Nordic MBE Forum 2025 Recap | Advancing the Digital Thread Together

The first ever Nordic MBE Forum brought together experts, practitioners, and innovators to share progress and challenges on the journey toward a truly model-based enterprise (MBE). Across two days of presentations, panels, and networking, attendees left with fresh insights, practical strategies, and renewed energy to continue transforming engineering, manufacturing, and supplier collaboration with model-based practices. 

Day 1 Highlights:

Anark's VP of Marketing and Alliances, Patrick Dunfey attended and presented as part of our sponsorship and the opening day featured a mix of customer case studies, solution insights, and research updates—all underscored by an evening of good food, conversation, and laughs!

Dinner at the Nordic MBE Forum - Everyone say MBEeeee!

Some of the key presentations included:

• Hitachi Energy – Extending the Value of MBD Beyond Engineering 
  Fredrik Montelius shared Hitachi Energy’s MBD journey, including progress with QIF and training programs to build internal best practices. When products are 100% supplier-manufactured, the success of MBD depends on extending its value beyond engineering to every partner in the value chain. He highlighted how Anark’s Technical Data Packages (TDPs) are helping bridge this gap by making complex data accessible and actionable. 

• Action Engineering – Making MBD and MBE Practical
  Dan Feighery of Action Engineering distilled insights from recent MBD and MBE implementations. Organizations succeed when they combine technical standards with practical adoption strategies. By addressing cultural readiness and defining clear business outcomes, companies can avoid common pitfalls and accelerate transformation. To further their MBD and MBE domain expertise, Action Engineering recently published technical data sets into their own Anark Collaborate environment with Model Based Characteristic Tags according the the DMSC standards, as featured in the Anark Summer Update Webinar. 

• Anark – From workgroup MBD Data to enterprise MBE Value
  Patrick Dunfey emphasized that 3D collaboration breaks down when data is exchanged through email, chat, and uncontrolled file exchanges. The MBD data depends on adding structure to this unstructured collaboration. He outlined the non-negotiable features of TDP publishing and collaboration solutions and shared new research illustrating the hidden costs of today's unstructured collaboration practices. The key takeaway: Drive MBE value across the enterprise by harnessing the power of MBD data with automated publishing and content-centric collaboration.

• Schneider Electric – Evolving the Digital Twin
  Dr. Narendra Akhadkar reminded attendees that a digital twin is never static. Digital twins must be enriched at every stage of the lifecycle, evolving as new data becomes available. He stressed that a twin is not a “set it and forget it” asset, but rather a living collection of multi-source data that grows over time.

Day 2 Highlights:

The Nordic MBE Forum broadened the discussion on the 2nd day to focus on how organizations are transforming culture, engaging suppliers, and building standards that will support a sustainable digital thread across industries. 

• GE Appliances – Embracing Entrepreneurial Spirit to Power Digital Transformation 
  In his keynote, Andrew Pierce described GE Appliances’ entrepreneurial approach to digital transformation. They create “micro-enterprises” that innovate quickly, stay close to customers, and drive cultural change. They develop products that advance the concept of “zero distance” to customers. And they recognize the difference between legacy data (paper maps that require significant interpretation), digitization (digital versions of maps that are more portable but still require interpretation), and digital transformation (modern GPS- and web-enabled apps that introduce new use cases and business models that were never possible before). GE is reshaping how products are designed and delivered. 

• Vestas – Transforming Supplier Collaboration with 3D MBD
  Dennys Gomes explained how Vestas is modernizing supplier engagement with authoritative 3D MBD models. Suppliers work from a single source of truth to avoid errors and accelerate readiness. By eliminating reliance on static drawings, Vestas is improving manufacturing accuracy and strengthening supplier partnerships.

• Engineering Methods – Building Standards for the Digital Thread
  Sven Kleiner discussed the importance of systems engineering, and highlighted the Digital Data Package (DDP) Working Group’s progress in MBSE data exchange and collaboration. The DDP Working Group has defined standards that go beyond geometry to encompass requirements, simulation, and MBSE data across the lifecycle. By broadening the scope of what a data package contains, the DDP effort is laying the foundation for a truly connected digital thread.

• Expert Panel – Overcoming Enterprise-Wide Challenges
  The day concluded with a panel discussion on the challenges companies face with MBD adoption. The panel debated several topics, including how easy it is to convince suppliers to adopt 3D MBD models for their contracts; but they all agreed that successful MBD implementation requires executive sponsorship, downstream readiness, and cultural change as much as it does technical capability. Panelists highlighted the need for patience as companies look for the ROI, remaining focused on consistent practices, and clear alignment of MBD project with corporate objectives.

The Nordic MBE Forum is kicked off by Miroslav Chimera who led the event throughout

Looking Ahead:

The first Nordic MBE Forum has established a new foundation in Europe as a vibrant space for exchanging ideas and building community around model-based digital transformation. From standards development to practical supplier and customer collaboration, the discussions underscored that progress is being made, there is real value to be had, and the journey to a fully model-based enterprise is best traveled together.