelia Technologies develops small‑scale gas turbines for industrial, municipal, and data center applications. The company combines proven turbomachinery principles with modern design and manufacturing approaches to deliver reliable, resilient power solutions.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The collaboration builds on existing work with the ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility to bring simulation codes developed at the national labs to American industry at scale.

Operating as the Agentic HPC Pipeline Initiative (AHPI), the partnership would use launched agentic digital engineering capabilities on the Rescale platform to accelerate U.S. manufacturers’ deployment of DOE-developed codes in production engineering environments.

By hosting DOE codes on the Rescale digital engineering platform and pairing them with agentic AI that guides users through all steps, engineers in U.S. industry can translate intent into fully autonomous simulation workflows. Tasks that demand deep specialist knowledge, such as mesh configuration and hardware selection, are handled autonomously by the simulation-native agents.

“America’s national laboratories have spent decades building the most powerful engineering simulation software in the world, like our AMReX framework, but the depth of domain expertise required to configure and validate these tools has kept them out of reach for many manufacturers,” says Peter Nugent, division deputy for Science in the Applied Math & Computational Research Division at LBNL and principal investigator of the AHPI project. “We are replacing the manual burden of solver selection, checkpointing, and hardware configuration with intelligent automation.”

Rescale’s in-platform agents are orchestrating manufacturing codes developed at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

“At ORNL, we are focused on pushing the boundaries of what is possible in physical production,” says Ramanan Sankaran, ORNL lead. “By reducing the expertise bottleneck in job configuration and allowing engineers to train surrogate models on their simulation data using in-platform agents, we are enabling U.S. manufacturers to innovate at speeds that were previously impossible.”

The proposed collaboration with LLNL builds on the established HPC for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) program, which connects U.S. companies with national laboratory expertise and resources in high-performance computing, modeling and simulation.

“Through HPC4EI, LLNL has a long and successful history of bridging the gap between national lab supercomputing and real-world industrial applications,” says Aaron Fisher, LLNL lead. “We believe the use of agentic AI will lead to a step change in our ability to bring these capabilities to American industry.”

Together, the three laboratories bring depth across fluid dynamics, phase and chemical transformations, additive manufacturing, materials science, and energy systems, covering advanced manufacturing applications. The Rescale platform is intended to provide secure, cloud-native access to these codes through an intuitive, agent-augmented interface that requires no specialized HPC expertise to operate.

“In the United States, both industry and the national labs have made extraordinary investments in computing infrastructure and simulation software,” says Joris Poort, CEO of Rescale. “Rescale’s digital engineering platform serves as the bridge that brings both investments together in one place and puts them to work accelerating innovation for American industry. By pairing the world’s best simulation codes with AI agents that automate the complex workflows around them, we are giving American manufacturers a compounding advantage to accelerate progress, which is the ability to explore design spaces, validate materials, and optimize manufacturing processes at speeds and scales that were previously out of reach.”

The Rescale platform, including the capabilities powering the AHPI consortium, is available now. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Cosmos 3 is a fully open omnimodel that can natively understand and generate text, images, video, ambient sound and actions with physics accuracy, reducing physical AI training and evaluation cycles from months to days.

NVIDIA also launched the NVIDIA Cosmos Coalition, a global collaboration between world model builders and AI developers.

“The big bang of physical AI is just around the corner thanks to breakthroughs in multimodal reasoning language, vision and world models,” says Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “The Cosmos 3 family of open, frontier omnimodels gives developers a generational leap in ability to build robots, autonomous vehicles and vision AI that perceive, reason, plan and act in the physical world.”

A New Architecture for Physical AI
Cosmos 3 addresses a challenge in physical AI: enabling robots, autonomous vehicles (AVs) or vision agents to generalize in the real world with limited training data and fragmented simulation stacks.

The model’s mixture-of-transformers architecture pairs a reasoning transformer with an expert generation transformer, enabling Cosmos 3 to understand object interactions, motion and spatial-temporal relationships before generating video and action trajectories.

Developers can use Cosmos 3 as:

• A vision language model that understands and reasons across modalities.
• A world model or video foundation model that simulates physical environments and predicts future world states for training and evaluation.
• The backbone for world action models that help train robots to perform specific tasks.

Cosmos Coalition and Open World Model Development
The Cosmos Coalition is a global collaboration between world model builders, AI developers and physical AI leaders to advance open world models across industries. Founding coalition members include Agile Robots, Black Forest Labs, Generalist, LTX, Runway and Skild AI. 

Developers Build on Cosmos
The Cosmos platform powers NVIDIA’s physical AI stack to accelerate training and evaluation workflows across industries. The platform now includes new datasets for robotics, physics, human motion, autonomous driving, warehouse safety and spatial reasoning, as well as new physical AI agent skills for neural scene reconstruction, defect-image generation and video augmentation.

Availability
Cosmos 3 Super and Cosmos 3 Nano are available now, with Cosmos 3 Edge coming soon for real-time inference. Developers can try Cosmos 3 on build.nvidia.com, download open models from Hugging Face, customize models and generate synthetic data with Hugging Face Diffusers and resources on GitHub, and deploy the models as NVIDIA NIM microservices.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Effective July 1, Bryan Ferrand will become the company president and Donna Kelly has been promoted to chief operating officer of BMF Precision Inc.  John Kawola will transition from CEO to strategic advisor, supporting the leadership team.

“BMF is a remarkable company with exceptional technology, a strong team, and a bright future,” says Kawola. “I have tremendous confidence in Bryan, Donna, and the broader leadership team as they guide the company forward.  I will plan to remain a long-term adviser to the leadership team and a strong believer in BMF and its continued success.”

“John has been a tremendous partner to me and has helped us build BMF from the ground up.  He has also built a strong team that is able to step up and bring BMF to the next level.” says Dr. Xioaning He, chairman BMF.

About Boston Micro Fabrication

Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF) enables micro-scale 3D printing across the healthcare, life sciences, electronics, and machining industries. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Early-access customers across automotive and consumer products—including Tesla, Radio Flyer, and Autotiv Manufacturing—are now using Fuse X1 for product development and to scale production to print more than 30,000 parts in a few months. 

“Since the beginning, Formlabs has worked to build the tools that make it possible for anyone to bring their ideas to life,” says Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs. “With Fuse X1, we’re bringing industrial-scale SLS printing to a much broader market, making it competitive with traditional mass manufacturing.”

Starting at $84,999, Fuse X1 delivers production-quality parts in under 24 hours, the company reports. The ecosystem combines large-format printing, AI-powered features, automated powder handling, and an intuitive workflow in a compact system that can fit through a standard door, installs in approximately 1 hour, and operates on standard single-phase power without specialized HVAC requirements. 

Key specifications and capabilities include:

• 330×330×565 mm build volume, with 30%+ packing density

• Same-day large parts

• AI-powered Print Intelligence failure prevention

• 1-hour installation, 5-minute print changeovers, intuitive workflow requiring no dedicated operators

Adaptive Thermal Control, AI-Powered Intelligence

With Fuse X1, Formlabs is also introducing Adaptive Thermal Control and AI-Powered Print Intelligence, two new SLS technologies.

Adaptive Thermal Control allows for unlimited packing freedom in large-format SLS with a new thermal architecture designed to maintain stable print conditions across the build chamber. It collects and processes 700 times more thermal data per second than the Fuse 1+ 30W, driving 13 independent thermal zones that deliver, maintain, and sinter powder at a precise, stable temperature from the first layer to the last.

Print intelligence is an AI-powered failure prevention system using computer vision to monitor each layer with real-time thermal imaging to detect anomalies before a build fail. Print Intelligence detects part defects in real time, selectively removing the affected part from the following layers. 

The Fuse X1 ecosystem includes the Fuse X1 printer and modular Build Unit, Fuse Sift X1 for powder recovery, Fuse X1 Vacuum Conveyor for automated powder transport, and a new high-capacity configuration for Fuse Blast for media blasting and polishing. 

Customer Validation

Tesla has adopted the Fuse X1 for product development and to produce end-use parts and tooling for its manufacturing line. “With the increased throughput and decreased costs, Fuse X1 has completely changed our perspective on what kinds of projects our lab can support versus what we would have traditionally moved to an injection mold,” says Cody Jepson, engineering technician, Additive Manufacturing, Tesla Giga NV.

Radio Flyer, the iconic American toy and electric bike brand, cut prototype lead times for its Flyer Loop cargo ebike frame. “With Fuse X1, we can now print an entire Flyer Loop cargo ebike overnight and be gluing it together the next day. So we went from two months to two weeks to a couple of days. I can iterate three times as often with nine times less labor,” says Agostino LoBello, product development engineer at Radio Flyer.

Autotiv Manufacturing operates more than 200 printers and delivers 10,000 printed parts across the country each week. "Thanks to about half the upfront cost and about double the throughput, you can get a return on investment extremely quickly," says Evan LaBelle, CEO of Autotiv.

In the 4 months before the announcement, Formlabs customers printed over 30,000 parts on Fuse X1 units. Fuse X1 parts are also now available to order in the United States on Formlabs’ new online 3D printing service, Form Now. Fuse X1 will be first showcased in public at the Reindustrialize Summit on June 16 in Detroit, MI.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The new multiyear agreement combines Cadence’s agentic AI-driven EDA and Design IP solutions with Intel’s process innovation and advanced design expertise.

The DTCO collaboration focuses on optimizing tools, flows, and methodologies to deliver performance, power, and area (PPA). Cadence and Intel will work closely to optimize Intel 14A to deliver production-ready PDKs. The collaboration will also leverage Cadence’s agentic AI flows and core products to accelerate time-to-market and reduce design risk.

“Advancing our relationship with Intel into a much deeper partnership is a major milestone for both companies,” says Anirudh Devgan, president and chief executive officer, Cadence. “This collaboration will leverage the strengths of both companies to empower customers to unlock new levels of performance, power, and efficiency, advance the state of the art and accelerate the realization of next-generation products.”

“Our expanded collaboration with Cadence reflects Intel Foundry’s continued focus on delivering on its technology roadmap and ecosystem on behalf of our customers,” says Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry. “By combining Intel’s process and packaging with Cadence’s AI-driven design tools, we are enabling deeper co-optimization, strengthening our ability to deliver on customers’ needs, and showcasing the ability of both companies to drive innovation at scale.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Temasek first invested in PhysicsX in 2025, and has helped support the company’s international expansion. PhysicsX is developing and deploying its AI-native engineering platform to boost hardware development.

PhysicsX's software stack is built with AI models that predict physical behavior in seconds, enabling engineering teams to evaluate orders of magnitude more design variants and carry physics insight across the full product lifecycle. The PhysicsX platform is deployed across aerospace & defense, semiconductors, industrial machinery, automotive, energy, and materials.

With model architectures and GPU economics now mature enough to support physics AI at production scale, the technology has reached an inflection point for industrial adoption, PhysicsAI suggests.

In fact. PhysicsX has doubled year-over-year recognized revenue, tripled booked revenue, while more than doubling its customer count over the past year. The team has grown to more than 300 people, doubling in size in the last 12 months.

This round is anticipated to expand the company's global growth, and advance its platform capabilities, and frontier research, including development of larger, pre-trained physics AI models, known as Large Physics Models.

"Almost every hard problem in the physical economy—better aircraft, better chips, better engines, better energy systems—comes down to how fast and how well engineers and machine operators can work through the underlying physics. For decades, that has been the binding constraint on hardware innovation. Physics AI removes it," says Jacomo Corbo, co-founder and CEO of PhysicsX. 

