We care. We care so much that we have made it the theme for the conference we are co-organizing (again) with our friends at CIMdata.
The theme for PLM Road Map & PDT 2023 in the US in May, as well as for the upcoming conference in Europe (Paris Nov 15-16) is “The Digital Thread in a Heterogeneous, Extended Enterprise Reality“.
During the last conference, we had speakers from several aerospace and defence organizations along with those from the automotive and manufacturing on stage. They all talked about the importance of passing high-quality engineering data to the “next in line”, be it a person or an automated process, downstream but also upstream. With agreed, trusted and valid data we will see more and more of the automation and potential realized, delivering significant ROI in the short and long term. One of the biggest roadblocks is the understanding of data, as IT systems are typically designed to support a silo, small or big. To have a thread that also crosses (what were) silos, standards are needed, and it seems everyone agrees. We concur that multiple standards will come into play as each of them provides a part of the solution and we must avoid developing solutions based on re-defined silos, incompatible standards, cloud vendor lock-ins, etc. The CIMdata survey on Digital Thread highlights interoperability and standards, and so did the presentation by Eurostep’s CEO, Mattias Johansson.
Besides brilliant IT we also need a motivated and skilled workforce. This has to go hand in hand with IT as it moves on. There is a danger in advancing IT way beyond what people understand, like and can support. IT will drive change but real and lasting change comes when people are on board. Then we can all be innovative and move beyond what we thought was possible, and by executing well outpace the competition. Several speakers during our conference in May elaborated on the topic of change and the need to move in smaller steps that allows us to digest and support change.
To discover some of the highlights in a survey conducted by CIMdata on the topic of Digital Thread, we recommend you have a look at the e-book with survey results and comments from Eurostep – Digital Thread in Aerospace and Defense eBook.
We think we have reached a point now when enough people and organizations accept and truly want to have an implemented digital capability branded as Digital TWIN, Digital THREAD and even Digital WEB. This needs to support the Heterogeneous Extended Enterprise Reality and this brings us back to the theme for the conference. I hope you will be able to join us in Paris in November and contribute to a wider understanding and adoption of the Digital Thread delivering business value. We will soon announce speakers and the agenda for the fall event. Check out www.pdteurope.com. Registration is already open.
Håkan Kårdén
Marketing Director
Eurostep Group
Sweden
