PLM as a Strategic Growth Engine
Explore how PLM streamlines product data, improves traceability, and drives faster, smarter decisions across the entire product lifecycle.
Weaving the Digital Thread – A guide to digital transformation
Learn what digital transformation really means for engineering and manufacturing businesses, the role of the digital thread, and the practical steps to connect your systems for greater efficiency, quality and faster time to market
Emerging in recent years, the term “Digital Transformation” has become an increasingly prominent topic in the engineering and manufacturing sectors. Indeed, if you search for “Digital Transformation for engineering” on Google, you will be presented with hundreds of pages filled with articles, websites, and reports on the subject. And yet, whilst this subject is en vogue, the search results can still leave many unsure of what Digital Transformation actually is.
With software suppliers, consultancies, and commentators alike all promising worthwhile returns on investment for companies undertaking digital transformation, many are still left wondering “what exactly does it mean for my business?”, “Should we be looking at this for our business?”, and “How do we even start implementing these sorts of projects?”
This article will explore the subject in detail, providing clarity on the processes involved and the benefits of Digital Transformation.
This article covers
What is Digital Transformation?.
In this context, Digital Transformation refers to the processes by which a company integrates modern technologies and connected systems (AI/PLM/ERP/IoT/Cloud Computing etc.) into its already well-established engineering workflows.
The goals of this process include increasing overall efficiency, improving product quality, reducing development time, and enhancing the company’s agility, particularly in its manufacturing operations.
Increasingly companies in the engineering and manufacturing sectors are operating under a variety of internal and external pressures. They find themselves facing rising operational costs, they must contend with accelerating technological change, the demand for greater automation, overstretched supply chains, and achieving a faster time‑to‑market whilst keeping operational costs at a minimum.
A company must stare down these pressures while continuously also maintaining high product quality standards, meet or exceed increased regulatory demands, and the enable collaboration across their disjointed teams.
These diverse challenges are prompting many companies to step back and consider “Do our existing tools, processes, and systems really meet the demands of the modern market” if you find yourself asking this question, then you are not alone. Digital Transformation can provide a method to streamline your operations and meet the demands of the market.
Digital Transformation aims to streamline a business, connect up the siloed teams, and ensure it remains competitive and capable in the face of the demands a business will encounter in the 21st century market. The truth is that as this century progresses any company that ignores Digital Transformation will find itself more likely to be overcome by a competitor who embraced it.
But simply deciding that you want to undertake a modernisation project and successfully executing it are two very different things.
Digital, Digital, Digital
Before you embark on a “Digital Revolution” of your core systems and processes, it is vital that you are clear in your aims and understand precisely what you want to alter.
There can be some confusion, as terms like Digitalisation, Digitisation, and Digital Transformation are often used interchangeably, when in fact they are very different concepts.
Digitisation is the conversion of physical or manually generated data into a digital format, this could be a paper-based form transferring to an excel spreadsheet or a hand drawn diagram rendered in a CAD system.
Digitalisation develops this process by introducing digital tools to shape and improve or even automate the processes you have, this could be replacing printed out work instructions with a tablet-based User Interface or the automating of simple CAD model checks by removing a human eye from the process.
Digital Transformation takes the concept even further: here, you are rethinking data streams, workflows, and systems that span a product's lifecycle. Digital Transformation introduces new ways of working, it connects your people, your data, and your processes to produce a well-supplied, interconnected, synchronised operation where everyone is involved in a product's lifecycle from the cradle to the grave.
Differentiating between these terms and being clear about the approach you will take are important, given the uniquely complex nature of an engineering company’s working environment.
Your Product’s Lifecycle relies on deep cross-departmental connections. They may have workflows that span months or even years, data structures subject to strict controls, and a reliance on accurate change and quality management processes. Due to these constraints a true Digital Transformation in engineering is not just about purchasing a new tool or system it involves reshaping how your business operates, how your data is shared, and how/when/where your teams work together. Once complete, you will have a 21st-century engineering company where everyone is connected, where information flows without barriers, and where your systems are fully synchronised.
Weaving a Digital Thread
To Digitally Transform your company, you will need a channel for your data to flow.