"We are giving engineers the ability to explore thousands of designs where they once managed a handful, in seconds rather than weeks, across the most demanding industries in the world. We are also enabling more reliable, more efficient, and altogether new ways of doing engineering, manufacturing, and production. This financing lets us put that capability in the hands of more engineers and push the frontier toward ever larger and more capable Large Physics Models," adds Corbo.

"High-fidelity physics simulation has always been powerful, but it has also been slow, costly, and the preserve of a small group of specialists. Physics AI changes that in every dimension. It makes high-fidelity simulation dramatically more efficient, augments and improves on pure simulation results with ingestion of real-world data into our Large Physics Models, and opens it to applications that were never practical before," says Robin Tuluie, founder and chairman of PhysicsX.‍

About PhysicsX

PhysicsX is building a new software stack to deliver deep physics AI enablement across the entire engineering lifecycle. The company partners with leading organizations in aerospace & defense, automotive, semiconductors, materials, and energy & renewables.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Siemens is offering free access for up to 5,000 U.S. service members and veterans to its industry-aligned Expedite – Skills for Industry, creating a pathway from military service to in-demand technical roles across American industry.

Though veterans and service members have often developed leadership, discipline and deep technical experience to the workforce they often face difficulty translating those capabilities into credentials useful with civilian employers. Siemens’ microcredential program is intended to help bridge that gap through free, ABET-recognized, early-career engineering credentials focused on real-world industrial applications.

The microcredential is designed to be completed online in weeks or months, providing veterans with a faster, more flexible route into the industrial workforce.

“We understand the persistent skills gaps amid rising demand for AI-enabled production, digitalization and modern infrastructure that our customers face. Siemens is positioning veterans at the center of the solution," says Ann Fairchild, President and CEO, Siemens USA. “This initiative is more than a training program, it’s a veteran-centered workforce pipeline connecting credentialed talent directly to Siemens and its customer ecosystem for these high-demand careers, all while supporting national security objectives and strengthening U.S. manufacturing communities.”

Siemens has partnered with Vets2PM, a Department of Defense SkillBridge Program provider and upskill training partner, to reach thousands of experienced veterans and transitioning service members.

“Veterans and transitioning service members bring technical experience, adaptability, discipline, and mission focus—qualities that are increasingly important in today’s industrial workforce,” says Cathy Miclat, director of Career Services at Vets2PM. “Expedite for Vets reflects Siemens’ commitment to creating faster, more flexible pathways into high-demand technical careers while helping strengthen the talent pipeline powering America’s reindustrialization.” 

Expedite for Vets builds on Siemens’ commitment to the military community while advancing a national priority of strengthening America’s industrial workforce and economic resilience, SIemens reports.

The initiative combines digital coursework, mentorship and a pre-apprenticeship model aligned to advanced manufacturing and digitalization challenges. By pairing skills-based hiring with verified, industry aligned credentials, Siemens is aiding employers in recognizing, recruiting, and retaining veteran talent in the modern industrial economy.

“Digital transformation demands new skill sets to support the industries we operate in, and we are accelerating the digital mindset through industry recognized microcredentials like Expedite – Skills for Industry,” says Del Costy, president and managing director, Americas Siemens Digital Industries Software. “I’m extremely excited about the Expedite for Vets initiative and helping transition our Veterans into an industry ready talent pool that not only Siemens, but our customers will be able to take advantage of.”

Working alongside industry partners, government agencies, and veteran organizations, Siemens aims to scale the impact beyond its hiring needs. Siemens says it aims to help manufacturers, infrastructure providers and technology companies nationwide access highly skilled, talent.

For more information, or to enroll in the Expedite for Vets microcredential program, visit siemens.com/expedite-for-vets.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Developed in partnership with NestIt Software, this utility enables IronCAD users to prepare and transfer flat patterns directly to NestIt Pro—a user-friendly, high-performance nesting solution known for true-shape automatic nesting and material use.

Key Features

• 1-Click Export to NestIt Pro: Select parts and choose “Send to NestIt.” The add-on automatically collects flat patterns, quantities, and material selections, generating DWX data that passes into NestIt Pro.
• Material-Aware Grouping: Parts are intelligently grouped by material, allowing users to nest each set independently for precise optimization.
• Material Savings: Generate optimized nests to reduce scrap, lower material costs, and improve quoting accuracy with detailed reports.
• Enhanced Production Workflow: Export nesting results for manufacturing, including support for cuts, remnants, and machine-ready outputs available in NestIt Pro.

NestIt for IronCAD eliminates manual data entry and file handling.

“This integration brings powerful nesting capabilities directly into the IronCAD environment,” says Cary O’Connor, general manager of IronCAD Product Division and senior vice president, Product and Strategy. “Users can now go from 3D design to optimized flat patterns and nests faster than ever, delivering real efficiency gains for fabricators and manufacturers.”

Availability

NestIt for IronCAD is available now through IronCAD Partners. 

About IronCAD 

IronCAD is a provider of 3D design software for industrial equipment and machinery manufacturing, metal fabrication and tooling manufacturing, assembly layout and design of industrial equipment and facilities, and modular product manufacturers markets. 

About NestIt 

NestIt delivers intuitive nesting software that helps manufacturers maximize material usage with automatic true-shape nesting and advanced features for industrial cutting operations. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The latest NCSIMUL release now includes the GPU-based Selective Simulation, which gives visibility of the in-process stock conditions during complex machining operations. GPU-accelerated Rest Stock Previews allow teams to catching errors in program stages earlier in the verification cycle, as they also preserve the full simulation process for final sign-off. 
 
MachineWorks GPU helps compute in-process stock geometry faster than can be achieved on a similar CPU, according to MachineWorks. Speedups are reportedly typically more than an order of magnitude, with stock computations for individual machining cycles measured in seconds.

Hexagon’s Selective Simulation workflow is underpinned by NCIMUL’s new Rest Stock Previews, which provide a way to navigate, visualize and understand complex machining programs. 

“Simulation accuracy has always been central to NCSIMUL, and that remains unchanged,” says Jasper Sanders, product manager for NCSIMUL, Hexagon’s Production Software division. “Selective Simulation gives programmers a more flexible way to work through complex programs.

“NCSIMUL and MachineWorks have had a long partnership, now spanning several decades," says Sanders. "The MachineWorks team are, of course, known for developing great technology, but we also value the close working relationship at a developer-to-developer level.”

“It is great to see the new MachineWorks GPU technology bringing real value to NCSIMUL and its customers, many of whom are running some of the most advanced machining jobs on the planet," says Dr Fenqiang Lin, managing director of MachineWorks. "The new GPU technology nicely complements the long-standing polygonal BREP simulation, which remains the engine of choice for full machine simulations in which highly accurate sweep-based collision detection is critical.

“Our partnership with the NCSIMUL team started during the 1990s and we look forward to continue working together to innovate new technologies for improving machining workflows and increasing operational efficiencies,“ Lin adds.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

What's new in ABViewer 16.2:

• Improved PDF to DWG/DXF conversion.
• 2D improvements:
  • Improved import of DWG and DXF formats.
  • Improved export to DWG and DXF formats.
• 3D improvements:
  • Improved import of STEP and ACIS (SAT, SAB) formats.
• G-code generation improvements:
  • Improved equidistant line construction algorithm.
  • Improved user interface.
• Editor mode improvements:
  • Added the Select Similar tool for quickly selecting objects of the same type (select an object, right-click and choose Select Similar).
  • Improved the Offset tool algorithm.
    • Improved snapping behavior.
• Other improvements:
  • Improved XML API.
  • Bug fixes and performance improvements.

Download the latest version of ABViewer and try it out right now. It is free for 30 days.

For a free trial, click here.

For those who have a license for ABViewer 16, they will get ABViewer 16.2 for free. If using an older version, upgrade at a special price at https://cadsofttools.com/products/abviewer/lifetime-license-upgrade/. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

WIth the ANSA–Fidelity–META workflow, geometry is imported, cleaned, sealed, and meshed in ANSA, simulations are executed in Fidelity, and results are analyzed and reported in META.

Engineers can respond instantly to design changes, evaluate multiple variants, and maintain consistent mesh quality and solver setup across iterations, thanks to advanced morphing, automation, and AI-driven capabilities. AI-based prediction compresses evaluation cycles, enabling near-instant insight and real-time design exploration.

Key Features

• Connected Digital Thread: Integrated preprocessing, solving, and post-processing
• Faster Time-to-Insight: Rapid cleanup, hex-dominant meshing, automated reporting
• Flexible Meshing: Structured polyhedral, hexahedral, and high-order elements for any geometry
• GPU-Accelerated CFD: Incompressible to supersonic with reduced turnaround time
• Automotive-Focused Performance: Optimized for aero, thermal, and complex vehicle simulation
• Visualization and Comparison: Multi-run analysis with advanced 3D/2D post-processing
• Automated Reporting: Presentation-ready results generated in minutes
• Built-In Design Exploration: Morphing, parametrization, and scripting for fast optimization
• Customizable and Repeatable: End-to-end Python automation for consistent workflows

What is ANSA?

ANSA is a native 64-bit platform that handles large, complex models. Multicore CPU support, double-precision calculations, and a fully customizable CFD-oriented interface ensure numerical accuracy. CAD interoperability allows integration of data from virtually any source, while direct interfaces to all major CFD solvers ensure downstream processing.

Intelligent diagnostics offer insight into challenging areas, while the Direct Edit functionality enables fast, localized changes without re-importing or rebuilding the CAD. Topology recognition identifies repeating features and enables linked geometry. Skin extraction and point-cloud-based meshingextend ANSA’s capabilities.

A CFD simulation model of a truck. Image courtesy: Cadence

Automation is deeply embedded in ANSA. Python-based scripting enables full workflow control, from CAD import to meshing, morphing, optimization, and solver export, within a single environment. At the center of the automation is Fidelity AutoSeal, a geometry clean-up solution that delivers a step-change in meshing. By automatically repairing dirty CAD, closing gaps, and filling holes, Auto-Seal reduces geometry preparation from hours to minutes.

Defining Fidelity

Fidelity combines advanced physics, solver accuracy, and computational acceleration into a single platform. Fidelity allows realistic and predictive simulations across industries and applications. Complex physics, such as conjugate heat transfer, multiphase flow, aeroacoustics, and fluid–structure interaction, are handled within a single environment. 

Fidelity also is built to deliver high-fidelity results at speed. GPU-resident solver technology that delivers up to an order-of-magnitude faster turnaround times, enabling RANS simulations in minutes and LES simulations in hours. 

When deployed on accelerated computing platforms such as the Cadence Millennium M2000, Fidelity unlocks simulation performance gains.

AI-Driven Simulation

AI-enhanced CFD enables near-instant prediction of key aerodynamic metrics such as drag and lift with accuracy. Models are trained on high-fidelity simulation data and scale across vehicle types and operating conditions.

AI-enhanced CFD enables near-instant prediction of key aerodynamic metrics. Image courtesy: Cadence

WIth AI, intelligent agents automate repetitive tasks, while analytics systems extract value from historical simulation data, and generative AI helps capture and reuse engineering knowledge across teams. This intelligence layer enables recommendation-driven design improvement and faster learning cycles, transforming simulation data into a living asset.

More on META

META turns massive CFD datasets into actionable insight. Viewed as a post-processor for structural analysis, META extends its low-memory architecture to CFD so that engineers can handle and visualize extremely large models.

META excels in quantitative analysis, enabling force and moment calculations, surface integrals, probing at arbitrary locations, and automated identification of extrema with full spatial context. Engineers can load and correlate multiple simulations simultaneously, making comparisons across designs, meshes, solvers, or numerical setups. From importing results to generating the final report, META enables fully automated, presentation-ready reporting through session files and scripting.

