Author name: Ray Stahl

Channel & Partner Strategy

How to Use Trade Associations to Build Credibility in the MBE Market Faster Than Paid Marketing Can

he MBE and quality inspection market is relationship-driven in a way that most software and technology markets are not. Buyers in this space — quality directors, PLM administrators, engineering managers at discrete manufacturers — make vendor decisions based heavily on credibility signals that paid advertising cannot produce. They want to know that the solution provider they are working with is recognized by the community they belong to.

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OT/IT Convergence

The MES Is the Pivot Point of Your MBE Sale — Are You Treating It That Way?

The Manufacturing Execution System sits at Level 2 in the ISA-95 hierarchy — between the shop floor control systems below and the enterprise ERP and PLM systems above. In an MBE implementation, the MES is not just a production scheduling and tracking tool. It is the data hub that connects real-time operational data from the shop floor with the quality and design data from the enterprise systems.

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MBE & Digital Thread

First-Article Inspection Under AS9102 Is a Recurring Revenue Opportunity Most Solution Providers Undervalue

First-Article Inspection — FAI — is the structured process by which a manufacturer demonstrates that a production process is capable of consistently producing a part that meets design requirements. Under AS9102 (the ANSI/SAE standard governing FAI in aerospace), the documentation requirements are extensive, the data must be traceable to the specific design revision, and the records must be maintained for the life of the production program.

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Channel & Partner Strategy

The Partner Ecosystem Play That Most MBE Solution Providers Are Missing

The MBE market is not a single-vendor market. No one company provides the CAD system, the PLM platform, the CMM software, the QIF data management layer, the MES integration, and the digital thread infrastructure. Every MBE implementation involves multiple products from multiple vendors — and the solution providers who assemble, integrate, and manage that ecosystem are the ones who capture the most recurring revenue.

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AI/ML in Manufacturing

Generative AI in Product Design Is Creating a New QIF Requirement You Have Not Seen Yet

Generative design — the use of AI algorithms to explore thousands of design alternatives based on engineering constraints — is moving from niche aerospace applications into mainstream discrete manufacturing. Autodesk, PTC, Siemens, and Dassault have all embedded generative design capabilities into their major CAD and PLM platforms.

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OT/IT Convergence

IEC 62443 Is Becoming a Sales Requirement in the MBE Space — Here Is Why

IEC 62443 is a multi-part standard that defines security requirements for industrial control systems across their entire lifecycle — from design through operation and maintenance. It covers the security management system, the security architecture, the security requirements for individual components, and the security capabilities of the system integrators who implement them.

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MBE & Digital Thread

STEP AP242 Is the Standard Your Customer Has Never Heard of but Cannot Afford to Ignore

STEP AP242 — the second edition of ISO 10303’s Application Protocol 242 — is the international standard for exchanging 3D CAD models with embedded Product and Manufacturing Information. In plain terms: it is the file format that makes Model-based Definition work across different software vendors.

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MBE & Digital Thread

The MBE Market in 2026: What Solution Providers Need to Know About Where the Opportunity Is Going

The MBE market is not a single market. It is a collection of adjacent markets — aerospace and defense, medical devices, automotive, industrial machinery, energy — at very different stages of MBE adoption, with different regulatory drivers, different prime contractor dynamics, and different budget cycles.

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