Defining requirements for integrating information between design, manufacturing, and inspection

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Manufacturing Systems
• Data Standards

Background:

• Industry requires a unified digital thread connecting design, planning, execution, and inspection data.
• Integrating disparate data across product lifecycle stages presents significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate open data standards for integrating engineering design, manufacturing, and quality assurance.
• To identify hurdles in creating a fully linked information chain from design to inspection.

Main Methods:

• Conducted an experiment implementing a small-scale model-based enterprise.
• Tested the ability of selected open data standards to link lifecycle information.

Main Results:

• Full linkage of all required information across all lifecycle stages was not achieved.
• Identified specific challenges faced by manufacturers in developing an integrated information chain.
• Demonstrated value for industry despite incomplete integration.

Conclusions:

• Open data standards show potential for improving product lifecycle information integration.
• Guidance is provided to overcome or mitigate identified challenges in data linkage.
• Benefits of tracing information through product lifecycle stages are discussed.