One Workflow

Jointly, ANSA, Fidelity, and META build a unified, AI-enabled, high-performance CFD ecosystem designed to advance the entire simulation lifecycle. Faster preparation, flexible meshing, GPU-accelerated high-fidelity solving, AI-driven prediction, and automated analysis work together to yield reductions in turnaround time and design agility.

This integrated approach empowers engineering teams to explore more ideas, gain deeper insight faster, and make confident, data-driven decisions. It establishes a powerful foundation for next-generation, simulation-driven product development, where speed, accuracy, and innovation move forward together.

Mike Grove, applications engineering manager, Ansys, part of Synopsys, specializes in physics-based optics simulation. “Higher quality glass offers better photometric performance,” he notes. Therefore, crystals from a jeweler like Swarovski “have functional purposes in a car’s headlight but they’re more stylistic, because they give a luxury feel.”

Automotive lighting is not just a functional aspect of the car but part of the brand’s identity itself. In this article, we look at the role of simulation in the art and craft of automotive lighting, from headlights to ambient light. 

Spotting the Light Leaks 

For headlight design and analysis, Ansys offers Ansys Zemax OpticStudio, originally developed by Dr. Ken Moore, but later acquired by Ansys. Ansys Zemax OpticStudio is “the go-to solution for optical system design, whether it’s for cameras or for automotive projection lighting,” says Grove.

At a higher level, to view how different beams and projections affect the vehicle and its interior, Ansys offers Ansys Speos, a CAD-integrated optical simulation package with a range of dedicated lighting design tools. The company also offers Ansys AVxcelerate, a platform for testing and validating sensors and lighting in real time. 

Ansys Speos rendering of a rear lamp showing the tail, stop, turn, and backup light functions activated. Image courtesy of Ansys.

 

“Once you have designed the light, you can use AVxcelerate to test how it will perform in dynamic virtual environments,” says Grove. “You can get not only illuminance values in lux but also see how it projects lights into the environment, how it illuminates street signs, nearby vehicles, and pedestrians, and its impact on sensor perception.” 

Ray tracing is the heart of light simulation, Grove points out. Therefore, most optical simulation benefits from GPU acceleration. “In order to calculate luminance, intensity, or brightness, to see how the light beams travel from the source to the environment, to see how it interacts with complex films and materials, you need to perform ray tracing, in millions, even trillions of light bounces,” he explains. “And the GPU is critical in ray-tracing acceleration.”

Performing ray-traced light simulation inside the vehicle cabin, for example, reveals light propagation uniformity, light leaks, hot spots, and dark spots. “You need to illuminate certain objects for the driver and the passengers. You need the light to be not too bright, not too dark, measurable by luminance. And you want a specific style, like cool white, warm white, or neutral white, or even a certain color.”

For light simulation, space packaging is an important factor, according to Grove. He means the physical space available for the lighting system in the overall vehicle’s design. “Depending on the space available, you have to rule out certain optical technology you can use, often leading to more sophisticated design, which can only be enabled by optical design and simulation,” he explains. 

The Black Box of Light Simulation

Autodesk Alias, a 3D design package for industrial design, is an industrial standard for automotive designers. For visualization, the company also offers Autodesk VRED, a virtual prototyping and visual simulation package with AR/VR (augmented reality and virtual reality) integration that lets you experience a vehicle before it’s fully built. Together, they enable a very fast, high-quality, and industry-proven automotive design workflow with minimal friction in exchanging data. 

“In general, carmakers want to accelerate the vehicle program, to go to market faster with new designs and new products,” says Marek Trawny, director of Product Management, Automotive and Concept Design at Autodesk. “Our sweet spot is [that] we help our customers accelerate their design process from general design, including lighting visualization, to decision making.”

In simulation, input parameters determine the accuracy and reliability of the outcome. In structural mechanics or fluid flow simulation, the parameters may include loads, torque, turbulence, and properties of the liquid and the manufacturing materials. For light simulation, “The biggest black box for users is material properties that cannot be determined visually, such as scattering coefficients, refractive indices, color spectra, or density,” says Pascal Seifert, senior technical product manager, Autodesk. 

“Accessing properties of light sources and LEDs, such as luminous flux or color temperature, is somewhat easier because this information is typically provided by the manufacturer. In this context, it is important that the application supports these units as input parameters and processes them correctly,” he adds.

The Autodesk VRED rendering shows how small geometry changes influence simulation results and how it helps engineers study the detailed trade-offs. Image courtesy of Autodesk.

However, material properties are significantly more challenging, especially effects that occur within the volume of the material, such as absorption or imperfections introduced during the injection molding process. “This is why we work closely with manufacturers such as Covestro [a leading polymer material manufacturer], whose Imagio material library provides our mutual customers with measured materials that can be imported directly into VRED,” says Seifert.

As a visualization program, VRED can output standard video and image formats, but conveying the character of light in these forms proves inadequate at times. “[This is] because you’re working with intensities and colors that cannot be displayed on your normal RGB screen,” explains Seifert. “VRED renders light in a wide range of intensity and colors that can’t be displayed. A monitor can never be as bright as a real lamp, so what you see on the screen is usually an approximation and requires some expertise and interpretation, or at minimum an understanding of where these deviations originate.”

Though quantifiable values like brightness, measured in lumens, are important, storytelling is equally important. Vehicle makers want to market their brands to target demographics, known to respond to certain aesthetics. One option, to convey the feel of the car, is to let the customer experience the vehicle’s interior and exterior light immersively with head-mounted AR/VR displays. VRED supports Varjo, HTC Vive, and Meta Quest (formerly Oculus Quest), among others. 

“It’s a first-person view of what it feels like to be in the car. In this case, it’s not about accuracy, but the story you want to tell,” says Seifert. For cabin light simulation, a detailed 3D model of the space is an essential component. “You’re designing the light in conjunction with the surrounding geometry, like the door panel or the trunk. So you want to see how light bounces off and reflects on these,” says Seifert. “On things like windshield, you want to avoid certain reflections, like chrome decor, because they could distort the view of the street.”

These potential issues can be addressed through different approaches, such as by employing special coating, using different manufacturing materials, changing the placement of the light source, or even altering the cabin geometry. “In the end, it is often necessary to find a compromise that remains cost-effective while still preserving the design intent,” notes Seifert.

Your Car Knows You Well

A modern car equipped with sensors is capable of noticing certain things even before the driver does, and can take appropriate action on its own. For example, it can detect rain and activate the windshield wiper as needed. Looking into the future, Grove says, “I can personally foresee that lighting systems might behave that way. Using the same technology seen in smartphones, it might detect the displays are not bright enough and adjust the light for you.”

The increased personalization of consumer goods also suggests a similar trend in automotive. “We’re definitely seeing carmakers striving to deliver a personalized experience for the respective driver,” says Trawny. He says, “So when you’re getting in the car, you’re being recognized by the car, and things are getting adjusted accordingly. For example, the seat moves into the correct position for you. The whole interior of the car will be reshaped to your expectations, from lighting up to interaction with the multimedia devices.”

Industrial-ready platform built for continuous production

Built to support a range of production‑grade applications, the Factor 4 Plus delivers manufacturing aids including custom jigs and fixtures, and spare parts using high-performance materials, such as PPS-CF high-heat and chemical-resistant composites. Additionally, UltiMaker TRACE (Technical Reporting And Certification Engine) automatically validates every print, ensuring the quality-assurance standards of end-use production.

“When I talk directly with our customers, one message comes through consistently: speed is great, but proving the quality of the part is the real challenge,” says Arjen Dirks, UltiMaker chief technology officer. “Pulling validation data straight from the hardware gives customers the confidence and traceability they need to scale additive manufacturing into true production environments.”

“The Factor 4 Plus reflects UltiMaker’s focus on solving the real production challenges facing manufacturers and defense teams today,” says Andy Middleton, senior vice president EMEA and Global Marketing at UltiMaker. “This is not about adding another machine to the portfolio. It is about listening closely to the market and delivering the speed, traceability, resilience, and affordability customers need to scale additive manufacturing in demanding, real-world environments.”

Adapted for field and defense requirements

Strengthened for the practical demands of defense use, the Factor 4 Plus operates in harsh or remote environments, thanks to the improved ruggedized architecture of the new gantry system, which absorbs vibration at high print speeds, according to Ultimaker. Where TRACE supports quality assurance in manufacturing, in defense it provides what's needed to deploy parts quickly in the field, Ultimaker adds.

By continuously recording key print parameters, including extrusion behavior and chamber temperatures, TRACE creates a CAD-validation report that can be reviewed immediately to support fast deployment and ensure components meet standards. The system also offers a self-contained setup that requires minimal training, making it suitable for rapid use in forward operations or temporary field sites, Ultimaker notes.

High-speed performance for modern production

The Factor 4 Plus achieves a speed boost over the standard Factor 4 through its advanced Cheetah motion planner, which removes abrupt changes that cause vibrations, enabling faster production with dimensional accuracy. It is also fully compatible with new AA+ and CC+ high-flow print cores. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Advancing Support for Polish Manufacturers 

Mastercam Polska will serve as a hub for customers and partners across Poland, offering direct access to Mastercam’s technology, technical support, training, and post-processing expertise. 

“Poland is a key market for advanced manufacturing, with a strong base of innovative and export-oriented companies,” says Nicolas Le Moigne, senior vice president Commercial. “With Mastercam Polska, we are reinforcing our commitment to our customers by providing closer support, deeper technical expertise, and tailored solutions that meet local needs.” 

The creation of Mastercam Polska reflects the company’s ongoing investment in Europe and its focus on supporting Industry 4.0 initiatives. By working closely with machine tool dealers, educational institutions, and manufacturing partners, Mastercam Polska will play an active role in advancing digital manufacturing capabilities in the region. 

“Expanding our footprint in Poland is a natural step in our EMEA growth strategy,” says Stuart Adams, regional executive director at Mastercam. “The region’s strong manufacturing base and commitment to innovation make it an important market for us. With Mastercam Polska, we are in a better position to support our customers locally, foster stronger partnerships, and help drive the adoption of advanced CAD/CAM technologies.” 

The entity will also support workforce development through training programs and certification initiatives.

“Our goal is to be more than a software provider—we want to be a trusted partner in our customers’ success,” added Wojciech Kowalczyk, territory manager at Mastercam Polska. “By establishing a direct presence in Poland, we can better collaborate, respond faster, and support our users at every stage of their manufacturing journey.” 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The event brought together U.S. Representative Betty McCollum; U.S. Representative Brad Finstad; U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison; Erin Streeter, executive vice president of National Association of Manufacturers; Scott Crump, inventor of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Stratasys Board Member, together with his wife Lisa Crump, co-founder of Stratasys in 1988; alongside Stratasys leadership, customers, partners, and community stakeholders.

“Stratasys is helping Minnesota lead in innovation and development as a global leader in additive manufacturing," says U.S. Congressman and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. "With the grand opening of their new facility in Minnetonka comes good paying jobs and economic growth. Their investments in the region are bringing hundreds of high‑skilled engineering, manufacturing, and technical jobs to Minnesota."

“As a pioneer in additive manufacturing technologies, Stratasys is at the forefront of advancing our country's national and economic security," says U.S. Representative Betty McCollum. "Their innovations are making the work of our service members safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective for the taxpayer. I’m thrilled to welcome their new facility here in Minnesota, and I look forward to watching them flourish as a premier innovator in the Twin Cities.”

