Building the Digital Thread

Products never stop changing. Features may pivot during conception and design. Software may evolve in response to customer feedback.

Yet, while this agility is key to product quality, it also produces a high volume of data and documents generated by different systems, such as MCAD, ECAD, ERP, and CRM systems.

Eventually, this data gets trapped in silos, limiting collaboration and productivity. Manually transferring data between systems leads to poor version control and confusion. This can be especially destructive for organizations who need to meet rigorous quality and compliance standards — which demand accurate part numbers, instructional drawings, service reports and other critical information.

The solution is a digital thread woven throughout the product lifecycle that establishes informational relationships across the company.

What do we mean by a digital thread? It’s essentially a product lifecycle database. For each new stage of product development, one source of information is created — a single thread of data each department can use as the source of truth for a product.

Digital threads offer a continuous link that connects concept to design to engineering to validation to production and beyond. With all types of documents digitized and available, different teams that may not work closely together still base their actions on the same information.

This creates a digital product data backbone that links product and dependency knowledge across departments. Whether teams are planning a market launch, managing contracts or mitigating risk, the digital thread ensures they understand the context behind their actions. This is a vital step toward creating smarter strategies and making better, data-driven decisions.

Transcending
Limited Visibility

Some businesses still rely on dedicated department solutions to store their data, which is often the cause of data silos. To get around those silos, forward-thinking manufacturers are using next-gen platforms that offer a central data repository and a separate application design for each department. On top of data collection and organization, these platforms offer full configurability so users can make changes themselves.

The result is a seamless flow of data that ushers smoother product and document lifecycle management. Without a centralized platform, the complexity of modern product development makes it difficult for each department to stay on the same page. By aligning teams like development, design, manufacturing, and customer service, an organization using next-gen platforms can respond nimbly to complaints, reduce waste, and develop more innovative solutions.

Making a Case for Unity

Let’s say customers tell your support representatives that certain product parts are continually malfunctioning. Inventory and asset managers also notice customers frequently order those parts more than expected. Eventually the complaints find their way to the manufacturing manager and they initiate the engineering change management process to update the malfunctioning component.

By the time the product designers and engineering staff learn about the situation, more customers experience the same problem, and what began as a small issue has turned into a major issue. Without a central repository for complaints or comments surrounding a product, each department, from support to production, has to communicate with each other department to find a solution.

With a digital thread, the time it takes to solve a problem like this shrinks. Now, there’s a unified source of all information and a standard process for managing change. The product design team can access customer service records to put those complaints into context. What’s more, they can access all the data they need to take action without having to manually request it from support.

With a digital thread, the time it takes to solve a problem like this shrinks. Now, there’s a unified source of all information and a standard process for managing change. The product design team can access customer service records to put those complaints into context. What’s more, they can access all the data they need to take action without having to manually request it from support.

PRO.FILE and the Future of Manufacturing

To realize these benefits, leading manufacturers are adopting an approach that relies on a single solution like PRO.FILE. With this unified, configurable platform, and our PRO.CEED best practice application packages, organizations can make end-to-end product data management seamless and accessible across all systems.

Users can configure PRO.FILE to meet the needs of each individual organization, leading to faster implementation. Ready-made application packages make process flows simple and efficient. Cloud-based deployment ensures digital product engineering and digital product management can travel with your team, no matter where you are.

Manufacturing first-class products can be challenging — but there’s no reason to leave your teams mired in manual mistakes and siloed data. By weaving a digital thread through the lifecycle of each product, you can help your team work to the best of their ability every day.
Contact a Revalize representative today to learn more about how a connected business is a better business.
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