Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering

Artificial intelligence has dramatically lowered the barrier to software development, making it easier than ever for manufacturers, engineering organizations, and startups to build custom applications. But just because you can build your own software doesn't always mean you should. In Episode 143 of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , co-hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott welcome back Jon...

Software licensing may not be the first thing engineers want to discuss, but it can have a massive impact on budgets, productivity, and digital transformation success. In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott are joined by Paul Empringham, VP of CAD, Simulation & PLM at NYBS Consulting , to unpack the increasingly complex world of engineerin...

Getting New Methodologies Off the Ground: Lessons from Digital Engineering Transformation with Chris Finlay Implementing a new engineering methodology sounds straightforward on paper. In reality, it often means navigating organizational resistance, changing long-standing habits, proving value quickly, and building momentum one success at a time. In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering...

Human-Centered PLM, Practical AI, and the Future of Digital Engineering What happens when you take a traditional PLM conference out of a corporate convention center and place it inside a Spanish bodega with a dirt floor? According to the attendees of the Share PLM Summit 2026 , you create an environment where people—not technology—become the focus of the conversation. In this episode of Stay Sharp...

The Company Behind the Software You Use Every Day  If you've worked with CAD, PLM, simulation, or digital engineering software, chances are you've relied on Tech Soft 3D technology—even if you've never heard of the company. In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with Jonathan Girroir, Technical Evangelist at Tech Soft 3...

Is your manufacturing business leaving defense contracts on the table? In this episode of Stay Sharp: Digital Engineering, hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with two returning experts to break down one of the most misunderstood opportunities in manufacturing: the Defense Industrial Base . Whether you're running a five-person shop or a 500-person operation, there is a lane for yo...

What happens when you lock hundreds of PLM practitioners, digital engineering leaders, and top aerospace and defense minds in a room to talk about AI? You get a reality check. In this episode, Juliann Grant , Jonathan Scott , and Andrew Halley sit down to recap the packed two-day CIMdata PLM/PDT Roadmap 2026 Conference held just outside Washington, D.C. Forget the polished vendor slides and standa...

Master Data Management Explained: Why Clean Data Matters More Than Ever Data fuels every digital initiative — but who’s actually managing it? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , Jonathan Scott and Juliann Grant sit down with Razorleaf’s Ann Garcia to unpack the fundamentals of Master Data Management (MDM) and why it plays a critical role in modern digital engineering environment...

What’s driving the future of manufacturing execution, MRO, and digital operations in aerospace and defense?  In this special on-site episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , the Razorleaf team recaps their experience at the iBase-t Excelerate 2026 conference in National Harbor. Jonathan Scott and Juliann Grant share insights from customer presentations, emerging AI strategies, MES modernizat...

What happens when traditional Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) meets the fast-moving world of retail and apparel? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with returning guest Brion Carroll to explore how PLM evolved beyond engineering-heavy industries into fashion, footwear, and retail. Brion shares firsthand insights from building o...

What’s next for the Aras Innovator community heading into 2026? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , the Razorleaf team recaps insights from ACE 2026—Aras Community Event (ACE) 2026—the annual gathering for users of Aras Innovator. Featured Hosts and Guests: Jonathan Scott – Co-host, Razorleaf  Juliann Grant – Co-host, Razorleaf  Milan Obradovic – Aras Pre-Sales Architect, Razorl...

Is AI coming for PLM or saving it?   This week on Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott are joined by special guest Ashish Kulkarni , Senior PLM Leader at Razorleaf International (Netherlands), for a dual-continent recap of CIMdata's Annual Market and Industry Conference — held simultaneously in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Paris, France. Between them, the thr...

Build, Buy or Wait, Navigating the AI Implementation Stack  Is your company ready to build its own AI solution?   In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott welcome back Dr. Diego Tamburini — executive consultant and AI practice lead at CIMdata — for a deep dive into what it actually takes to move from AI experimentation to production-ready deploy...

The man who helped name an industry sits down with Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering to trace the winding path from Product Data Management's humble origins to today's AI ambitions — and delivers a blunt warning: fix your data integration first, or AI will fail you. About This Episode Brion Carroll, CEO/Principal Consultant at Digital Solution Group, is not just a PLM practitioner — he&a...

PLM Is Changing Fast: AI, Cloud & 3DEXPERIENCE Insights from ENOVIA 2026 What’s really happening with PLM, AI, and cloud adoption right now? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott, with their Razorleaf colleagues, François Schlub and Andrew Halley, break down the biggest takeaways from the ENOVIA User Conference 2026 , hosted by Dassault S...

What happens when you take the digital twin concept beyond products and factories, and apply it to your entire business? In this eye-opening episode, we sit down with John Biagioni , President of Lampin Corporation and a leader with experience ranging from machinist to a billion-dollar company executive. John joins hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott to explore how a business-level digital twin...

What happens when a company does everything you can do to a private jet - except build one from scratch? Aaron Lane has spent 25+ years at Duncan Aviation, navigating a PLM journey that went from literal paper boxes loaded onto departing aircraft, through a legacy ERP stretched beyond its limits, to SmarTeam, and finally to Aras Innovator. In this episode, he pulls back the curtain on what that tr...

Inside Solumina: The Digital Backbone for Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing What does it take to manage manufacturing where failure simply isn’t an option? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott continue their digital product series with Sung Kim, CTO of iBase-t , for a deep dive into the Solumina platform —a manufacturing operations manag...

AI is everywhere right now—but in digital engineering and manufacturing, many leaders are still asking the same question: where does it actually help? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with Dr. Diego Tamburini of CIMdata to separate hype from implementation reality. With decades of experience spanning Microsoft, Autodesk, and Sie...

In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , we break down the biggest themes and takeaways from 3DEXPERIENCE World (formerly SolidWorks World), held this year in Houston. The message was loud and clear: AI is here — and Dassault Systèmes is betting big on it. From the headline-making partnership with NVIDIA to live AI demos inside the 3D EXPERIENCE platform, the event showcased ambitiou...

Digital engineering gets a lot of attention. But what happens after the design is complete? In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , we sit down with Naveen Poonian, CEO of iBase-t , to explore why execution — not just engineering — is the real battleground of digital transformation in aerospace and defense. From Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Manufacturing Operations Mana...

AI may dominate headlines, but the real transformation in product development is happening elsewhere—in how teams manage complexity across mechanics, electronics, and software without slowing time to market. In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott continue their conversation on Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with Eran Reinshmidt and Saf...

In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott continue the digital product series with a deep dive into mechanical variation management and tolerance analysis . Joined by James Stoddard , co-founder and research fellow at Sigmetrix , the conversation explores how tolerance analysis acts as a critical bridge between ideal CAD models and real-world man...

AI is everywhere right now—but in digital engineering and manufacturing, many leaders are still asking the same question: where does it actually help?  In this episode of Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering, hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with Dr. Diego Tamburini of CIMdata to separate hype from implementation reality. With decades of experience spanning Microsoft, Autodesk, and Sie...

Episode Summary How risky is it to buy engineering software from a company owned by private equity? Does SaaS actually reduce risk—or introduce new problems? And what should technology buyers really be evaluating in today’s rapidly consolidating digital engineering market? In this episode of Stay Sharp , hosts Juliann Grant and Jonathan Scott sit down with industry analyst Monica Schnitger , Presi...