What's New in OpenPlant 2026

Discover what's new in OpenPlant 2026, including AI-powered automation, streamlined collaboration, and enhanced modeling performance to help plant design teams reduce manual effort and accelerate project delivery.

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Smarter automation for plant design. Better collaboration. Faster delivery.

OpenPlant 2026 introduces AI-powered automation, intelligent plant design workflows, and enhanced collaboration to help engineering teams design and deliver industrial facilities more efficiently.

Transform plant design with embedded guidance, streamlined automation, improved interoperability, and performance enhancements designed for complex projects.

Boost productivity with Python Assistant and Bentley Copilot while standardizing component management through Component Center 2.0.

Core Features

Explore what's new in OpenPlant 2026

  • Python AI assistant

    Python Assistant

    OpenPlant 2026 introduces Python Assistant in OpenPlant Modeler, bringing AI-powered automation into plant design workflows.Built on MicroStation’s scripting foundation and extended for OpenPlant-specific use cases, Python Assistant makes automation accessible to both novice and advanced users.

    Using natural language prompts, engineers can automate repetitive tasks, generate and modify scripts, create custom workflows, extract project data, and automate reporting activities—without requiring extensive programming expertise. 

    Python Assistant

    Key benefits

    • Automate repetitive tasks
    • Generate and modify scripts using natural language
    • Create custom workflows for component placement and equipment creation
    • Extract data from DGN and iModel environments
    • Automate reports, schedules, and batch updates
    • Extend workflows using Python's rich ecosystem

    By reducing manual effort and standardizing processes, Python Assistant helps teams improve productivity, minimize errors, and deliver projects more consistently.

     

  • Bentley Copilot (Technology Preview)

    Bentley Copilot is an embedded AI assistant in OpenPlant Modeler that helps users learn, navigate, and complete workflows more efficiently.

    Whether you're a new user, an experienced designer, or transitioning from AutoCAD-based workflows, Copilot provides contextual guidance directly within the design environment. Users can ask questions in natural language and receive step-by-step instructions, best practices, and relevant documentation without leaving their work.

    Bentley Copilot

    Key benefits

    • Receive instant answers and workflow guidance
    • Access contextual help without searching documentation
    • Accelerate onboarding and user adoption
    • Support migration from AutoCAD-based workflows
    • Reinforce organizational standards and best practices

    By delivering guidance when and where it’s needed, Bentley Copilot reduces learning curves and helps teams become productive faster. 

     

  • Performance enhancement

    OpenPlant 2026 delivers significant performance improvements across key workflows, helping engineering teams work more efficiently with large and data-intensive plant projects.

    OpenPlant Modeler’s enhancements include reduced application startup loading time, faster check-in and update operations, improved responsiveness in component-based modeling environments, and better overall model interaction performance when working with large and complex plant models.

    Bentley Raceway and Cable Management’s performance has been optimized through faster loading of the Cable Manager, quicker refresh of routing models, accelerated automatic cable routing, and improved saving of auto-routing results when closing the Cable Manager.

    Performance enhancement

    Key benefits

    • Accelerate project updates and synchronization
    • Improve responsiveness in large models
    • Speed up raceway and cable management data loading and refresh
    • Accelerate automatic cable routing workflows
    • Reduce wait times when saving routing results and working with large reference data

    These enhancements help engineering teams maintain productivity and deliver projects more efficiently. 

     

Features continued...

  • Collaboration enhancements

    OpenPlant 2026 enhances multi-user collaboration, helping teams work more efficiently in shared project environments.

    Lock transfer functionality enables multiple users to work sequentially on the same DGN and check components into iTwin. If components remain locked without being checked in, the next user can transfer the locks to themselves and continue editing—reducing read-only restrictions and workflow delays.

    Additional user-requested enhancements streamline component-based modeling and improve day-to-day usability.

    Collaboration enhancements

    Key benefits

    • Support parallel design workflows
    • Reduce file access bottlenecks
    • Enhance team coordination
    • Improve usability for complex projects
    • Streamline modeling workflows
    • Increase overall project productivity 

  • Isometric drawing improvements

    OpenPlant 2026 delivers ongoing enhancements to isometric drawing generation workflows, which improves stability, consistency, and overall user experience.

    These improvements help engineering teams produce high-quality deliverables more efficiently while reducing the effort required to generate project documentation.

    Isometric drawing improvements

    Key benefits

    • Accelerate drawing production
    • Improve output consistency
    • Increase workflow reliability
    • Deliver higher-quality project deliverables 

     

  • Interoperability enhancements

    OpenPlant 2026 further strengthens interoperability through enhancements to AutoPLANT migration workflows and IFC data exchange.

    Improved AutoPLANT conversion capabilities help organizations transition legacy projects more efficiently. Enhanced IFC export includes richer project information for better collaboration across project stakeholders.

    Interoperability enhancements

    Key benefits

    • Simplify migration from AutoPLANT
    • Improve reliability of legacy data conversion
    • Enable richer IFC-based collaboration
    • Support open and connected project delivery 

     

  • Reality context modeling

    OpenPlant 2026 enhances reality context modeling by enabling engineers to incorporate real-world information directly into design workflows.

    Teams can attach and visualize 2D and 3D map data within the modeling environment, improving spatial awareness and helping engineers make better-informed design decisions.

    Reality context modeling

    Key benefits

    • Incorporate real-world context into designs
    • Improve project coordination
    • Enhance site understanding
    • Make more informed design decisions 

     

What users are saying

"I was genuinely impressed by the Python Assistant in OpenPlant 2026. Within a short time, I was able to generate useful scripts using natural language prompts and achieve meaningful results that would previously have required specialist coding knowledge. The experience was intuitive, practical, and accessible."
Spyker Marais van Heerden

Spyker Marais van Heerden

Executive

3D Draughting

What users are saying

"The Python Assistant was one of the most interesting features I explored in OpenPlant 2026; despite not having a software development background, I was able to generate functional Python code that helped me solve real data management problems. I also appreciate the reasonable guardrails around the AI assistant—its guidance is grounded in known APIs and examples, making it a reliable learning and productivity tool."
Kris Wishart

Kris Wishart

Technology Manager

Black & Veatch

Experience faster, more automated plant design and modeling with OpenPlant 2026 today

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