The Digital Thread is Really a Web, with the Engineering Bill of Materials at Its Center
A Complimentary CIMdata Educational Webinar with James Roche, Aerospace & Defense Practice Director, CIMdata
9 September 2021
11:00 EDT | 08:00 PDT | 17:00 CEDT
Replay Webinar About our Speaker
Do any of the following statements sound familiar?
- Our attempts to implement a digital thread often result in a series of false starts and frustration.
- An eBOM/mBOM strategy seems doable at first but then stalls out as unforeseen complexities arise, and uncertainty sets in.
- Attempts to implement systems engineering and collaborative development are stymied by the lack of a roadmap for linking the multiple product representations of the various disciplines involved.
- The digital thread vision seems so expansive that it is difficult to know where to start.
- The digital thread vision appears sophisticated and complex, it is hard to see how it is applicable in industries with products less complex than airplanes and automobiles.
The Digital Thread has been a core element of the PLM vision for decades. The concept of linking multiple representations of a product, each tuned to the needs of various creators and consumers along the lifecycle, is powerful, and commercial PLM solutions have advanced to a point where the enablement of the Digital Thread is technically possible. But do these creators and consumer views lie neatly like beads along a single strand, or do some lie along the main strand while others are beads arranged in a web around one of the principal lifecycle views?
The Engineering Bill of Materials (eBOM) is a principal lifecycle view. There are views of product intent from which it is created, views by which it is optimized, and other views by which it is realized and sustained. This webinar will describe the Digital Web of product views at the front end of the product lifecycle with the eBOM at its center. We will present and discuss the architectural principles for designing this structure of views to enable collaboration between creators and consumers along the product lifecycle within an enterprise.
What will I learn?
- You will understand the basic concept of a digital thread as the progression of product representations, or views, that are created and consumed along the product lifecycle
- You will learn about the different product representations that are relevant to the various creators and consumers along the lifecycle
- You will learn the basic guidelines for designing the structure and content of these product lifecycle views to serve the needs of their creators and consumers
- You will gain an understanding about how product lifecycle views are interrelated in a weblike configuration, with the engineering view (i.e., the eBOM) at its center
- You will understand how the structure, content, and relationships between views can be sophisticated or simple depending on the needs of the business
Who should attend?
Anyone with responsibility or interest in product program integration, systems engineering, PLM program planning, or more generally in digitalization or digital thread would find the presentation interesting. Specific roles would include:
- Product program managers & planners
- Systems engineers
- PLM program and project managers
- PLM program planners
- PLM solution architects
- PLM business analysts
- Digitalization strategists
During the webinar you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the topics discussed.