This episode explains a software integration that links product design systems with manufacturing and supply chain planning. It matters because products, particularly vehicles, now carry growing software content and many customer-selectable configurations, so information created by engineers must reach the people who build and procure them.
The guest describes the main benefits as a better flow of rich information, shorter time to market, less waste and no repeated manual data entry. The idea of a digital thread is discussed, including the point that information should also travel back upstream, for example when a shortage of parts or materials becomes visible to designers. Customers are encouraged to rethink their whole business process in light of what the integration makes possible.