The rapid evolution of technology in product development and manufacturing demands a new approach to organizing and accessing data. In many cases, implementing this new strategy requires investment from stakeholders across the enterprise who want to remain competitive in the market while progressing their overall digital transformation strategy.
It Starts with the Digital Thread
An ideal starting point is to implement a digital thread. This strategy involves connecting data across the enterprise throughout the product’s entire lifecycle—from design through manufacturing and on to retirement. Throughout a product’s lifecycle, a design works through many other processes and uses various technologies, such as IoT, PLM, AR, and CAD. A digital thread leverages the data across these tools and processes, providing an ongoing feedback loop to improve product design.
Enabling a digital thread provides a data flow that powers streamlined workflows, improved interoperability, and overall optimization.
Supported by MBD CAD
3D computer-aided design (CAD) models are at the center of the digital thread. The CAD model includes design intent, thought features, and constraints, which determine how the model should respond when changes are made. It’s this model that is used throughout the concept, manufacturing, product, service, and end-of-life planning.
These CAD models can be maximized with model-based definitions (MBD). MBD CAD modules use the CAD file to add 3D annotations to further define the product without 2D drawings. MBD CAD models, therefore, embed all relevant design and manufacturing information to avoid discrepancies and act as a source of truth for the product design.
MBD CAD models are the digital foundation for product development, enabling a digital thread and larger digital transformation initiatives.
How It Works
CAD acts as the foundation for creating 3D models for products and parts. MBD expands on that model with additional dimensions, annotations, and material information by utilizing the parametric and associative features of CAD models. That way, when an MBD CAD model is modified, the related annotations and dimensions are automatically updated. It’s this digital thread that remains consistent across the enterprise and helps to improve processes.
Enabling Digital Transformation with a Digital Thread
Support New Strategies
A digital thread reduces rework, quality issues, and delays by empowering teams to make decisions early in the design process to prevent changes later. Building this digital thread through the use of MBD CAD provides a new way to design, build, and service products:
- Innovative product development through a seamless collaboration environment where distributed teams can easily and simultaneously develop different parts of the same product through faster prototyping, iterative development, and agile processes
- Streamlined production with the most up-to-date product data available in all the systems procurement, manufacturing, and operations uses
- Improved closed-loop quality for established traceability of data through a single source of truth for everything related to product development from ideation, to inspections, to field service, and more
- Concurrent manufacturing planning by using the MBD CAD model’s real-time visibility to better connect engineering with manufacturing for improved traceability, connectivity, and validation
- Collaborative change management through improved governance around engineering data throughout the product lifecycle
Organization-Wide Impact
This MBD CAD-enabled digital thread provides numerous benefits:
- Accelerated time to market
- Improved efficiency and productivity
- Enhanced product quality and reliability
- Streamlined compliance management
- Happier customers
Enabling your digital transformation strategy with an MBD CAD-powered digital thread helps provide far-reaching benefits across your organization.
Ready to Implement MBD CAD Models?
Organizations that adopt MBD CAD models realize improved collaboration, which presents more opportunities to accelerate product development and reduce mistakes. If you’re ready to revolutionize product development operations, it’s time to start leveraging the power of MBD CAD models with tools like Creo, Windchill, and Codebeamer. If you’re ready to get started or just want to discuss how MBD CAD could help your company, contact us.
