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Juan Mendo of Boeing, who leads the PDES, Inc. Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) project, and John Nallon of INCOSE, along with their  colleagues were honored for their contributions to INCOSE’s Tool Interoperability and Model Lifecycle Management (TIMLM) Working Group, which is focused on strengthening the foundations of systems engineering in an increasingly digital and model-driven environment. Honorees were John Nallon, who chairs the TIMLM working group, Kyle Hall of Airbus, Juan Mendo of Boeing, Mark Williams (ret. Boeing), and Kirk Moen of Boeing.

In a LinkedIn post, Mendo pointed out that the proliferation of digital standards presents both opportunity and risk and the importance of collaboration to exploit the opportunities and mitigate the risks.

This award exemplifies the spirit of collaboration that PDES, Inc. values—bringing together diverse stakeholders to advance interoperability, reduce fragmentation, and enable faster, more effective digital transformation. The PDES, Inc. and INCOSE memorandum of understanding helps solidify the collaboration between the two organizations.

Congratulations to the TIMLM Team

PDES, Inc. congratulates Juan Carlos Mendo and the entire TIMLM Working Group on this well-deserved recognition. Their work highlights the importance of cooperation across standards communities and reinforces the role of PDES, Inc. as a trusted forum for advancing model-based engineering and systems interoperability. The MBSE project brings together organizations such as OMG, prostep ivip, Modelica and others to collaborate to ensure that model-based systems engineering standards are aligned, interoperable and ready for real-world implementation.

In the era of Model-Based Definition (MBD), establishing seamless traceability from design intent through manufacturing to quality inspection has become essential. Traditional manufacturing workflows often break the connection between design specifications and inspection results. When a part fails inspection, engineers struggle to trace the failure back to specific design requirements.

This challenge is addressed by implementing Persistent Identifiers (UUIDs) that maintain identity across system boundaries, as documented in the “Recommended Practices for Cross-Domain Exchange for Downstream Uses“, jointly published by DMSC and the CAx-IF.

The STEP standard uses V5_UUID_ATTRIBUTE (namespace-based, repeatable UUIDs) to tag geometric entities and PMI elements. QIF files preserve these identities through EntityExternalIds, creating a robust linkage mechanism that survives data translation between CAD, CAM, and CMM systems.

Research validated by CAx-IF testing demonstrated that Persistent ID-based traceability between STEP and QIF is achievable and practical. The combination of V5_UUID_ATTRIBUTE in STEP files and EntityExternalIds in QIF provides a robust, standards-compliant mechanism for maintaining the digital thread from design through inspection. With proper implementation following established rules and patterns, 100% traceability success is attainable, enabling true Model-Based Definition workflows where design intent flows seamlessly to quality verification.

At PDES, Inc., we are thankful for our members who provide the direction and resources to facilitate the development and implementation of information standards that support the model-based enterprise. While we are grateful that we have made significant progress in reducing interoperability costs, addressing quality issues, and enabling the archiving and retrieval of product data, we are working diligently to increase the capabilities of these standards into areas such as persistent identifiers and digital twins.