{"id":12219,"date":"2023-05-31T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/?p=12219"},"modified":"2022-08-20T17:09:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T01:09:21","slug":"digital-threads-the-digital-manufacturing-lifecycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/digital-threads-the-digital-manufacturing-lifecycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Threads: The Digital Manufacturing Lifecycle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Digital_thread\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Digital_thread\">Digital Thread<\/a><\/em> refers to the complete digital lifecycle of a product from design, production, evaluation, and end of life.  The term was first used in 2013 by the US Air Force and has caught on, especially as a concept that is applied to manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/us\/en\/pages\/public-sector\/articles\/digital-thread.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/us\/en\/pages\/public-sector\/articles\/digital-thread.html\">A digital thread represents the digital transformation<\/a> of a product lifecycle and has the potential to improve design, production, and supply chains.  The concept of digital threads are often paired with a companion &#8216;digital twin&#8217; product.  The twin is the digital product representation and the thread is the representation of the lifecycle flow &#8212;  together both digitally simulate the physical product being manufactured.  The digital thread + digital twin work in synchrony to help optimize product manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The benefits of using digital threads include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Shortened Manufacturing Cycles<\/li><li>Efficient use of product material with reduced scrap and number of defective units<\/li><li>Shortened or eliminated downtime<\/li><li>Improved product quality<\/li><li>Improved velocity of production of new and improved products<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concept of a digital thread transforms the process for how products are manufactured.  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/thomas-kurfess-57447821\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/thomas-kurfess-57447821\/\">Thomas Kurfess<\/a>, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Chief Manufacturing Officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/autodesk-university\/the-digital-thread-connected-approaches-to-manufacturing-2bed33c591d1\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/autodesk-university\/the-digital-thread-connected-approaches-to-manufacturing-2bed33c591d1\">said that<\/a> &#8220;digital threads will connect products and projects across partners, platforms, and processes. The digital thread is creating a renaissance in manufacturing. It\u2019s everywhere. And it\u2019s driving innovation, creating tremendous opportunities not just for the big guys, but for small- and medium-sized manufacturers too.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"501\" src=\"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5-1024x501.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5-1024x501.png 1024w, https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5-1536x752.png 1536w, https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-5.png 1546w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/us\/en\/pages\/public-sector\/articles\/digital-thread.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/us\/en\/pages\/public-sector\/articles\/digital-thread.html\">From Deloitte: Digital Thread for Additive Manufacturing (DTAM)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><div class=\"lightsocial_container\"><div class=\"lightsocial_element\"><a class=\"lightsocial_a\" href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fformtek.com%2Fblog%2Fdigital-threads-the-digital-manufacturing-lifecycle%2F&amp;title=\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lightsocial_img\" src=\"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/light-social\/digg.png\" alt=\"Digg This\" title=\"Digg This\" \/><\/a><\/div><div class=\"lightsocial_element\"><a class=\"lightsocial_a\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fformtek.com%2Fblog%2Fdigital-threads-the-digital-manufacturing-lifecycle%2F&amp;title=\" 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Google Reader)\" title=\"Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Digital Thread refers to the complete digital lifecycle of a product from design, production, evaluation, and end of life. The term was first used in 2013 by the US Air Force and has caught on, especially as a concept that<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/digital-threads-the-digital-manufacturing-lifecycle\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-transformation","category-digital-twins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12221,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12219\/revisions\/12221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}