ANN ARBOR, MI, USA, Jan 8, 2026—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global PLM strategic management consulting and research firm, announces the theme and dates for the highly anticipated PLM Road Map & PDT 2026 North America conference. The event will take place at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia, USA, on May 6th and 7th. The theme for the 2026 conference is “AI in PLM: A Disruptive Opportunity and Challenge.”
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) moves from an experimental technology to a core industrial requirement, the PLM professional faces a critical turning point. PLM Road Map & PDT North America 2026 will help organizations move beyond the hype by focusing on how to effectively absorb AI as a significant new value driver into the enterprise PLM roadmap.
Our agenda will feature a curated blend of reports and case studies from industry experts, focusing on the interests of PLM professionals. The conference will provide an environment for learning, discussion, and collaborative advancement of product lifecycle digitalization. Topics will explore the intersection of PLM fundamentals and AI-driven evolution through several key presentations, including:
- Digital Thread, Digital Twin & the AI Connection: Moving beyond theory to the practical realization of digital thread-twin. Showing how AI can both leverage and help construct digital threads to identify connections across complex, multi-vendor PLM, ERP, and engineering environments.
- The Human Element: Change Management & AI-Augmented Work: Preparing the workforce for a digital-first future, focusing on implementing effective “Human-in-the-Loop” models for augmenting human capabilities, developing new skills, and managing the cultural shifts necessary for successful adoption.
- Data Infrastructure, Governance & IP Security: Understanding the technical and strategic requirements for data quality, governance structures, and infrastructure, including IP protection, trust frameworks, and liability management in shared data environments.
- Extended Digital Thread & AI Implementation: Exploring strategies for extending digital thread and AI capabilities across the entire value chain, focusing on scaling capabilities beyond the enterprise, including the supply chain and customers, while maintaining rigorous security and governance.
- Standards for Digital Thread & AI: Leveraging standards to reduce risk and enable interoperability, showing how existing and emerging standards support digital thread and AI implementation, reducing risk and enabling interoperability across diverse systems and organizations.
- Democratization in PLM Software Development: How conversational AI and low-code/no-code platforms are empowering industrial end-users to customize PLM systems.
- Executive Engagement & Strategic Sponsorship: Communicating the business value of PLM and AI to executives, moving from technical potential to board-level buy-in, sharing frameworks for crafting value propositions that align PLM and AI initiatives with core business outcomes and executive priorities.
- Sustainability & The Circular Economy: Driving sustainable innovation and regulatory compliance and leveraging PLM and AI to support sustainability initiatives and compliance with emerging regulations, including managing the Digital Product Passport.
“PLM has transcended the engineering department to become the strategic backbone of the intelligent enterprise,” said Peter Bilello, President & CEO of CIMdata. “However, the rise of AI represents a fundamental disruption. Our 2026 event provides the collaborative environment necessary for professionals to share the insights, failures, and breakthroughs required to turn this disruption into a realized competitive advantage.”
“PLM is no longer a hard sell, with clear, demonstrable business benefits realized across many industries and product and service types. We are now, as a community, making the case why an enterprise-wide digital transformation needs to include and align with PLM. In 2026, this, in many ways, explains why AI initiatives need PLM and how PLM itself can transform using AI, says Håkan Kårdén, an Industry Strategic Advisor and part of the PDT Europe organizing team since 2004.”
Call for Abstracts: We are currently seeking abstracts for presentations from industrial practitioners who can share practical insights on absorbing AI into the PLM landscape. Successful abstracts will focus on real-world execution, lessons learned, and measurable business value.
In addition to the May event in North America, we are pleased to announce our European event, to be held on November 5th and 6th in Gothenburg, Sweden.
For more information on PLM Road Map & PDT North America 2026, or to submit an abstract, please visit: https://www.cimdata.com/en/education/plm-conferences/2026-plm-road-map-pdt-north-america.
About CIMdata
CIMdata, a global strategic management consulting firm, provides services designed to maximize an enterprise’s ability to design, deliver, and support innovative products and services. For more than forty years, CIMdata has provided industrial organizations, providers of digital technologies and services, and investment firms with world-class insight, expertise, and best-practice methods on a broad set of product lifecycle management (PLM) topics and the digital transformation they enable. CIMdata also offers research, subscription services, publications, and education through certificate programs and international conferences. To learn more, visit www.CIMdata.com or email info@CIMdata.com.