Also speaking at the ceremony, Erin Streeter, executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), adds, “This investment strengthens the region’s manufacturing capabilities, supports strong jobs, and expands opportunities for manufacturing workers. Additive manufacturing is helping drive the next era of American manufacturing, and Stratasys’ continued investment in Minnesota is a strong example of that progress.”

“This state-of-the-art facility in Minnesota brings together our talent, technology, and the capabilities needed to innovate, collaborate, and help our customers accelerate additive manufacturing production at scale,” says Dr. Yoav Zeif, chief executive officer of Stratasys.

ARCH brings together engineering, advanced research and development, applications expertise, and customer collaboration capabilities under one roof, along with Stratasys Direct, the company’s on-demand manufacturing business. Visitors to the facility can experience industrial-scale 3D printing technologies in action and see how Stratasys delivers production grade parts across aerospace, defense, automotive, healthcare, dental, and industrial applications.

“Bringing our teams together under one roof has a meaningful impact on how we operate, innovate, and serve our customers,” says Rich Garrity, chief business unit officer of Stratasys and NAM Board Member. “ARCH gives us the scale and workspace to accelerate collaboration across engineering, manufacturing, and customer facing teams, enabling faster delivery of high-quality solutions.”

For its commitment to the local community, Stratasys also highlighted its partnership with High Tech Kids and its support for FIRST Robotics programs in Minnesota, highlighting its role in advancing STEM education and developing the next generation of engineers.

The opening of ARCH follows a recent independent audit of Stratasys’ Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) management systems at the Minnetonka campus, which confirmed alignment with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 standards and recommended renewal of both certifications. 

The ARCH launch underscores Stratasys’ commitment to U.S.-based innovation, workforce development, and community engagement, Stratasys reports.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

"The partnership solves a core challenge to make AI-powered industrial production a reality: making data from diverse sources accessible, understandable and actionable across the enterprise," says Rainer Brehm, chief operating officer for automation and chief technology officer at Siemens Digital Industries. "By bringing together Industrial Edge's robust OT connectivity with HighByte's DataOps capabilities and Intelligence Center X, we bridge the gap between shop floor operations and IT systems."

Integrated Solution for Data Access and Contextualization

HighByte Intelligence Hub runs natively on Industrial Edge, where application and configuration management is handled. The solution integrates directly with the Industrial Edge's Connectivity Suite, enabling users to connect to a wide variety of OT data sources including PLCs, SCADA systems, and industrial protocols. HighByte's DataOps functionalities extend this connectivity to IT data sources.

Using HighByte Intelligence Hub, users can apply flexible and scalable transformation rules to process data from multiple sources across IT and OT domains. These contextualized datasets can be made available to IT services in a transparent manner, with HighByte serving as a Unified Namespace provider that standardizes data access across the organization. HighByte Intelligence Hub can also be used to adjust machine setpoints, by sending commands from IT data sources back to PLCs via Industrial Edge's Connectivity Suite.

"Industrial organizations have long struggled with fragmented data across IT and OT systems," says Tony Paine, CEO at HighByte. "By directly integrating HighByte Intelligence Hub with Industrial Information Hub on Industrial Edge, we give customers a direct path to contextualized and standardized data. This is the foundation needed to build data products and leverage AI at scale with Siemens’ Intelligence Center X"

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

“For the first time, customers can pair best-in-class electrical system design, including AI-driven harness development, with 3D mechanical design in a unified, model-based workflow without compromise,” said Frances Evans, senior vice president, Lifecycle Collaboration Software, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “We are helping our customers reduce development risk while accelerating innovation with better collaboration across disciplines, earlier insight into design issues, and more confident decision making for complex electromechanical products.”

According to the company, the new 3D electrical design capabilities support earlier validation of electrical systems, improve data continuity across the digital thread and reduce manual handoffs between multidisciplinary engineering teams. Engineers can visualize electrical content in 3D, identify issues sooner and work to align between design intent and physical implementation. 
 
Key benefits include: 

• Faster product development via earlier electrical system validation.
• Improved ECAD-MCAD collaboratoin in a shared 3D environment
• Reduced cost and risk by minimizing late design changes and rework
• Higher engineering productivity using familiar electrical and mechanical design tools, boosted with AI

"Cross-disciplinary conflicts between electrical and mechanical teams are relatively inexpensive to resolve early and increasingly painful to resolve late, once adjacent subsystems have hardened around them," said Chad Jackson, CEO and chief analyst, Lifecycle Insights. "A shared 3D context, what Siemens is offering here, that connects electrical and mechanical engineers from the start of harness design is what makes early resolution operationally possible, not just an aspiration in a process diagram." 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Do you think of manufacturing as a game of chess? Rand Worldwide's technical product marketing Manager Krystian Link does. He sees the CFD and FEA experts, the designers, and the equipment in the shop as chess pieces, each with its own specialty, each abiding by its set of rules.

"A simulation engineer can do certain things well, comparable to a knight that moves in a certain direction. A rook moves differently. They're like program managers that can make big, impactful decisions, and have to be deployed differently. These pieces are always consistent, regardless of the product we make. Winning the game is launching the product right on time with quality, but how we get there changes every single time. I'll open the game differently, to see if I can do something better, more efficiently," he said.

Perhapas most important, the number of pieces are finite, so when a project is in jeapordy and the deadlines are in peril, you have to start thinking of the sacrifices you're willing to make or the fork attack you can launch.

"Larger, macro economic situations might force us to pivot your whole design portfolio, so you may have to delay a program or freeze it," he noted. "Sometimes you have to eliminate non-essential features -- quality-of-life features that might affect 5% of the users."

On the movement to ask designers to take on more simulation tasks, he compared it to swarming a queen with pawns. "I want to see if I can use a low-value piece to take out a queen or a rook, because that means I don't have to sacrifice a larger piece." But he also clarifies that, the designer-friendly simulation programs make the risk worthwhile. 

"You can use Ansys Fluent or Ansys Mechanical for the pre-launch validation work. But you can also use something like Ansys Discovery, meant for the conceptual phase, a low-risk portion of the product development," he said.

For more, listen to the full interview in the podcast. 

Rand's Krystian Link thinks of manufacturing as a game of chess. Image courtesy of Krystian Link.

The Dyndrite-led team includes Mimo Technik, which will execute controlled LPBF builds and testing coordination, and RTX, which will serve as the technology transition partner to help ensure application relevance and support transition requirements for defense and aerospace applications.

The AIM-4AM program is a $2 million initiative seeking to develop an AI-driven framework to identify and quantify risks within the existing material allowables approach for Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). This project will demonstrate the framework using 17-4PH stainless steel in the H1025 condition. The initiative is intended to help reduce the time, cost, and testing burden associated with traditional additive manufacturing qualification and certification workflows while maintaining rigorous statistical and engineering confidence, according to Dyndrite.

The selected project will focus on combining machine learning, process-aware modeling, and statistically informed validation methods to support more agile and production-relevant qualification workflows for additive manufacturing.

“Additive manufacturing qualification has historically required extensive C/D basis physical testing because the black box nature of machines creates uncertainty in the process and risk,” says Harshil Goel, founder and CEO of Dyndrite. “This program is about helping quantify and manage that uncertainty more intelligently using ML-assisted methods grounded in process control, data pedigree, statistical confidence, and validation testing.”

As part of the program, the Dyndrite team will:

• Develop ML-driven methodologies to assess and quantify qualification risk associated with reduced physical testing
• Generate preliminary qualification datasets for LPBF-produced 17-4PH H1025 material
• Validate AI predictions against experimental tensile and fatigue data
• Develop a framework supporting statistically informed reduced-testing protocols
• Establish production-oriented approaches aligned with material allowables development and qualification requirements

The program aligns with broader Department of Defense and industry priorities focused on accelerating additive manufacturing industrialization while improving repeatability, scalability, and confidence in qualified AM production. Dyndrite’s role in the project builds upon its broader work in software-defined manufacturing, feature-aware process development, process automation, and scalable LPBF qualification workflows.

“This initiative represents an important step toward modernizing how additive manufacturing materials are qualified for production use,” adds Goel. “The long-term opportunity is not simply reducing testing. It is accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing through smart parameter development, and building confidence in the manufacturing process.”

The AIM-4AM program is managed by America Makes and NCDMM with funding support from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD ManTech).

For more on the AIM-4AM program, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The objective of the project call, Artificial Intelligence for Material Allowables in Additive Manufacturing (AIM-4AM), is to develop an AI-driven framework to identify and quantify risk in the current material allowables approach for 17-4PH stainless steel (H1025) produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The outcome will enable faster, more cost-effective qualification and certification of AM materials, support agile decision-making for production parts, and accelerate adoption in defense and commercial applications.

“AIM 4AM represents a critical step toward modernizing how we qualify and certify advanced materials, enabling faster, more data driven decision making across defense and industrial applications,” says John Martin, Additive Manufacturing research director at America Makes. “By applying artificial intelligence to target the highest value tests and quantify risk with greater precision, the Institute is helping to reduce uncertainty while accelerating the pathway to field ready additive manufacturing solutions.”

Following are award winners:

• Team Lead: Dyndrite
  • Project Team: Mimo Technik, RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC)

Project teams will report on their progress at the America Makes Technical Review and Exchange (TRX) and other industry events during the execution phase of the program.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Autodesk products will also be available for purchase through AWS Marketplace beginning in the second quarter of Autodesk’s fiscal year. This allows for AWS customers to access Autodesk solutions—starting with Fusion for Product Design and Fusion Manage. Customers can use procurement and billing when purchasing Autodesk products while also honoring existing AWS Private Pricing Agreements.

Autodesk and AWS will collaborate to accelerate innovation across Autodesk’s cloud platform, including opportunities to leverage AWS cloud and AI capabilities to support complex design and make workflows. 

“By deepening our collaboration with AWS, we’re taking another major step in helping customers choose how they design and make in the cloud,” says Rachel Tuller, vice president of Global Partner Ecosystem Sales at Autodesk. “Together, we can give organizations the flexibility to build, operate, and scale solutions that best meet their business needs while driving greater efficiency and innovation.”

“This collaboration reflects what happens when partners align around customer success,” says Colin Lazier, vice president, Databases, Amazon Web Services. “By combining Autodesk’s design and make expertise with AWS’s cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities, we’re helping customers innovate faster, work smarter, and scale with confidence—and we’re just getting started.”

The collaboration also creates new opportunities for customers and partners across the broader AWS ecosystem. Through this collaboration, Autodesk and AWS are helping customers modernize workflows, improve collaboration, and scale.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

IronCAD 2027 New Features

IronCAD 2027 delivers enhancements that address the challenges of designing heavy-duty machinery, precision tooling, complex piping systems, large-scale assemblies, and modular equipment. These updates accelerate sketching and surfacing for custom metal fabrication, simplify detailed production drawings for fabrication shops, enable faster assembly layouts for industrial facilities, and support scalable modular designs with seamless data flow between 3D and 2D environments, IronCAD reports.

Key Improvements

Enhanced Performance and Productivity

IronCAD 2027 delivers performance gains in load/save operations and model interaction. Large-scale industrial assemblies, complex facility layouts, and heavy designs now open and respond faster, according to IronCAD. This is accomplished with improvements in the Graphical Interface and internal improvements to Internal Link creation, along with the Limited Link usage enhancements.

Improved Linking and Editing Capabilities

The enhanced linking architecture provides internal data management and new editing options for limited external links. The “Set as Active” command allows loading limited links to fully editable states, complemented by a “Deactivate All” option to return to the Limited Link state. 

