Michael Corr, not to be confused with the fashion designer. That’s Michael Kors. Corr is an engineer with a penchant for PLM. As a practicing engineer, he used many PLM programs, including Arena (now part of PTC), and found them all lacking and product manufacturing based on them, full of errors. And also, they were notoriously difficult to use.
As I am fond of saying about CAD programs, they are only easy to use if you know how to use them. For others, they are hard to learn and hard to use.
Corr agrees that this applies even more to PLM, for which little is intuitive.
We meet Corr in a Zoom call. It was one engineer talking to another, though he is an EE and I a ME. Still we do our secret handshake. There’s that bond. We can trust each other. I am reminded of Jon Hirschtick, another engineer, who founded Onshape after realizing CAD had not progressed to the software state of the art, which included a full tech stack on the cloud. Software developers, including GitHub, had long embraced that model. Both Hirschtick and Corr decided at about the same time that CAD and PLM needed to modernize.
Duro does CAD one better. It is AI-enabled. You can use natural language queries to access PLM. Queries can be inward (directed to internal databases) and outward (to the world’s information at large. For example, determine inventory internally and get supply chain information externally, surfing through supplier websites and even media sites. Like the Wall Street Journal, which may have recent information on tankers stuck in the Suez Canal, tariffs, and countries affected, all things that could impact a supply chain.
This is where AI shines, says Corr. PLM is all data. There is nothing better than AI to sort data. For the user, there are no arcane commands to learn (think SQL queries); ask in simple English (think ChatGPT).
It’s music to my ears. I imagine manufacturing company looking for PLM, as well as those who should be (but are currently using ad hoc solutions, i.e., spreadsheets, flocking to Duro.
Duro is not about to get Big Auto or Big Aero to switch from their PLM. PLM systems are too deeply embedded in the big dinosaurs manufacturers. But for new companies, it’s a whole different story.
Rivian, for example. The only electric truck and SUV company whose leader is singularly focused on making great EVs and is not distracted by politics and not creating outlandish Cybertrucks. Rivian is a big win Duro and speaks well of the robustness of their application.
Interview with Michael Corr, Founder of Duro
What follows is the full interview with Michael Corr, CEO and founder of Duro
Roopinder Tara: Let’s start with a broad overview.
Michael Corr: Sure. In eight seconds, the software agile renaissance provided new technology to tackle an old problem in hardware. None of the existing providers acknowledged it, much less took advantage of it.
That reminds me of what Jon Hirschtick did with Onshape. Around the same time, he noticed that software developers were collaborating in the cloud with GitHub. He brought that concept into CAD. It sounds like you had a similar insight for PLM.
Exactly. Credit to Jon—SolidWorks never embraced that idea, and PDM remains a clunky aftermarket product there. In contrast, Onshape built version control into the core experience. We completely agree with that approach.
Onshape essentially added PDM to CAD. Do you ever see Duro going the other way—integrating CAD into your PLM offering?
I don’t have any interest in developing our own CAD application. Other companies are doing fantastic work there and I don’t think I have anything new to contribute. I do have opinions about what CAD should be, but I don’t have the resources to act on them.
Why do you think Duro is catching on?
What really helped Duro succeed was the cultural shift in hardware development. Today’s engineering teams have a very different persona from even five years ago. They often have strong software backgrounds, alongside their electrical or mechanical expertise, and embrace agile workflows. They expect modern, cloud-based tools. That’s been our focus—not just moving to the cloud but tapping into that cultural change.
Are you seeing the most traction in sectors like aerospace, robotics, and autonomous vehicles?
Exactly. Companies in emerging categories, space, quantum computing and new automotive players are progressive and open to modern tools. We’re working with the Rivians of the world, not the legacy automakers or traditional industrial companies who are set in their ways.
And does AI further accelerate this vision?
Yes. Younger, software-centric engineers are the ones most interested in AI. AI allows us to continue innovating even faster than before.
