Maturing Your Digital Thread

Many of us struggle with the implementation of our Digital Thread. It seems unimaginably huge and complex. How can we ever get something like that pulled together? The answer is to start with an immature Digital Thread and nurture it to grow into that wonderfully rich and complex Digital Thread that we really want over time. Yes, we always eat the elephant the same way – one bite at a time.

Humble Beginnings

A Digital Thread can start from humble beginnings. A very simple Digital Thread might start with a simple CAD vault, a BOM extract for ERP, and a portal for the manufacturing area to access prints. This is a very low maturity Digital Thread, but a Digital Thread none the less. Information is flowing through the organization to execute the Product Lifecycle.

What do we really need?

For many smaller organizations this might be all the maturity they need. If we assume Lean Techniques apply to Digital, then more is not always better. The organization needs to assess its performance and decide if more maturity is warranted and in which direction to mature. These are difficult questions, but they can be answered. The best place to start is usually to analyze data on business performance, or if you are not collecting any, to start collecting it.

Where do we go next?

There are several directions that can be selected based on your needs. You can scale upstream, scale downstream, add controls, add feedback loops, add depth, add error proofing, or add automation. Each of these are key areas of maturity.

Scale Upstream

If you are plagued with low Customer Satisfaction and do not seem to be meeting their needs, it might be good to focus your maturity efforts on scaling upstream. Start formally documenting requirements and trace their embodiment in the design. Implement a Requirements Change Control process and hold a requirements traceability review. This will grow your Digital Thread upstream towards the Customer and improve your ability to meet their needs.

For extra credit, work to automate document exchange with the Customer with some sort of portal arrangement.

Scale Downstream

If you are plagued with miscommunication with the factory or your suppliers, it might be good to focus your maturity efforts on scaling downstream.? Start by reviewing your documentation and release processes with the factory and look for opportunities for improvement. Encourage the use of models, rather than documents, to drive tooling and fixture design. See if they are open to Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) checks driven directly from design data.

Implement an Enterprise Change Management process that includes the factory and suppliers at an earlier stage. This will grow your Digital Thread downstream towards Manufacturing and the Suppliers and improve their ability to execute the designs flawlessly.

For extra credit, work to automate document exchange with your suppliers with some sort of portal arrangement.

Improve Data Quality

If you are plagued with errors or incomplete data, it might be good to focus your maturity efforts on adding checks and controls. Start by implementing some simple rule checks on your BOM data. Add a pre-release Design Review to get some additional eyes on the release package before it is committed.

?Capture all errors that are caught and have this drive training. Beef up the in-CAD checks to ensure designs meet standards and the documentation is complete and consistent. ??This will improve your Digital Thread quality and reliability.

For extra credit, work to automate the documentation creation directly from the design data and eliminate manual intervention that can cause mismatches in various documents.

Data Feedback

If you are plagued with the same problems in the factory, over and over, it might be good to focus your maturity efforts on adding feedback loops. I should have mentioned this in the earlier sections, but it is so important that I wanted to cover it separately. Start by gathering Prototype Build data and Validation data. Make sure that these issues are addressed in the design process – also look for trends that could be addressed with automated design rule checks or training.

Reach out to Manufacturing and collect parametric and defect data collected on the factory floor. Again, look for and address trends with checks or design standards. This will grow your Digital Thread robustness.

For extra credit, work to get data directly from units operating out in the field as warrantee returns or as ‘phone home’ parametric data – if you can, you have hit the jackpot. Make sure this data is incorporated as well.?

Data Error Proofing

Another way to address the plague of the same errors over and over is to focus your maturity efforts on adding error proofing. If fact, the best error proofing is informed by feedback, so the two elements work hand in hand. The best way to start error-proofing is to look for errors that have escaped recently and caused issues. I used to call this ambulance chasing – like the lawyer looking for a case, we are looking for a use case for an error that escaped detection.

Once you find erroneous data that is escaping, look at the places where we could best prevent it – design standards, training, or automated checks. (In my mind automated checks are the best, but some issues are subtle enough that an automated check is not granular enough to address it.) This will also grow your Digital Thread robustness.

For extra credit, move beyond one size fits all and differentiate rules for different applications or environments.

Adding Depth and Richness

If you are plagued with poor business performance and you have addressed errors in the data, it might be good to focus your maturity efforts on adding depth and richness to your Digital Thread. Depending on the types of performance issues you can add attributes or relationships to add to the fidelity of the information available in the system. For example, if you are having product cost overruns, you may start tracking part costs and estimated manufacturing costs and then rolling them up in the BOM. A quick report will show if the design is starting to creep away from profitability.

Another example is issues with restricted materials that exceed environmental goals or have negative political associations. Start tracking which materials are in each part and rolling them up in the BOM. A quick report can show where your materials are going to get you in trouble before it becomes a last-minute crisis. The same is true of power consumption, weight, and a host of other business concerns. This will grow your Digital Thread relevance.

For extra credit, you can track process materials that go down the drain or up the stack or labor hours needed to process the parts. For extra-extra credit, track supply chain vulnerabilities.?

And Finally, Automation

The last activity to mature your Digital Thread is to add automation. I place this last because it can be a mixed blessing. I always remember my Lean training that stated: “When you automate a mess, you get an automated mess.” I have always taken this to heart. You should ‘eliminate’ and ‘simplify’ before you ‘automate’ and ‘integrate’. Nevertheless, automation is a very important part of your Digital Thread.

Engineers are easily bored and there is nothing more boring than routine clerical work. They get started on a boring job and get distracted by something shiny – an error slips by and you have thousands of dollars of scrap in the factory or a hopping mad customer.

Why not invest in a little automation to do that routine clerical work for them – that is the kind of thing computers do best. Yes, it will cost some money; yes, it will need to be maintained at every upgrade; yes, it will probably become inflexible at some point and need to be removed or redone, but it is improving engineering efficiency and avoiding costly errors every day that it runs – year in and year out without fail. It is an investment, but if done correctly it pays enormous dividends.

Conclusion

The maturity of your Digital Thread is constantly changing, either because you advance it or because it is falling behind the curve. Make sure you are investing in solving actual problems and not just chasing flashy new technology.

Do you have a static or dynamic Digital Thread? How do you nurture the Digital Thread to grow and add value? In which direction of increased maturity have you seen to have the greatest impact? Please let us know in the comments.

Author Bio:

Digital Guideposts is written by Mark Pendergast – retired Data Junkie, Deep Thinker and Innovator. He worked with product data for over 30 years of his 41-year career in Automotive Components Manufacturing. His background includes work in Engineering, Operations and Information Technology. He is also an Electrical and Computer Engineer (BS-ECE) and a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP). In his spare time, he mentors a High School FIRST Robotics Team, reads and plays on his computer.