You will need to ensure that at every stage in the lifecycle of your products, from the initial design through to manufacturing, servicing, and eventual obsolescence, the available data to all users is current, relevant, and readily available.
This is the Digital Thread, and it will weave through the systems in your company to facilitate the transition, synchronisation, and availability of the right data, to the right people, at the right time.
The thread ensures the free movement of your information; it will record when it changes, why it changes, and who made the changes. It will support your people to deliver on time, on budget, and on task as your product evolves and takes shape.
The Thread will become the spine of your organisation, guaranteeing that wherever they are in the process, no matter the team they represent, you and your staff are only ever working with the latest commonly shared information to deliver on a commonly shared goal, using a commonly shared process.
Pain Points
Disconnected teams, data, and systems are the root cause for many of the challenges facing engineering and manufacturing businesses today.
A company will find projects and production are artificially delayed, delivery or manufacturing targets are missed, and profits are harder to drive up without:
- A single source of truth for all engineering data
- Coordinated workflows
- Synchronisation of processes
- Direct communication between everyone
Vital information can often be hard to access or even locate, as it is locked away in segregated drives, private inboxes, or ringfenced systems. If your teams pass data around via email attachments or file-based processes, delays become commonplace, inconsistencies increase, and unnecessary rework haunts the company.
When your teams are artificially separated busily maintaining their own versions of data it becomes almost impossible to coordinate workflows, and confidence in the authority of your data will drop. Change control relies on consistent data and coordinated activities, two things that are absent when data integrity has been diluted. Fragmentation of your processes delay New Product Introduction; they stifle productivity and promote general errors.
A cohesive digital thread that unifies your people, data, and processes can reduce the effect of these pressures. Digital Transformation becomes less of a desirable luxury and more of an essential and pressing requirement.
Product Lifecycle Management
These systems co-ordinate a products lifecycle. It manages changes, records approvals, oversees configurations and ensures that product information is accurate when it is released to connected teams.
E.g Fusion Manage / Sovelia Core
Computer Aided Design & Product Data Management
These systems support the creation of engineering designs (CAD), and Stores/controls/versions/shares all of the associated metadata throughout the design team
e.g Autodesk Inventor & Vault / Sovelia Vault
Enterprise Resource Planning
These systems integrate the manufacturing, procurement and engineering functions. They manage production planning, costing, supply chain and logistics.
e.g - SAP
Customer Relationship Management
These systems collect, store and manage interactions with customers. They log servicing requests, gather feedback and assist in shaping future designs and improvements.
e.g Salesforce
Manufacturing Execution System
These systems support manufacturing processes, they monitor operations on the shopfloor and ensure operatives are supplied with appropriate work instructions and build sequences.
e.g Fusion Operations
Each of these systems fulfils a very specific role within an engineering company and no one is particularly more vital or important than the others. Independently they deliver to their respected segments of the business, e.g. CAD and PDM assists design engineering, PLM focuses of change and lifecycles etc.
The real return on investment with these tools is realised when the various systems are connected, when the are aligned to permit the free flow of data across a business.
Full Digital Transformation unifies these various systems, ensuring everyone across the company is using the latest version of information, pulled from a single and centrally controlled source of truth.
The unification of CAD, PLM, MES, CRM etc. sees a digital thread weave through a company connecting people, data, processes, and workflows into a consistently coherent whole.
PLM and ERP as a blueprint for unified systems
To transform an engineering company using a Digital Thread it is necessary to find a mechanism for centralising the management and movement of your data.
The simple act of creating a single channel through which your data is shared will transfer you from siloed teams operating independently, who sparingly share their data, and operate in the confines of their own processes into a united company, with common goals, connected people, and aligned processes.
For an engineering company a PLM system is the most obvious candidate for acting as the conduit for data flow. These systems have been designed from the ground up to provide disconnected teams with common access to data, centrally aligned processes, and clear channels of communication across the company.
I shall now briefly look at what PLM is, and it can be connected with one of the other systems (ERP) to unify two separate teams. This type of unification (between ERP and PLM) can be replicated across CRM, PDM, MES, and other systems to create a single operating system that pools data, joins teams, and aligns processes, with PLM at the centre.
What is PLM?