Flexible Assembly Support

Assemblies can be designated as “flexible,” enabling child component positions to vary across different instances while preserving original design intent. This is valuable for industrial equipment and facility layout projects where the same subassembly (such as robotic arms, conveyors, or modular frames) must appear in multiple configurations within one project with different mechanism behaviors.

Smart Annotation Enhancements in ICD

IronCAD 2027 introduces several intelligent annotation improvements:

• Remember simple modification to Attachment Point Smart Annotations during update
• Improvements on location of text and arrows during creation
• Improvements on Automatic Item Bubble Placement and positioning

AI Chatbot, AI Design Assistant, AI Drawing Assistant, and Python Integration

• IronCAD AI Chat Bot – Real-time chat about IronCAD-related questions and technical questions within IronCAD’s interface, providing instant answers and prompting users with questions when certain commands are used, guiding them toward IronCAD’s methods of design within their workflow, is now available free to all users (Trial and Commercial users) through December 31, 2026.
• IronCAD AI Design Assistant – The new IronCAD AI Design Assistant combines artificial intelligence with your real IronCAD catalog data. It leverages the library of existing catalog components and added metadata—including detailed descriptions, engineering parameters, materials, and Smart Attachment information – to understand and interpret your design intent. 
• IronCAD AI Drawing Assistant – The IronCAD AI Drawing Assistant learns from your company’s existing technical drawings and cataloged 3D components to accelerate and standardize the creation of 2D manufacturing drawings.
• IronCAD Python Integration – IronCAD now includes native support for the official Python Package (python-ironcad), integrated into IronCAD 2027. This package exposes IronCAD’s API to Python, enabling users and developers to automate, customize, and extend IronCAD directly from Python scripts. Using simple Python code, you can create custom automation tools, batch process designs, generate complex models programmatically, integrate with external systems, or build specialized applications—while leveraging the complete IronCAD API. 

Usability and Workflow Improvements

A range of enhancements streamlines daily tasks:

• One-handed camera controls and visual orbit pivot for intuitive navigation of large assemblies
• Freely movable TriBall into open space without a geometry snap point
• Movable quick parameter edit dialog
• Perspective with Ortho on orthographic viewing orientation

Drawing and Documentation Enhancements

Key ICD improvements include:

• Bulk Drawing Template accessible for Create Drawing Process
• Export of multiple sheets to a single DWG with multiple layouts
• Faster geometry hit-testing and full 3D Isometric dimensioning support
• Text Box supporting Vertical Alignment along with Horizontal Alignment
• Item Bubble Support for Prefix and Postfix options

For more in-depth product details, click here. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

For AV Research

For AV development, NVIDIA points out that rare interactions, data from unusual road geometry, lighting changes, and edge-case scenarios are difficult to collect, but critical for training and validation. "With NVIDIA autonomous vehicle skills, researchers and developers can task AI agents to automate workflows for scene reconstruction from fleet data and generate synthetic scenarios," says NVIDIA. "Neural Reconstruction skills help AI agents turn fleet-captured data into editable 3D scenes for simulation and synthetic data generation ..."

NVIDIA is also bolstering AV research with NVIDIA AlpaGym, an open source closed-loop reinforcement learning framework, which "extends the approach by connecting policy rollouts and high-fidelity simulation with agent skills, scaling across thousands of GPUs, to help researchers move through setup, rollout and evaluation. NVIDIA OmniDreams, an action-conditioned generative world model, adds photorealistic rendering to the simulation loop, generating camera frames that respond directly to policy actions in real time," the announcement says.

The is augmented by the release of NVIDIA Alpamayo 2 Super, an open 32-billion-parameter reasoning vision language action (VLA) model. In other words, the AI model can reason, plan, and take action across the full driving scenario.

This week, NVIDIA Research released LCDrive. The company says the model "replaces expensive text-based reasoning with compact latent representations, letting autonomous vehicles think faster on embedded hardware."

For Vision AI

With vision AI, NVIDIA points out the challenge is to generate "enough controlled examples to study how models behave when visual conditions, object states or temporal events change."

To that end, the company is releasing New NVIDIA Metropolis skills, designed to help researchers and developers generate synthetic visual scenarios, including anomalies. The agents can also support pseudo-labeling. "These skills benefit from Cosmos 3’s mixture-of-transformers architecture, which uses a reasoning transformer to analyze observations and feed instructions to a generation tower, helping scale physically grounded virtual worlds," NVIDIA says.

Also this week, NVIDIA Research is releasing GraspGen-X, a foundation model for grasping action in robots. a vision-language-action policy trained for a two-finger gripper. "GraspGen-X applies its understanding of geometry and contact to any robotic gripper it encounters. Given the geometry of a new gripper and an unknown object it’s never seen before, the model generates reliable grasp pose proposals to enable the robot to grasp the object," says NVIDIA. 

For Robotics

With AI-based robot training, the key to developing navigating or manipulating is in iteration, says NVIDIA. However, it's time-consuming and difficult to build enough controlled environments and policy rollouts to study how robot behavior changes across tasks. Such work typically requires stitching together simulation environments, task variations, policy training, and evaluation by hand, according to NVIDIA.

NVIDIA proposes researchers use the AI agents to automate the common steps in scene preparation, simulation, and robot learning with NVIDIA Omniverse libraries, Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab frameworks. "Agents can help launch simulation sessions, author scenes, control simulation, capture data and validate environments in Isaac Sim, while Isaac Lab skills support reinforcement learning setup, training, evaluation and custom environment development," the company says.

This week, NVIDIA Research released NitroGen, described as "a generalized gameplay AI foundation model that harnesses the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T robot foundation model architecture to help train embodied agents in virtual environments across tens of thousands of hours of interaction."

The demo illustrates how AI, enabled by the Model Context Protocol (MCP), can transform disconnected engineering data into actionable, interoperable intelligence, forming a foundation for agentic AI workflows in engineering environments, AMC Bridge explains.

A new POC explores how MCP serves not only as a unifying integration layer but also as the mechanism through which AI systems can access, interpret, and act on engineering data, enabling automated requirements-driven design compliance and streamlined validation across manufacturing workflows, according to AMC Bridge.

To see the current functionality of the AI-Assisted KiCad–Codebeamer MCP Integration Demo, watch a demo video.

In the demonstration view the integration of the following:

• Codebeamer for requirements management
• KiCad for electronic design automation (EDA)
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a standard integration layer
• An AI assistant enabling natural language interaction

This architecture transforms traditionally disconnected workflows into a cohesive, intelligent system. MCP acts as both an integration backbone and an AI access layer.

Requirements defined in Codebeamer can be automatically interpreted and validated against PCB designs created in KiCad, with AI orchestrating validation workflows and supporting user interaction through natural language.

From Static Requirements to Executable Design Constraints

Requirements act as executable constraints embedded directly within engineering workflows. The system actively:

• Identifies noncompliance issues in real time
• Visualizes violations within the design environment
• Supports corrective actions immediately through natural language commands enabled by an AI assistant

The system leverages contextual knowledge from structured requirements repositories in Codebeamer® and detailed PCB design data, including layout, components, and 3D models, managed in KiCad®.

By integrating requirements management with PCB design validation, the demo enables real-time feedback on unmet requirements, automated correction, and built-in traceability—while reducing manual effort, improving design quality, and readiness for manufacturing.

The prototype also scales beyond a single PCB, supporting reuse across projects, regenerating compliant designs, and continuously revalidating results.

About AMC Bridge

AMC Bridge designs, builds, and integrates enterprise-grade software – applications, workflow extensions for CAD/PLM/BIM, data integrations, AI-enabled features – and deploys them with monitoring and lifecycle management. Services include assessing data readiness; preparing and unifying product and project data; and embedding AI into the workflows teams use every day. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The collaboration combines Nikon SLM Solutions’ industrial multi-laser metal additive manufacturing platforms with NB Additive’s expertise in workflow integration, production strategy, and manufacturing implementation, the companies report. The partnership will focus on industrial metal additive manufacturing applications across aerospace, defense, energy, and high-performance industrial sectors, with emphasis on production-scale manufacturing and workflow optimization.

The collaboration between NB Additive and Nikon SLM Solutions addresses key industry challenges including limited scalability of traditional additive systems, workflow fragmentation between printing and post-processing, and the need for clearer return-on-investment pathways for production additive manufacturing adoption, the companies share.

“At Nikon SLM Solutions, we believe additive manufacturing reaches its full potential when it enables true industrial production,” says Sam O’Leary, CEO of Nikon SLM Solutions. “NB Additive brings deep expertise in workflow implementation and production strategy, making them a strong partner for helping manufacturers scale additive manufacturing beyond isolated applications and into repeatable industrial operations.”

NB Additive reportedly selected Nikon SLM Solutions based on the company’s leadership in multi-laser metal additive manufacturing, high-productivity systems, open parameter flexibility, and industrial reliability.

“Additive manufacturing only becomes valuable when it works in production,” said Jens Kautzor, co-founder and managing director of NB Additive. “Our partnership with Nikon SLM Solutions allows us to bring true industrial capability to our customers—combining high-productivity printing with the workflow expertise needed to make it profitable. This is about moving the industry from promise to performance.”

NB Additive’s vendor-neutral approach reportedly focuses heavily on post-processing, automation, and workflow integration through a broader manufacturing ecosystem. The company supports manufacturers across metal and polymer additive manufacturing.

The partnership is expected to support larger growth opportunities over the next 18–24 months.

About NB Additive

NB Additive is an independent additive manufacturing sales and advisory firm focused on production-ready workflows. The company partners with leading OEMs and post-processing technology providers to help manufacturers move from prototyping to scalable, repeatable production. 

About Nikon SLM Solutions

Nikon SLM Solutions AG is a global provider of integrated metal additive manufacturing solutions. Nikon SLM Solutions AG is a company headquartered in Germany, with offices in Canada, France, India, Italy, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.

Further information is available on www.nikon-slm-solutions.com.

Overall, GPUs will have a compound annual growth rate of -3% from 2025 to 2029 and reach an installed base of 3 billion units at the end of the forecast period. In the next 5 years, the penetration of discrete GPUs (dGPUs) in the PC will be 12%.

Year-to-year total GPU shipments, including all platforms and all types of GPUs, increased 2%, desktop graphics increased by 11%, and notebooks decreased by -1.5%.

AMD's overall GPU market share increased 2% from last quarter, Intel's market share decreased -4%, and NVIDIA's market share increased 2.3%.

Overall, CPU unit shipments decreased -14% from last quarter; AMD’s decreased -3%, and Intel’s decreased -15%.

• The GPU's overall attach rate (includes integrated and discrete GPUs, desktops, notebooks, and workstations) in PCs for the quarter increased to 123%, up 5.6% from the last quarter.
• The overall PC CPU market decreased -7.2% year to year and -14% quarter to quarter.

The first quarter is traditionally flat to down. This quarter's GPU shipments were down from the 10-year average of 2.2%.

“The PC companies were caught in a downdraft that hit the broader market as the war with Iran took hold, memory cost spiked, and the continuation of special cutout, as well as changing import/export rules. As part of the turmoil, some PC suppliers have pulled back or held orders, while a few have increased orders hoping to lock in prices,” sayw Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. “Pre-ordering to lock in prices is a short-term measure that has never been a good idea because it suppresses future quarter sales. We expect overall PC sales and, consequently, client PC GPU sales, to decline for the year."

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Solving Maritime Computing Challenges

For maritime operators, system integrators, and equipment manufacturers, using uncertified hardware on a vessel can lead to immediate failure during audits, potential loss of vessel certification, and operational delays. Also, because commercial hardware lifecycles are often short, integrators can face constant redesigns and re-certifications.

