The "14th Five-Year Plan" Digital Economy Development Plan pointed out that the development of the digital economy should take data as the key element and the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy as the main line. The integration of data and reality is not only an important engine to promote economic development, but also the next big strategy to promote the high-quality development of industry and manufacturing and establish new competitiveness. The key to digital convergence is to strengthen the penetration of data into the core processes of industry and manufacturing. The challenge is how to find the corresponding digital platform.
The digital thread is a fusion of digital and real technology for the digital transformation of industry and manufacturing that has emerged in recent years. Different from another digital twin technology emerging at the same time, the digital thread pays more attention to the establishment of data association between the physical world and the digital world, digitizes different processes of industrial and manufacturing enterprises, and then links them to a unified digital platform to open up Data on the entire life cycle of product demand, design, manufacturing, sales, service, recycling, etc., so as to improve product quality, accelerate product innovation and launch, etc.
Currently, there are different definitions of the digital thread in the market. PTC, an industrial software company dedicated to the integration of data and reality, believes that the digital thread integrates products, personnel, processes, and geographic locations, covering a complete product life cycle within the enterprise, and extending externally to suppliers, customers, products, and on-site services technical staff, etc. The digital thread can greatly improve R&D, manufacturing and service, and marketing, opening up the road to high-quality development for industrial and manufacturing companies.
Digital Thread: Digital Transformation in Manufacturing
Digital technology will change every link in the industrial chain: from R&D, supply chain, factories, operations to marketing, sales and services. McKinsey believes that in the next ten years, digital technology will enable enterprises to connect physical assets through the "digital thread", promote the seamless flow of data in the industrial chain, and link every stage of the product life cycle, from design, procurement, testing, Production to distribution, point of sale and use.
This is a digital transformation of the global manufacturing industry exceeding US$10 trillion. A high-quality transformation of industry and manufacturing is still taking place in China: China's manufacturing industry has 31 major categories, 179 medium categories and 609 small categories, and it is the manufacturing industry with the most complete industrial categories and the most complete industrial system in the world. ——From the former global manufacturing and processing base to today's world-class manufacturing plant, and then developing to "high-end, intelligent, and green", China's industrial manufacturing industry is embarking on a high-quality road through digital transformation.
The application of the digital thread is a more profound digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. Experts from PTC believe that the basis of the digital thread is the PLM product life cycle software, and the PLM software realizes the digitization of product data and provides a single consistent product data and information source in the whole enterprise and even upstream and downstream, which is equivalent to the production and manufacturing process. "ERP". Because it connects and breaks the "islands" of data within manufacturing and upstream and downstream, the digital thread can significantly improve product quality and accelerate product innovation and launch.
Implement the digital thread and break the "island" system
For industrial and manufacturing companies that want to implement a digital thread, there are huge challenges. Traditional manufacturing companies such as automobiles, aerospace, and machinery have deployed "island" systems over the past few decades to ensure rigorous engineering and manufacturing processes to comply with various stringent manufacturing specifications, standards, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine the difficulty of digitally transforming these "island" systems.
According to a 2021 white paper titled "The State of the Digital Thread" by PTC, the concept of a "digital thread" is popular but in its early stages of development. Although many industrial and manufacturing companies have formulated their own digital mainline projects and timetables, the time and results of project implementation may vary greatly, mainly because the industry still lacks successful excellent practices. As a technical partner actively promoting and practicing the digital thread, PTC provides seven guidelines for the successful implementation of the digital thread: ensure product data is in order; create accurate and up-to-date product bills of materials (BOM); formulate production process planning; Standardize parts catalogs; integrate quality data; drive change; ensure broad participation.
Among them, the first step in laying the foundation for the digital thread is product data management (PDM). Product design and engineering teams must be able to leverage multiple CAD tools, securely collaborate globally, and keep data accurate, up-to-date and in control. These data provide a unified source of truth and form a structure that can power digital platforms.
Secondly, the digital main line should reflect the product, the BOM of the product and its configuration. BOM is the core data of manufacturing, it must reflect the product parameters and configuration updates in real time, and link with the basic design data. A correct and real-time updated BOM can ensure the correct execution of the design intent in the downstream of manufacturing and benefit from the digital transformation of BOM.
The digital thread also needs to extend to the design and execution of the manufacturing process, allowing manufacturing engineers to work collaboratively with design engineers to plan manufacturing processes, tools, and equipment. The digital thread is also based on a standardized parts catalog, allowing engineers to easily find the part data that needs to be integrated into the design.
More importantly, the implementation of the digital thread also needs to cover the "team" from CAD designers to manufacturing and supply chain. The cooperation of this virtual team is the key to gaining value from various interconnected processes. Therefore, data management changes and team management changes are the basis for implementing the digital thread.
PTC pointed out that the digital thread is a collection of upstream and downstream product and process information, which breaks "island" systems and data, realizes information continuity and allows access to data and information anytime, anywhere throughout the enterprise, and cross-organization execution. process, realize bi-directional work across teams and systems (from engineering to manufacturing, service and field), and truly implement digital transformation in industrial and manufacturing enterprises.
Build a high-quality digital thread with PLM
PLM product lifecycle management is the "backbone" of the digital thread. According to a report by market research company Tech-Clarity, 73% of companies with outstanding performance are more willing to use PLM to support the digital thread. PTC believes that PLM has a very critical role and status in the digital thread, and PTC Windchill can help enterprises build a high-quality digital thread.
As a mainstream PLM vendor, PTC believes that there are currently three major trends in PLM, which are very important for building a high-quality digital thread: first, collaboration, including collaboration of multi-disciplinary design teams within the enterprise, upstream and downstream collaboration from design to manufacturing, and collaboration between supply chains. Collaboration, and the ability and speed of collaboration have exceeded the scope of traditional business; the second is the closed-loop quality, which can provide data support for the development of next-generation products and accelerate product iteration for the traceability and tracking of quality; the third is sustainability, that is, in The product life cycle dimension comprehensively considers the product's lightweight design, energy saving and emission reduction, and material recyclability.
PTC Windchill keeps up with the trend of PLM technology, realizes the closed loop of problems and quality, and truly implements digital transformation through the penetration of data links. For example, by building an end-to-end digital mainline process, PTC helps Volvo Trucks realize the transformation of key models in the product value chain and R&D and manufacturing processes: at the design CAD level, optimize product design from a sustainable perspective, and use digital technology to simplify product structure ; Quickly synchronize manufacturing process adjustments and changes to the manufacturing process through Windchill, allowing relevant personnel to see the specific details of each change intuitively and in real time; process simulation through simulation, and use IoT technology to return tool and equipment data, which can further Compare and confirm the success of the operation; in terms of quality inspection, use AR to guide the user's operation, compare, adjust and confirm with the design or process, etc.
The digital thread based on PTC Windchill starts from PLM product engineering and integrates PTC software and solutions such as CAD, IoT, and AR, paving the way for digital transformation and high-quality development of industrial and manufacturing enterprises. To quickly break through the integration of digital and real, it is necessary to choose a technical partner with a variety of top digital capabilities. McKinsey pointed out: In the context of meager profits and consumers pursuing more cutting-edge products and better services, the "digital thread" will guide enterprises to achieve great success in digital transformation, and slower competitors will be left farther and farther behind .