Business is increasingly performed in networks. These can involve the supply chain, partners, joint ventures and customers. There are many reasons for networked business, such as global access to markets, access to skills, time to market and time to volume production. Sometimes the driver is access to data and information.
Many companies have transformed into system integrators with a majority of the end product created externally. The high level of complexity, number of partners and business speed are challenging the classic model of data exchange in a supply chain and sharing becomes more relevant. Sharing also resonates with the way we communicate in social media.
The dynamic and global market also calls out for smart manufacturing. Advanced information and manufacturing technologies are used to enable flexibility in physical processes. Smart manufacturing, industrial internet and industry 4.0 all make use and benefit from the rapid development in IT and communication.
The digital twin, digital thread and smart manufacturing have the potential to move the enterprise towards better performance, manageable cost, controlled risk and support for agile and future business. The vision is here but how about the details?
A great source for thoughts are the blog posts from Jos Voskuil. They inspire and challenge. What I really like about them is that they also seek pragmatic answers. Currently much of the content in the blogs is around how we can make concepts like Digital Twin, Digital Thread, Model Based Enterprise and Smart Manufacturing happen and become low risk programs widely adopted. Some clever advise can for sure be found in the great quotes from one of my favourites, Albert Einstein, see picture.