As a solution, OnLogic is offering DNV certified solutions. These systems have been tested to meet the international standards for Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) and environmental resilience, ensuring they can be installed on the navigation bridge, in control rooms, and in critical infrastructure areas without interfering with sensitive communication equipment.

These solutions are optimized for three primary use cases:

• Navigation bridge and integrated console systems: Powering Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) and radar data interfaces.
• Engine room monitoring and energy optimization: Serving as data acquisition gateways for telemetry, such as vibration, temperature, and fuel consumption.
• Secure fleet management and offshore IoT: Consolidating data from shipboard sensors and transmitting aggregated information to shore-based operations.

"The maritime industry demands hardware that is as robust as the vessels themselves," says Michiel Schillemans, director Europe. "Our goal is to provide a reliable foundation that allows integrators and fleet managers to focus on their core mission rather than worrying about hardware failure at sea. By providing DNV certified systems, we are helping our partners navigate compliance, withstand rough environmental conditions, and ensure their technology remains viable for years to come."

Certified for Harsh Environments

The OnLogic maritime-ready line includes a range of rugged and industrial systems, as well as hardened panel PCs and touchscreens. 

Key features include:

• DNV certification: Verified compliance for high-stakes environments.
• Fanless options: By eliminating the need for fans, these systems resist internal damage from dust and other airborne debris.
• Longevity through design: OnLogic provides a controlled bill of materials and 5+ year product lifecycles to eliminate obsolescence and mid-project redesigns.
• Modern and legacy connectivity: Platforms are configurable with connectivity to interface with shipboard systems, including multiple COM and LAN ports, to bridge older navigation sensors with modern Ethernet, wireless, and IoT networks.

For more information about the new DNV certified maritime lineup from OnLogic, visit https://www.onlogic.com/store/computers/dnv-certified/.

About OnLogic

OnLogic is a global industrial computer manufacturer who designs configurable, solution-focused, AI-ready computers engineered for reliability at the IoT edge. Their systems operate in harsh environments. Founded in 2003, the company has offices in the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, Taiwan, and Malaysia. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

As developer of the SysMLv2 specification, OMG is in a place to certify practitioners against the language its members formally defined.

The SysMLv2 certification program follows OMG's formal adoption of the SysMLv2 specification late last year and gives employers, program offices, and procurement authorities a way to verify SysMLv2 proficiency at scale. The exam was developed by a team of academic and industry subject matter experts with direct involvement in developing the SysMLv2 standard.

SysMLv2 represents a redesign of its adopted predecessor, addressing limitations in precision, expressiveness, and tool interoperability that have constrained MBSE adoption. The updated standard enables rigorous model exchange between tools, clearer specification of system behavior, and tighter integration with digital engineering workflows.

"The Systems Modeling Language Version 2 (SysMLv2) marks a critical advancement in realizing the Department's digital thread vision by enabling API-first interoperability across our engineering ecosystems. As our systems engineering workforce adopts this approach, the model user certification exam serves as a vital catalyst by providing a trusted benchmark. This certification ensures practitioners across the industrial base remain aligned and fully equipped to collaborate, driving the rapid delivery of new capabilities," says Daniel Hettema, Department of War director of Digital Engineering, Modeling and Simulation.

"The release of the SysMLv2 Model User certification exam is an important step to enable practitioners to demonstrate their readiness to be part of a SysML v2 modeling effort," says Sandy Friedenthal, OMG Systems Modeling Community co-chair.

"Innovative and next-generation MBSE can only begin to be realized once a workforce understands, applies, and eventually optimizes the standard," says Terrance Milligan, OMG director of Certification Programs. "The launch of the SysMLv2 Model User certification exam provides the impetus for committed organizations to drive this evolution in MBSE, a trusted way to assess real proficiency against the language as defined in the OMG specification, and grants practitioners a clear path to demonstrate it."

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The existing anti-wicking device, designed to prevent oil from wicking up thermocouple wires into the instrument cabinet, suffered from significant design and operational limitations. It was traditionally built using subtractive manufacturing methods. The company was able to redesign the device and print it in titanium, which achieved structural improvements and cost savings.

“Before wire-ded we never thought about having parts in titanium because it was very expensive, but after moving to Meltio’s technology we discovered it’s quite affordable,” said an ExxonMobile representative in a press release.

The company decided to move from the original material to a more efficient and effective one. After considering and testing several options, Titanium 64 was chosen: It is a lighter and cheaper material compared to the original, and a material already parameterized with Meltio’s technology. However, adapting these heavy-duty components for additive manufacturing presented distinct metallurgical and operational hurdles.

Atmospheric requirements: The chosen material, Titanium 64, requires a strictly inert environment to achieve optimal microstructural properties. Generating this atmosphere demands approximately one and a half hours of machine time to remove oxygen prior to printing.

Thermal constraints: Titanium requires a minimum layer time of seven minutes to avoid overheating, making standard single-part production inefficient due to excessive idle times.

Deposition defects: Initial printing trials of the main body revealed surface oxidation caused by localized thermal accumulation, alongside material overbuilding on lateral clamping wings. Furthermore, rapid travel movements during printing physically shifted the unanchored main body, causing the laser to lose focus.

“Titanium has historically been a material limited by its high machining and manufacturing costs. Metal filament additive manufacturing opens the door to democratizing its industrial use, making applications that were previously unfeasible economically viable," said Luis Sanchez, managing director at Meltio.

Refinery equipment has to survive extreme conditions and constant vibration. By redesigning the component and locking it firmly in place during the printing process, ExxonMobil and Meltio created a solid, leak proof titanium barrier that easily meets the strict reliability standards.

To maximize chamber inertization efficiency, engineers additively manufactured a custom fixture using SS-316Lsi deposited onto an SS304 base plate. This tooling enabled the batch production of four components simultaneously, naturally increasing inter-layer dwell times and eliminating surface oxidation issues.

The main body was redesigned with a 75-degree overhang limit. To avoid complex support structures, the team implemented a non-planar printing approach. Using the M600 probing functions, the machine executed a Z-axis touch-off at the lowest substrate point, depositing features directly onto the curved surface. The lid was also redesigned to incorporate hollow perimeters specifically designed to hold a silicone sealant.

Material overgrowth was successfully mitigated by significantly decreasing laser power and print speed in specific localized regions. To prevent workspace displacement during non-extrusion travel moves, robust mechanical clamping was added to both sides of the fixture, locking the components rigidly into their coordinate systems.

In addition to cost savings, production lead time decreased drastically from an estimated 4 to 6 weeks down to exactly 58.8 hours.

“This successful industrial use case highlights something very significant for the industry: metal additive manufacturing is no longer a laboratory technology, but a real industrial tool for critical sectors such as energy, petrochemicals, and defense," Sanchez said. "The ability to manufacture complex titanium components while reducing costs, lead times, and logistical dependence is a complete game-changer.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The SimOps certification process evaluates simulation platforms, global high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructures, and HPC tools against 20 core best practices derived from the analysis of 232 HPC Cloud and enterprise simulation projects conducted over the past 14 years. These best practices represent the operational patterns consistently associated with successful, scalable simulation environments and compute and data infrastructures across industries including automotive, aerospace, energy, manufacturing, and life sciences.

According to the company, the BRIX platform enables organizations to streamline end-to-end validation operations, simulation execution, manage distributed HPC resources, automate workflow governance, and create scalable simulation ecosystems that accelerate engineering innovation.

The SimOps compliance assessment measures software capabilities across five operational domains: Workflow Automation and Orchestration; Infrastructure Abstraction and Resource Optimization; Governance, Traceability, and Reproducibility; Collaboration and Process Standardization; and Integration and Extensibility.

The BRIX platform’s open architecture enables integration with commercial CAE solvers, in-house engineering codes, data management systems, and enterprise IT infrastructure. Each of BRIX’s 20 evaluated features was assigned a SimOps Compliance Level, ranging from foundational to advanced operational maturity. The assessment confirmed that BRIX achieved certification-level compliance across all benchmarked categories, with particularly strong performance in workflow automation, hybrid HPC orchestration, and simulation governance.

According to the company, this certification is significant because SimOps extends beyond traditional workflow management. Inspired by DevOps principles, SimOps defines a structured operational framework for engineering simulation: integrating people, processes, data, software, and compute resources into repeatable, scalable, and continuously improving simulation ecosystems.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.​​​​​​​

Haddy produces large-format components using robotic additive manufacturing processes and recyclable and biodegradable materials. Products are made to be reprocessed into feedstock and returned to production, helping reduce waste, Siemens reports. Materials are sourced domestically in the United States to reduce transportation-related emissions and support local supply chains.  

“Our goal is to keep materials in use and production close to where products are needed,” says Jay Rodgers, chief executive officer, Haddy. “Adopting Siemens Xcelerator helps us connect design, automation and manufacturing in a way that supports circularity, local sourcing and rapid iteration while using data and AI to continuously improve how our microfactories operate.” 
  
Haddy delivers this model via a network of digitally standardized, AI-enabled microfactories. By producing products where needed and relying on data and software for consistency across sites, the company aims to reduce supply-chain complexity and support low-waste production.  

Haddy uses Siemens Xcelerator to connect product design, manufacturing planning, and automation via a digital thread. Siemens’ Designcenter software is used to design large-format parts via additive manufacturing and prepare designs for robotic production. Teamcenter software manages product data and configuration across sites, while SINUMERIK, Siemens’ CNC control platform primarily for machine tools, is used in Haddy’s microfactories to orchestrate robotic AM systems, combining CNC-based path control with industrial robot kinematics.

Additionally, Haddy is expanding use of Siemens’ softwar. It has adopted Simcenter Optistruct software for product optimization and validation of large-scale products. Also, Haddy is leveraging NX X Manufacturing, a cloud‑enabled manufacturing solution, for build strategies, to support NC programming, simulation and execution of complex large‑format robotic AM processes. Haddy also uses subtractive CNC machining.

“Haddy is showing how manufacturers can rethink production by combining the power of the AI-enabled digital twin and local manufacturing with circular material strategies,” says Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “By building a digitally connected, software‑defined manufacturing model, Haddy is creating a scalable approach that helps maintain consistency across sites while supporting more resilient and sustainable production.”

Haddy was slated to share its perspective at Realize LIVE Americas this week in Detroit, where Jay Rodgers, CEO, Haddy, is delivering a keynote focused on the future of sustainable, AI‑enabled manufacturing.

For more details, click here.

 Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

“Through 2030 we project continued high growth, and our business requires us to expand our existing facilities, add a new facility, and significantly increase our hiring—all challenges we are tackling right now,” says Sean Whittaker, founder and CEO of Incodema3D. “With a sense of urgency to support national priorities, we truly feel that we are setting the bar for contracted metal AM production and have created well-oiled processes to produce everything from 10 mission-critical parts for a defense customer to 10,000 parts for an energy company.”

Recently, Incodema3D announced that AFM Capital established a majority stake in the AM venture, and now it is executing its growth plan for manufacturing capacity to increase threefold by 2030, including an upcoming second manufacturing facility. Incodema3D has consolidated business exclusively around EOS metal AM technology at its 60,000-sq.-ft. New York facility. Beyond its AM capabilities are Incodema3D’s investments in traditional manufacturing technologies for post-processing and finishing AM parts.

“We are constantly introducing process improvements and efficiencies through automation wherever possible to achieve quality and throughput,” says Matt Lewis, Incodema3D vice president of programs. “By integrating design for additive manufacturing, industrial-scale 3D printing, post-processing, precision machining, inspection, and fulfillment under one roof, we can move complex metal parts into production with speed, consistency, and confidence.”

