We are excited to be 3D CIC 2024 Presenting Sponsor. Join us in bringing back a favorite conference!
Jennifer Herron will be speaking Tuesday, March 5th on:
Creating Better Foundations for the Digital Twin
Imagine a piece of string holding up a large, complex art piece. It is the centerpiece of the museum and the reason the museum gets so many visitors. That string is fragile, and over time, it will break, causing the art piece to fall and smash into a million pieces. The museum’s purpose and income would be scattered, just like the tiny shards littering the floor. To reduce the risk of the museum losing its focal point, it must change its foundation; the museum piece could be structurally supported on the wall or mounted to the floor, then it would no longer rely on a fragile string, and the museum’s centerpiece would have long-term viability. This is what we need to do to the digital thread in engineering. For so long, we have been hanging our centerpieces by a string, teetering our success and reliability on something that can easily snap. We need to start thinking about different ways to display our masterpieces. The best way to do this is through democratized collaboration and robust interoperability of our product data. Now, of course, this is difficult; it’s hard to find an easy way to change how we make parts without a consistent way to do it. And, of course, change must yield business value. However, I’ve learned a few things over the years, and there are a few ways that will help build a better foundation for your digital twin implementations.
- Don’t make 3D Drawings to support your digital twin and Model-Based Enterprise (MBE)
- Sequentially test your real parts within a real environment
- Listen to and create 3D data for all users, not just for engineering users
Big changes are needed in the way we communicate how to make parts. I will share what I’ve learned and why these big changes are needed.