Digital thread?

The “Digital thread” tends to be presented in it′s simplest form.

Information starts in some process & system where ideas are converted to designs. Those designs are then seamlessly transferred to their realizable format and exposed to planning, procurement and manufacturing processes where information elegantly finds its way into supporting systems. The thread continues out to customers, consumers, partners and authorities. The aftermarket thread is of course equally integrated, supporting both reactive and proactive interaction with customers an equipment. Data, systems and processes in perfect sync….

That′s the academic, ideal state… Data leaving a process and arriving to another is rarely aligned and consistent to a level where the thread is really one “thread”. What should be a “thread” quite often is a broken chain where translation, staging and formatting needs to take place between the nodes.

Data also tend to be incomplete. The sending node simply did not add enough information to properly feed the digital thread. That gap is mitigated by adding on semiformal processes and systems, fixing downstream what wasn′t done up to “digital thread standards” upstream.

And it′s not really one thread through a neat sequence of processes... I reality there are many threads connecting many processes and systems that together make up the whole picture. Kind of “Digital spaghetti”

Mixing that “Digital spaghetti” up with the semiformal processes and systems ends up in a state quite far from the ideal of a “Digital thread”.

So, I think most of love the idea of the “Digital thread” and it is a desirable end state but there is a lot of “5S” left to do to make it real...