“Incodema3D’s continued growth is a strong reflection of both their technical leadership and unerring vision for AM on an industrial scale,” says Glynn Fletcher, president of EOS North America. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

"Intelligence Center X brings all of the data together," said Siemens Digital Industries Software President and CEO Tony Hemmelgarn in his keynote at the event. "You can start asking questions baed on that data, and the it can help you determine the best course to resolve a problem right in the dashboard, and recommend a path forward. Then you can tell it to go ahead and run those changes through Teamcenter."

By connecting data, models and workflows on a single governed foundation, Intelligence Center X enables companies to deploy AI-driven applications and agents faster, with full traceability and control, the company said. Intelligence Center X combines the Mendix low-code platform with Siemens' Graph Studio and AI Studio software from the Rapidminer portfolio to create the enterprise context, business-specific lifecycle intelligence, and orchestrated agents and intelligent applications businesses can leverage to improve operations.

According to Joe Bohman, Executive VP, PLM Products, Siemens Digital Industries Software describes Intelligence Center X as a "one stop shop for agentic enterprise development." He emphasized four important components of the solution, including the use of Mendix; Graph Studio with a massive database to put data in context; AI Studio for machine learning activities; and an industrial ontology to bring all enteprise data together to run AI workflows.

Siemens has invested heavily in AI across its industrial software suite, and in his keynote Hemmelgarn provided an overview of those efforts, including PhysicsAI simulation tool; GenAI for design; the integration of AI into its electronics design tools and PLM software; and the company's work with Xometry and its acquisition of Volition to embed sourcing and pricing information directly in Designcenter.

According to a company press release: "Across industries, companies have invested in AI but are struggling to scale beyond pilots because data is fragmented, governance is inconsistent, and AI insight does not connect to real workflows. Intelligence Center X is designed to close that gap as the production-ready system that orchestrates people and AI agents together, on top of what enterprises already own, with full auditability and policy controls."

"Intelligence Center X helps organizations move beyond AI experimentation by embedding intelligence directly into everyday workflows, where it can be governed, scaled and trusted. When AI is connected to real business processes and enterprise data, it delivers measurable impact at scale," Hemmelgarn said. "AI only delivers real value when it is embedded in how work gets done. Intelligence Center X brings together enterprise data with industrial ontologies and Siemens' knowledge graph capabilities in a governed environment to empower organizations to apply AI with confidence and achieve consistent, measurable outcomes."

Vivix Vidros Planos, Brazil's leading flat glass manufacturer, deployed a portfolio of nearly 30 Mendix applications connecting OT and IT data across SAP S/4HANA, Siemens Industrial Edge, and Snowflake. Results include an 85 percent reduction in production issue resolution time, 6,000 hours of manual work recaptured in a single year, and customer complaint resolution compressed from five days to under one. Vivix's AI-powered Virtual Engineer, built on Intelligence Center X with Amazon Bedrock and Claude from Anthropic, is now advancing toward a full digital twin strategy using the multi-agent capabilities in Intelligence Center X.

"With this system, we are ready for the agentic future, enabling our people and AI to work together in a more connected and productive way," said Aristóteles Terceiro Neto, industrial transformation manager, Vivix Vidros Planos. "We are already seeing significant enterprise value, including up to 4x faster resolution times in quality-related investigations, as well as measurable improvements in how we support decision-making on the shop floor."

"Axiz is among the first enterprises globally to deploy Intelligence Center X as a full agentic enterprise system. Integrating the AI/ML modeling capabilities, application development and process orchestration for an end-to-end pricing use case, Axiz achieved a 95 percent reduction in manual effort and 100 percent accuracy in data ingestion," said Andrew Moodley, chief cloud, digital and marketing officer, Axiz. "Axiz is the first customer globally to integrate Intelligence Center X for our pricing use case. AI/ML development acts as the brain, while the application development and orchestration capabilities act as the body."

As part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, Intelligence Center X is designed to work alongside existing enterprise and operational data solutions to enable agentic workflows to operate with trusted data across the broader ecosystem. This approach is supported by Siemens' data and cloud ecosystem partners. It can be deployed in three configurations: layered on Siemens AI products to amplify lifecycle intelligence with out-of-the-box industrial ontologies; as a standalone platform for asset-intensive organizations running other OT vendors; or as a pure agentic enterprise platform for financial services, insurance, healthcare, government, and retail organizations that need production-grade AI execution with full auditability.

You can learn more here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Aibuild, a manufacturing software company, has launched Aibuild FETS, a finite element thermomechanical simulation tool that runs fast.

Aibuild FETS supports the breadth of additive manufacturing processes including directed energy deposition (DED), wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), friction stir additive manufacturing (AFSD), functionally graded manufacturing (FGM), and fused filament fabrication (FFF), covering metals and thermoplastics.

It delivers simulation across six key output types during the AM build process: thermal distribution, thermomechanical, distortion, residual stress, interlayer bonding analysis, including poor adhesion plus sagging/slumping, and crack prediction from simulated stress.

For engineering teams, this is simulation that required hours or even days of computation and demanded specialist computers and dedicated workflows that can return accurate results in less time. Engineers can identify thermal risk, predict distortion, understand residual stress distribution, and optimise through rapid iteration, all before a single layer is deposited.

"A failed build is often thousands of dollars in material, machine time and energy, and hours of someone's time you can't get back. Aibuild FETS came out of wanting to fix that. It's not just process parameters either, it's the whole thing. The path the tool takes, the thermal behaviour, the entire build strategy. Engineers can now just know whether a part will print successfully, in seconds, before any of that money is on the line," says Guy Brown, CSO at Aibuild.

GPU powered and validated by the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), one of the U.S. aerospace industry's independent testing and validation bodies, Aibuild FETS carries the accuracy credentials to match its speed claims. Results are consistent with industry-validated finite element simulation.

"As a research institute serving the aerospace industry, NIAR's mission is to validate and de-risk advanced manufacturing technologies before they reach production floors. Thermal control has been one of the biggest challenges holding back metal additive at industrial scale. This foundation means we're well positioned to benefit from upcoming AI enhancements that Aibuild is developing. For the aerospace manufacturers we work with, this represents a validated path forward: they can adopt large-format metal AM with the thermal process control they need, and the platform will keep getting faster as AI capabilities come online," says Jeswin J. Chankaramangalam, program director, NIAR.

Aibuild FETS is GPU powered, CAM agnostic and requires no specialist hardware, allowing it to integrate directly into existing workflows across a wide range of manufacturing environments. Easy calibration means teams are up and running quickly, without lengthy onboarding or specialist training.

Aibuild FETS is available now. Any one who adopts before the end of May 2026 will receive an exclusive offer. https://ai-build.com/cam/thermomechanical/

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

"MISUMI Americas is building the future of mechanical sourcing, one that is faster, smarter, and more connected," says Dave Evans, president and chief executive officer of MISUMI Americas. "By combining AI-powered tools, deep manufacturing expertise, and a full spectrum of OTS/standard, configurable, and custom solutions, we are helping customers simplify procurement, reduce supply chain risk, and bring better products to market faster."

MISUMI Americas supports the full continuum of mechanical component needs, including standard components for common applications, configurable components tailored to precise customer specifications, and custom-manufactured components and assemblies for custom and complex requirements. This integrated model allows ability to select a solution for each application while working with a single trusted partner across projects, categories, and production stages.

By servicing a share of the bill of materials (BOM), MISUMI Americas can identify opportunities, mitigate sourcing risks, and support complex programs from design through production. For customers managing large, high-mix BOMs, this helps reduce supplier sprawl, improve visibility, and create a more resilient supply chain.

"Today's innovators need more than parts. They need a launch partner that can support the full journey from design to production," adds Dave Evans, president and CEO of MISUMI Americas. "We're uniquely positioned to help companies build faster, source smarter, reduce risk, and scale with confidence."

MISUMI Americas serves three core customer segments: product innovation companies, machine builders, and manufacturing operations (MRO) teams. 

MISUMI Americas helps address these challenges through a digitally enabled sourcing infrastructure that streamlines communication, accelerates response to design revisions, and aligns engineering with manufacturing execution.

By managing end-to-end sourcing complexity, the company reduces coordinating across fragmented supplier networks, enabling engineering, supply chain, and procurement teams to focus on higher-value work. 

For customers working against aggressive launch timelines, MISUMI Americas helps compress development cycles and deliver potential cost reductions through optimized sourcing, lower coordination overhead, and the ability to match the right component type (standard, configurable, or custom) to each application.

At the core of the expansion is MISUMI Americas' its end-to-end AI-powered supply chain management platform. From ideation to full-scale production, the company manages every stage of the supply chain, including supplier qualification, sourcing, manufacturing, quality oversight, logistics, and production execution.

The platform integrates automation, manufacturing intelligence, and quality control throughout the product lifecycle,  routing production, optimizing Design for Manufacturability. Through Fictiv's digital infrastructure for sourcing custom mechanical components, MISUMI Americas supports customers across aerospace, robotics, clean energy, consumer products, automotive, factory automation, and other complex manufacturing sectors.

MISUMI Americas' supply chain features these capabilities: global manufacturing centers; supply chain management; MRO Services; Engineering Services; Compass AI AI-powered sourcing intelligence; CNC to Casting; Final Assembly Test and Packout; Sheet Metal Progressive Stamping; 

For more more detail on its capabilities, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

In the new release of its open low-code platform Elements, CONTACT Software embeds the intelligence layer Fourier AI system-wide.

Integrating AI into the Product Lifecycle

With Fourier AI, the new Elements release provides a scalable infrastructure that enables companies to implement individual AI use cases. It is designed for engineering tasks and integrated into development, production, and service processes.

Fourier AI understands the context of data in CONTACT Elements and delivers results. To achieve this, an orchestrator combines AI models with domain-specific ones developed by CONTACT—for example, AI models that help engineers to find similar 3D geometries.

Fourier AI was developed according to the “Security by Design” principle and ensures full data sovereignty. Data remains stored locally at the customer, while AI operations run anonymously in a GDPR-compliant cloud. The role and rights concept ensures that the AI only provides information that is authorized for the respective users.

Implementing Changes Faster
CONTACT has redesigned its Engineering Change Management and will keep expanding it with new releases. Product optimization needs can be recorded directly in the system as problem reports. This creates a feedback channel that transitions into the change management process.

The approval and implementation of an engineering change are now separated, allowing complex changes to be planned and executed more flexibly. Change orders can be divided into smaller work packages, processed in parallel by different teams, and released in stages. 

Assigning Project-Specific Substitutes
In Project Office, substitutes can now be appointed for each project member. They receive the same project-specific rights and full access to the relevant tasks. 

Other new features simplify working with Office and PDF documents. Via the new Microsoft 365 Link, OneDrive files can be created directly as documents in CONTACT Elements and vice versa. With the new Advanced PDF Viewer, users have access to extensive PDF viewing and annotation options.

Traceability in Manufacturing
Production or quality managers can comprehensively track the history of every product and batch: from the production steps completed and materials used to the employees involved and process parameters recorded, such as machine data.

Solving Problems Faster
Companies can now manage service contracts with customers centrally in CONTACT Elements for IoT. When a customer opens a ticket, the service team has quick access to all existing service agreements as well as the available service budget. In addition, users see directly where services have been provided that exceed the scope of the contract and need to be billed separately.

When coordinating service assignments, service managers benefit from usability improvements in the Service Planner. Staff deployments can be intuitively extended and shortened via drag-and-drop, and the system supports scheduling by suggesting suitable time slots.

