Lack of data on products and processes is no longer a problem for manufacturers. In fact, they’re awash with it, but it’s only useful when made available to functions or teams that can put it to work. Providing this accessibility is the role of the digital thread.
Digital threads enable data to be shared across multiple systems and functions within manufacturing operations. Although these can be crucial for modern manufacturing environments, their success depends on how well the organization connects digital engineering, production and operational data across systems.
What is a digital thread?
Digital records permeate every aspect of manufacturing business. These include:
- Product design files
- Routing instructions
- Programs for machine and process controllers
- The production schedule
- Inventory records
- Maintenance records
- Inspection records
Unfortunately, these records are often hard to access. Software incompatibility and other factors lead to it being hoarded in silos or aggregated in unusable forms, so functions or teams that could put it to good use are unable to access it.
A digital thread makes all this data available to everyone. It provides a single source of truth that every function, from production scheduling to purchasing and maintenance, can access.
Digital threads link business functions that should be connected. Design data is available to manufacturing and quality. Machine performance statistics are shared between product quality, maintenance and manufacturing. Warranty claims and customer returns data is passed between quality, product design, and manufacturing.
These may be separate threads but for efficiency, businesses usually work towards creating a single, unified digital thread throughout their operations.
For example, when a manufacturer makes a design change to a component, a digital thread automatically updates manufacturing instructions, quality inspection criteria, and maintenance documentation. This ensures every team works from the same current information, reducing risk and preventing errors caused by outdated documentation.
Importance of a digital thread in manufacturing
When there’s no digital thread data moves slowly. Passing it between incompatible systems requires human involvement that’s often error prone. Transcribing product information from one format to another takes time and mistakes are common.
Sometimes people don’t know product data is available that could help them do their jobs. They might address this by setting up new data collection processes, duplicating effort and risking wrong or poor decisions being taken.
Consequences of these problems include:
- Wasted time: Time is spent finding product development data, transcribing it between formats, and checking for mistakes.
- Quality problems: Parts are made to the wrong dimensions, there’s too much variation, processes are skipped or added unnecessarily.
- Delays: When information moves slowly it slows the flow of products and material through the factory because people are unwilling or unable to take decisions.
- Lack of corrective actions: Continuous improvement requires data analysis, followed by action. When people don’t have information they need, this happens slowly, if at all.
- Excessive inventory: Delays caused by waiting for answers to questions lead to product being sidelined and affect the production schedule.
For machine maintenance, a digital thread supports use of predictive maintenance tools, especially if machines are equipped with condition monitoring sensors. This can tell the CMMS when abnormal conditions are being experienced, with links to the production schedule ensuring variability due to product differences isn’t the cause. The CMMS can then check on parts availability, notify purchasing if ordering is needed, and find a suitable time in the production schedule to have the work done.
For example, a sensor may detect abnormal machine vibration. The digital thread connects this information to CMMS work order systems, production schedules and spare parts supply chain inventory management. This means maintenance can be scheduled without disrupting production.
In the absence of a digital thread these same activities can still take place, but they need human input. They will almost certainly go slower with an increased risk of mistakes. This increases the chance of a breakdown occurring before repairs can be made.
Digital thread vs. digital twin
A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical entity. A digital twin goes beyond a 3D CAD model because it replicates motions and forces and exchanges data with a physical world equivalent. The first digital twins modeled complex products where the manufacturer or user wanted the ability to predict behavior and experiment with varying inputs.
More recently, manufacturers have taken to building and using digital twins of production equipment, processes or lines. This supports activities such as work scheduling, maintenance optimization and quality improvement, but as with the product digital twins, needs a direct exchange of data with the physical world.
A digital thread provides the data a digital twin needs to continuously reflect what’s happening in the physical world. It’s the link between the two that ensures the digital twin simulates the physical reality. Here’s a table explaining the key differences between the two concepts:
Concept | Purpose |
Digital thread | Connects data across systems |
Digital twin | Simulates physical systems |
Benefits of a digital thread
A digital thread in smart manufacturing ensures everyone has access to the information they need, and that they’re using the same information. This improved collaboration and communication yields benefits such as:
- Less scrap and rework: Fewer mistakes are made and there’s less waste.
- Fewer customer complaints and lower warranty costs: Products function better, and improvements are implemented faster.
- More effective maintenance: Maintenance planners have more and better information on machine activity and condition and can schedule work better.
- Improved delivery performance: Lower reject and scrap rates, combined with higher machine availability and fewer breakdowns, means better schedule adherence.
- Higher manufacturing process throughput and efficiency: With less waste and downtime and fewer stoppages, OEE rises.
- Continuous improvement: Accurate data, available when needed, supports teams working on improvement and kaizen efforts. For instance, quality data can reveal a recurring defect on a production line, alerting design engineers and enabling them to modify product specifications to eliminate the root cause of the issue.
Digital thread architecture in Industry 4.0
A typical digital thread connects elements such as:
- CAD/PLM systems
- ERP systems
- MES systems
- CMMS systems
- IIoT sensors
Each of these serves a specific function within the digital manufacturing environment:
System | Role |
PLM | Product lifecycle management |
ERP | Enterprise resource planning |
MES | Production execution |
CMMS | Maintenance management |
IIoT | Equipment monitoring |
How manufacturers implement a digital thread
Ensuring they get the most from a digital thread means manufacturers should follow a standardized checklist for implementation:
1. Identify critical data sources
2. Integrate production systems
3. Implement IIoT monitoring
4. Connect analytics platforms
5. Enable cross-functional access to data
Driving better maintenance with data
Manufacturing relies on data to move physical goods and material through the factory. In the past getting and formatting this data took time, but today digital transformation can make it available instantly, and without the errors manual intervention would cause.
Improved machine maintenance is one of the results of increased data availability, leading to higher OEE and shorter MTTR and MTBF. As industrial maintenance experts, ATS helps manufacturers improve operational performance through increased reliability and availability, while lowering maintenance costs. Contact us to learn about the services we offer.
