A number of manufacturing companies have reported anecdotal evidence describing the benefits of Model-Based Enterprise (MBE). Based on this evidence, major players in industry have embraced a vision to deploy MBE. In our view, the best chance of realizing this vision is the creation of a single “digital thread.” Under MBE, there exists a Model-Based Definition (MBD), created by the Engineering function, that downstream functions reuse to complete Model-Based Manufacturing and Model-Based Inspection activities. The ensemble of data that enables the combination of model-based definition, manufacturing, and inspection defines this digital thread. Such a digital thread would enable real-time design and analysis, collaborative process-flow development, automated artifact creation, and full-process traceability in a seamless real-time collaborative development among project participants. This paper documents the strengths and weaknesses in the current, industry strategies for implementing MBE. It also identifies gaps in the transition and/or exchange of data between various manufacturing processes. Lastly, this paper presents measured results from a study of model-based processes compared to drawing-based processes and provides evidence to support the anecdotal evidence and vision made by industry.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has just completed a major effort on a new standard ISO 10303-242 titled “Managed Model Based 3D Engineering.” It belongs to a family of standards called STEP (STandard for the Exchange of Product model data). ISO 10303-242 is also called the STEP Application Protocol 242 (STEP AP 242, for short). The intent of STEP AP 242 is to support a manufacturing enterprise with a range of standardized information models that flow through a long and wide “digital thread” that makes the manufacturing systems in the enterprise smart. One such standardized information model is that of tolerances specified on a product’s geometry so that the product can be manufactured according to the specifications. This paper describes the attributes of smart manufacturing systems, the capabilities of STEP AP 242 in handling tolerance information associated with product geometry, and how these capabilities enable the manufacturing systems to be smart.

The increasing growth of digital technologies in manufacturing has provided industry with opportunities to improve its productivity and operations. One such opportunity is the digital thread, which links product lifecycle systems so that shared data may be used to improve design and manufacturing processes. The development of the digital thread has been challenged by the inherent difficulty of aggregating and applying context to data from heterogeneous systems across the product lifecycle. This paper presents a reference four-tiered architecture designed to manage the data generated by manufacturing systems for the digital thread. The architecture provides segregated access to internal and external clients, which protects intellectual property and other sensitive information, and enables the fusion of manufacturing and other product lifecycle data. We have implemented the architecture with a contract manufacturer and used it to generate knowledge and identify performance improvement opportunities that would otherwise be unobservable to a manufacturing decision maker.

Industry has been chasing the dream of integrating and linking data across the product lifecycle and enterprises for decades. However, industry has been challenged by the fact that the context in which data is used varies based on the function / role in the product lifecycle that is interacting with the data. Holistically, the data across the product lifecycle must be considered an unstructured data-set because multiple data repositories and domain-specific schema exist in each phase of the lifecycle. This paper explores a concept called the Lifecycle Information Framework and Technology (LIFT). LIFT is a conceptual framework for lifecycle information management and the integration of emerging and existing technologies, which together form the basis of a research agenda for dynamic information modeling in support of digital-data curation and reuse in manufacturing. This paper provides a discussion of the existing technologies and activities that the LIFT concept leverages. Also, the paper describes the motivation for applying such work to the domain of manufacturing. Then, the LIFT concept is discussed in detail, while underlying technologies are further examined and a use case is detailed. Lastly, potential impacts are explored.

Advances in information technology triggered a digital revolution that holds promise of reduced costs, improved productivity, and higher quality. To ride this wave of innovation, manufacturing enterprises are changing how product definitions are communicated – from paper to models. To achieve industry's vision of the Model-Based Enterprise (MBE), the MBE strategy must include model-based data interoperability from design to manufacturing and quality in the supply chain. The Model-Based Definition (MBD) is created by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. This information is then shared with the supplier so that they can manufacture and inspect the physical parts. Today, suppliers predominantly use Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) models for these tasks. Traditionally, the OEM has provided design data to the supplier in the form of two-dimensional (2D) drawings, but may also include a three-dimensional (3D)-shape-geometry model, often in a standards-based format such as ISO 10303-203:2011 (STEP AP203). The supplier then creates the respective CAM and CMM models and machine programs to produce and inspect the parts. In the MBE vision for model-based data exchange, the CAD model must include product-and-manufacturing information (PMI) in addition to the shape geometry. Today's CAD tools can generate models with embedded PMI. And, with the emergence of STEP AP242, a standards-based model with embedded PMI can now be shared downstream. The on-going research detailed in this paper seeks to investigate three concepts. First, that the ability to utilize a STEP AP242 model with embedded PMI for CAD-to-CAM and CAD-to-CMM data exchange is possible and valuable to the overall goal of a more efficient process. Second, the research identifies gaps in tools, standards, and processes that inhibit industry's ability to cost-effectively achieve model-based-data interoperability in the pursuit of the MBE vision. Finally, it also seeks to explore the interaction between CAD and CMM processes and determine if the concept of feedback from CAM and CMM back to CAD is feasible. The main goal of our study is to test the hypothesis that model-based-data interoperability from CAD-to-CAM and CAD-to-CMM is feasible through standards-based integration. This paper presents several barriers to model-based-data interoperability. Overall, the project team demonstrated the exchange of product definition data between CAD, CAM, and CMM systems using standards-based methods. While gaps in standards coverage were identified, the gaps should not stop industry's progress toward MBE. The results of our study provide evidence in support of an open-standards method to model-based-data interoperability, which would provide maximum value and impact to industry.