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tools like Fusion Manage are a family of systems that are responsible for:
• The Centralised Governance of Product Definitions
• Facilitating Change Management
• Revision and Version Control
• Enabling cross-departmental collaboration
• Recording audit histories
• Project planning and execution
• Management of documents, specifications, requirements, and process approvals.
PLM provides a smooth transition from design to delivery, reducing mistakes and bottlenecks. It unifies your People, your Data, and your Processes.
What is ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools like SAP or Oracle ERP are a family of tools that are responsible for:
• Managing, planning, and scheduling manufacturing actions
• Controlling procurement activities
• Recording and maintain inventory and stock
• Coordinating supplier relationships
• Overseeing logistics, order fulfilment, deliveries
• Forecast costs and product pricing
• Ensures manufacturing uses current product definition data
ERP ensures approved products have the materials, resources and processes needed for consistent production. It unifies your supply chain, your materials, and your production operations.
PLM and ERP in harmony
PLM and ERP are standalone systems, neither has been designed to replace the other and they fulfil completely separate functions.
However, unifying these tools is vital as they sit at the junction between two central functions: Engineering and Production.
Samples of the Data which is shared between PLM and ERP include:
- Engineering Change Orders and Engineering Change notices that can be managed in PLM with approved changes being implemented in ERP.
- The Parts and Assemblies managed in PLM are used to generate an Engineering BOM (EBOM). Once released this data can be used to create approved Product Definitions which when shared can be arranged in the ERP controlled Manufacturing BOM (MBOM).
- Metadata, Specifications, revisions, materials, and documentation that form a product's complete definition are stored in PLM; the ERP system will draw this data into its own workflows using the information held in PLM.
- PLM systems store approved supplier lists, record details of vendors and their associated lead times, ERP utilises this information to estimate costs, plan schedules, and maintain effective production
This is not a “one-way street,” as data from the ERP system is also fed back into the PLM system’s workflows and processes. Once data is pulled from the ERP, the PLM system can share this information with other connected systems, which in turn facilitates close collaboration across the company and ensures that PLM remains the central source of truth for all engineering data.
In summary, PLM creates the “released” product definition, and ERP consumes that definition for manufacturing teams. These two systems are locked in a digital handshake between the Engineering and Production departments.
PLM Systems such as Autodesk’s Fusion Manage are easily connected to ERP systems, through metadata alignment, process harmonisation, and applicable connectors. Weaving a thread between these systems is a relatively straightforward step to begin joining your entire data pool and uniting your whole workforce.
- Undertake an internal audit to assess your existing processes across the company and identify the pain points
- Map your current data flows, and determine the desirable shape of your data flows post-transformation
- Identify which teams and/or systems are a priority for integration
- Harmonise your cross-functional data structures by creating common naming, metadata, change, and standards conventions or processes
- Undertake a pilot project with a focused product or programme, EG integrating PLM and ERP
- Scale the cross-departmental digital transformation in phases, pause and assess progress after each new system is integrated with PLM
- Ensure that your Engineering Change Management and Document Management processes are applied consistently throughout the company
- Implement a rigorous training regime, with regular updates as the Digital Transformation progresses
- Engaging specialist consultants, such as Symetri, will further simplify the process. Using their expertise, they can guide you through the process and ensure your systems are connected in a way that suits your individual needs.
Final Thoughts
Weaving a digital thread through your siloed systems is essential for all modern engineering and manufacturing companies. Companies that invest today will benefit from a proven long-term strategic advantage.
Post Digital Transformation companies will experience many benefits that offer a measurable Return on Investment, including:
- A single SOURCE of truth that contains ALL of your files and data
- An inclusive change management system that links to products
- Built-in cross-functional collaboration uniting your teams
- Every product and its actions are subject to traceable version control
- Projects include all users regardless of their team
- Quality becomes an integrated asset rather than a reactive tool
- Everything occurs in one place with a full audit history
- A smooth transition from design to delivery, with fewer mistakes and reduced bottlenecks.
Every business's path to Digital Transformation looks different. Symetri's consultants specialise in helping engineering and manufacturing companies find the right starting point, whether that's a single system integration or a full digital thread strategy. To discuss how this might apply to your organisation, please contact Symetri.
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