Let’s talk about competition. You have the big three PLM players, but there’s also a mid-market layer—companies like Arena and Aras. How do you position Duro relative to them?
Arena has been around since 2001. I used it for most of my career. It’s the SMB workhorse, but they stopped innovating. If Arena kept innovating, I wouldn’t have started Duro. Companies buy because it’s proven, not because they love it. We’re systematically winning customers away from Arena.
Aras, on the other hand, targets large, complex deployments requiring consultants and customization. Duro is the opposite. We focus on the out-of-the-box, plug-and-play capability that works on day one. We believe 80% of the market needs a solution they can adopt without a heavy configuration burden.
Are Arena and Teamcenter your main competitors?
Yes. Teamcenter is well-established in the aerospace industry, primarily due to NX being the dominant CAD tool in this sector. But many users are frustrated by Teamcenter’s complexity and administrative burden. They prefer to pair NX with Duro for PLM.
Does Duro integrate with major CAD systems?
We offer our own CAD plugins for SolidWorks and Onshape, as well as NX on the mechanical side, and Altium for electrical design. We also integrate with ERP programs like NetSuite and SAP.
That’s unusual—many PLM vendors rely on third-party integrators.
We build our plugins, allowing us to control the experience and keep it simple and automated. We also offer an open API for customers to develop their integrations when needed.
Let’s get deeper into AI. How do you envision AI and PLM integrating?
It’s an ideal combination. PLM aggregates disparate data—mechanical CAD, electrical CAD, supply chain information, manufacturing records—each with its format and workflow. Historically, you needed to normalize all of that data into a standard schema for machine learning or analytics to work effectively.
AI changes the game. It can analyze data in its raw format, draw inferences, and generate insights without requiring everything to be transformed first. All you need are credentials to access the data, and AI can start delivering value immediately.
AI has been harder to justify in CAD, but it’s ideally suited to PLM.
Generative AI for CAD still has a long way to go—you can’t trust it to create final designs without review. However, using AI to analyze existing content and extract insights presents a significant opportunity.
Can you share an example?
Take supply chain disruptions—tariffs, geopolitical events, weather, or anything else that can impact parts availability. It’s impossible to maintain a single, clean repository with all relevant data. However, AI can analyze news feeds, supplier updates, and pricing databases to predict supply chain risks associated with your bill of materials.
And that’s external data. What about internally?
Internally, AI can analyze change order history, the duration of reviews, the reasons for rejected changes, and identify patterns to help predict and streamline future change approvals. We call that inward-facing AI.
I’ve seen demos where AI detects failing components and automatically sources replacements.
We’re doing similar work with MCP and Newton. Imagine complex operations managed through a single prompt.
Does Duro offer natural language interfaces?
Yes. You can search your library in plain English or set up business logic without scripting. For example, you can type, “Ensure all production parts weigh 1 to 10 kilograms,” and it creates the validation rule automatically.
That alone is a game-changer. CAD and PLM tools are notoriously hard to configure.
That’s our goal—to expose configurability through a more straightforward interface.
Earlier, you mentioned that PLM mistakes often result in manufacturing issues. How does Duro help prevent that?
Most errors originate from human input, such as manually re-entering data, exporting/importing files and copying supplier details. From day one, we built out-of-the-box integrations to create a “digital thread,” allowing data to flow automatically and consistently between systems. That alone eliminates most mistakes.
Over time, we’ve added layers of validation, enrichment, and best practices to guide users. Unlike legacy PLM systems that assume you know exactly what to do, Duro is an “opinionated” product that enforces industry standards.
Like an iPhone—powerful inside, simple outside.
Or Google—still just a text box on the homepage, but with immense power behind it. We aim to simplify the complexity and provide users with what they need without overwhelming them.
How long has Duro been around?
Since 2018.
I really need to get out more. Thank you for bringing Duro to my attention. This was most informative.
My pleasure.