CONTACT Elements 2026.2 is available for customers and partners to download.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Each step generates editable Python code that can be saved, shared, and redeployed across Keysight Advanced Design System (ADS), Cadence Virtuoso, and Synopsys Custom Compiler environments.

RF organizations face a talent gap. McKinsey projects the semiconductor industry will need 88,000 engineers by 2029. In RF design, simulation methodologies spanning multiple physics domains can take years to master, and expertise is often lost when senior engineers leave, Keysight notes.

RF Circuit Simulation Professional lets engineers construct their workflow on a visual whiteboard or in auto-generated Python scripts. Each step executes simulations, optimizations, and design decisions in sequence, with support for decision-based loops and parameter settings.

Each workflow becomes a repeatable methodology that can be shared across teams, reused, and driven by AI. Design review and tapeout steps that previously required manual setup for each iteration now run automatically.

“RF design expertise is leaving the industry faster than it can be replaced," says Nilesh Kamdar, EDA general manager, Keysight. "The simulation knowledge that senior engineers have accrued cannot be transferred through documentation alone. Design teams now have a way to capture that experience as a visual, executable, reusable workflow. The structured data this generates, and the underlying Python APIs, are the first step toward fully automated, AI/ML-driven RF design.”

Keysight will demonstrate RF Circuit Simulation Professional at IMS2026, booth #19035.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

Under the leadership of Dave Evans, MISUMI Americas CEO, the company is expanding MISUMI’s role from a trusted component supplier to a comprehensive digital manufacturing and supply chain partner. 

“Whether we’re helping venture-backed innovators like Oishii scale robotics for the future of agriculture or supporting the next generation of LEO satellites in public aerospace companies, our mission is to give every engineer access to Fortune 500-caliber supply chain capabilities,” Evans said. “By combining MISUMI’s decades of precision and reliability with Fictiv’s AI-powered digital manufacturing platform, we’re transforming static supply chains into living, self-optimizing production systems, empowering innovators to move from design to production faster and with greater confidence.” 

With this announcement, the company says that engineering, procurement, and supply chain leaders have access to a Fortune 500-caliber supply chain team of experts to launch their entire mechanical bill of materials (BOM), including standard, configurable, and custom mechanical parts. MISUMI Americas enables today’s engineers and supply chain teams to build and scale industry-leading technology including factory automation, robotics, aerospace, eVTOL, satellites, medical devices, factory automation and more, the company says.

“As a company in the early stages of manufacturing, it was critical to find a partner who could scale up with us as we worked through design iterations and sold equipment to initial customers. Combining MISUMI's trusted legacy of quality and precision with Fictiv's digital manufacturing ecosystem into MISUMI Americas creates a single source for all standard, configurable, and custom components, shortening our path to market,” said Jamie Vinsant, VP Membrane Commercial Development, EnergyX.

Customers will be able to source both “make” and buy components and custom mechanical parts through a single, integrated digital workflow, eliminating the complexity of managing multiple vendors.

By leveraging Fictiv’s AI-powered quoting and MISUMI’s global logistics network, MISUMI Americas enables engineers to move from prototype to full-scale production significantly faster. This includes quotes in minutes, high-quality parts delivered as fast as one day, and seamlessly scaling from 24-hour prototype to full-scale production without switching vendors. 

Customers also gain access to a highly resilient global manufacturing network, with hubs in the U.S., Mexico, China, Japan, and India.

The platform offers automated Design for Manufacturing feedback, allowing engineers to identify and fix production issues during the design phase, reducing time and cost required to launch products.

the manufacturers that serve them. As MISUMI enters a new chapter of growth, this leadership structure positions the organization to deliver meaningful, lasting impact at scale, the company says.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

This collaboration delivers a signoff‑ready platform for next‑generation AI infrastructure and physical AI designs across data center, edge and intelligent devices. 

Building on the companies’ 2025 announcement of certified Cadence tools and IP on multiple Samsung Foundry nodes, including 2nd-gen 2nm, this new multi-year agreement further broadens the Cadence portfolio of Memory and Interface IP, including NVIDIA NVLink-C2C-enabled interconnect and CUDA-X GPU-accelerated libraries spanning high-speed SerDes, PCIe, UCIe and all leading memory interfaces on 2nd-gen 2nm. 

“AI infrastructure and physical AI are pushing the industry into advanced node and 3D‑IC designs that demand far more capacity, integration and signoff confidence than ever before,” says Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence. 

“Customers are increasingly drawn to Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 2nm for leading‑edge AI designs that must keep pace with the exploding demand across AI infrastructure and emerging physical AI applications,” said Jongshin Shin, executive vice president and head of Foundry Design Platform Development at Samsung Electronics. “Our expanded Cadence partnership delivers a robust semiconductor and 3D-IC platform with advanced Memory, Interface IP and AI-optimized flows for superior performance, efficiency and innovation.” 

Agentic AI EDA/SDA Platform and 3D-IC Design 

Cadence and Samsung Foundry deliver a certified flow on 2nd-gen 2nm, including Cadence’s Innovus Implementation System for digital implementation, Virtuoso Studio for analog and custom design, Integrity 3D‑IC Platform for full 3D‑IC system planning and implementation, Voltus IC Power Integrity Solution for power integrity and system‑level power analysis, and Quantus Extraction Solution and Tempus Timing Solution for signoff. 

Samsung 3D Cube-H design is enabled with a full system planning, implementation and signoff flow for hybrid copper bonding (HCB) technology, including Cadence Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer, Integrity 3D‑IC, Innovus Implementation, Voltus IC Power Integrity (ERA) and Pegasus Verification System. 

Advancing NVLink-C2C Interconnect 

NVIDIA is leveraging Cadence and Samsung Foundry’s expanded advanced-node and 3D-IC platform to deliver high-bandwidth interconnect through NVIDIA NVLink-C2C and CUDA-X GPU accelerated capabilities. 

Enabling Ambarella’s Edge AI Platform 

Ambarella is developing its 2nm edge AI platform for ultra-low-power AI perception and physical AI SoCs for intelligent edge systems spanning robotics, drones, autonomous machines, and advanced sensing applications. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

From heat pumps to satellites to semiconductors, engineering teams can compress cycles of design, testing, and building from months to minutes in industrial sectors such as aerospace, government, automotive, HVAC, and utilities.

Hardware Innovation

Dyad gives engineering teams an AI-first environment to model, test and validate industrial systems. Dyad 3.0 launches and builds on Dyad 1.0, which launched in June 2025, and Dyad 2.0, launched in December 2025. Dyad connects autonomous agents with scalable physics simulations, controls, safety analysis, and ability to generate code for embedded systems. 

"It's not about helping engineers complete one small task at a time. It's agentic engineering at scale, where teams can feed a full specification to Dyad and have it design the complete system. Spec in. Design out," says Viral Shah, CEO of JuliaHub.

Digital Twins with Scientific Machine Learning

Dyad's cloud-based agents are designed to scan through the world's scientific knowledge to constantly improve models. AI-automated lab testing is growing to ensure models match physical reality. Streaming data mixed with Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) makes it possible for models to automatically grow as the system learns from the real world.

Dyad's simulation ecosystem and language offer a foundation on which all of these learnings are relayed back to engineers to check the processes, determine whether assumptions match customer requirements, and be the human in the loop that ensures the safety of the final product. 

Dyad to Implement AI for Science in Real World

Dyad's modeling language is purpose-built to be easy for AI agents to understand. Its foundational logic is grounded in the laws of physics, allowing its agents to reason about how fluids move through machines, how wind speed and temperature affect components, and how fundamental forces like gravity shape design. 

About JuliaHub

JuliaHub was founded in 2015 by creators of Julia, a high-performance open-source language developed at MIT. JuliaHub combines advanced mathematical computing and machine learning expertise to enable Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) techniques, Digital Twin solutions, and next-generation modeling and simulation in aerospace, automotive and other industrial verticals.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

This partnership combines Zuken’s AI roadmap with Valeo’s “AI Agents” and industrial expertise.

“For Valeo, Zuken is much more than a software provider; it is a true innovation partner,” says Christophe Le Ligné, vice president Research and Development at Valeo. “The power of Zuken’s AI roadmap, combined with the exceptional openness of its architecture, allows us to hybridize our own artificial intelligence tools with their engine."

“Our vision at Zuken has always been to provide intelligent tools that adapt to our customers’ most complex challenges,” states Ryosuke Takagi, executive officer, general manager of R&D Division at Zuken. “Collaborating with a technological leader like Valeo pushes our ‘Autonomous Brain’ roadmap to its highest level of performance. By opening our System Planner, Design Gateway, and Design Force solutions to Valeo’s AI agents, we demonstrate that the true power of AI in engineering lies in the alliance between a high-performance software engine and expert industrial know-how.”

The co-innovation combines the strengths of each partner:

1. Functional Generative Design: Using Zuken’s System Planner, Valeo deploys its generative AI to instantly create and evaluate optimal multi-criteria architectures based on Valeo’s standards.
2. Digital Continuity: Zuken’s open platform ensures integration with Valeo’s ecosystem and digital continuity for full traceability for the Automotive SPICE 4.0 (ASPICE4.0) HWE (Hardware Engineering process group) standard. Valeo’s AI processes data and reinjects it as automated actions in the platform.
3. Assisted Detailed Design: Valeo integrates “AI Agents” (virtual copilots) to assist engineers in real time with solution searches, Hardware rule verification, and constraint implementation while Zuken develops native AI functions to accelerate schematic entry using Valeo’s standardized database.
4. Auto-Placement and Routing: Physical integration relies on Zuken’s Design Force engine. Valeo uses Zuken’s SDK to act directly within the tool and “train” this AI on the extreme constraints of the automotive industry.

About Valeo
Valeo is a global technology company creating solutions and systems for automotive and technology partners worldwide. 

About Zuken
Zuken is a global software company that delivers advanced electrical and electronic design solutions. Founded in 1976, the company has built a reputation for technology innovation in the EDA industry.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

The $30 million investment will go towards scaling up equipment, tooling, production readiness, and operations at the Virginia site. The facility will produce the advanced systems and solutions necessary to protect, control and safely operate equipment in data center, utility, and industrial power generation and distribution applications. With production slated to begin in fall 2026, the Prince George facility is expected to add at least 350 jobs once operational.

“Our data center, utility and industrial customers are under intense pressure to add capacity quickly, with less risk and more predictability,” says Brian Dula, president of the Electrification and Automation business unit at Siemens Smart Infrastructure USA. “By adding additional avenues to expand dedicated manufacturing of Siemens‑designed switchgear and power delivery solutions here in the U.S., we’re helping customers shorten project timelines and improve delivery confidence — while reinforcing a resilient domestic supply chain.”

“Our new Prince George facility will help us build the energy management solutions Siemens needs to meet customers’ growing power requirements with greater speed and scale,” says Brent Tompkins, senior vice president, Global Business Units, Renewables and Energy Infrastructure, at Jabil. “We’re proud to collaborate with Siemens to expand Jabil’s capabilities within the United States and enable the world's most important technologies.”

Recently achieving a $1 billion manufacturing investment milestone, this expansion reflects Siemens’ focus on strengthening domestic supply chains, reindustrializing the U.S. and adding capacity to meet demand for power infrastructure. This will allow Siemens to expand its leadership position in the electrification of data centers and the related grid infrastructure. For Jabil, this investment adds to the company’s growing U.S. manufacturing footprint.

Jabil is a large manufacturing solutions provider and has worked with Siemens across the globe for numerous years. The Prince George collaboration builds on that foundation to help Siemens scale production in the U.S.

To learn more about career opportunities at the Prince George facility, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.