The problem is not a lack of software; it is that different systems know different parts of the truth.
CAD holds the product definition and geometry. CAM prepares manufacturing execution: toolpaths, operations and machine instructions derived from that geometry. ERP holds orders, materials, cost and other business records. MES and shop-floor systems, where present, record and coordinate production execution and events. Quality systems hold another view of the realised product.
Industry work around the digital thread is largely about maintaining continuity between those systems. Research on the digital thread frames it as a reference-architecture problem: integrating the heterogeneous systems that each hold part of a product’s lifecycle data, so that data can be shared and reused across the lifecycle rather than re-entered at each handoff.1 NIST’s interoperability research focuses on retaining a computable model-based product definition through manufacturing and inspection, so the design intent survives the handoff to CAM and quality systems rather than being re-authored downstream.2
But connected data is not automatically manufacturing reasoning. An integration may make the drawing, order history and NC program accessible from one workflow. It still does not necessarily explain why an experienced work preparer selected one route over another. That is a different layer.
The argument here is not that CAD, CAM or ERP fail at their job; each does what it is designed to do. Subduxion’s research sits in the layer between them: making the relationships between product requirements, factory capabilities, manufacturing actions and observed outcomes computationally useful, without trying to replace CAD, CAM or ERP.
Notes & references
Helu, M. M., Hedberg, T. D. & Barnard Feeney, A. (2017), “Reference architecture to integrate heterogeneous manufacturing systems for the digital thread,” CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 19, 191–195. DOI: 10.1016/j.cirpj.2017.04.002
Fischer, K., Rosche, P., Trainer, A., Barnard Feeney, A. & Hedberg, T. (2015), “Investigating the Impact of Standards-Based Interoperability for Design to Manufacturing and Quality in the Supply Chain,” NIST GCR 15-1009, National Institute of Standards and Technology. DOI: 10.6028/NIST.GCR.15-1009