NIST Engineer Leads the 2025 MBE & QIF Summit

In April 2025, MxD hosted the 2025 Model-Based Enterprise (MBE) & Quality Information Framework (QIF) Summit at its Chicago, Illinois headquarters, in collaboration with NIST and the Digital Metrology Standards Consortium (DMSC). The event brought together nearly 200 industry professionals for 35 technical presentations and a behind-the-scenes tour of MxD’s state-of-the-art factory automation center.

The event was led by NIST’s Rosemary Astheimer, who organized the technical content and served as Master of Ceremonies. The Summit focused on the success and lessons learned by those wanting to leverage model-based engineering data in the digital thread across the supply chain. Several presenters emphasized the need to more closely connect data between engineering, manufacturing, and quality, and how Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) might be implemented to create that closed loop of technical information. Manufacturers looking to drive MBE initiatives were educated on the value of an Integrated Digital Environment, which also considers Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and visualization tools used to present dashboards of information to support the review process.

The keynote presentation “Model-Based Everything” was provided by Christopher Garrett, Technical Advisor, Systems Engineering at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In his talk, Mr. Garrett discussed opportunities for government and industry to leap ahead of the competition, encouraging a more aggressive use of existing digital tools. The use of DoD 5000.97 on Digital Engineering and the MBE Maturity Index are tools to help drive these efforts were discussed.

Presentations are available on the Summit agenda page.