Development of a Digital Thread for Orchestrating Data Along the Product Lifecycle for Large-Part and High-Precision Manufacturing

Manufacturing of large components is a complex and challenging process characterized by high customization requirements, involving a large variety of subassemblies that must be manufactured and assembled involving multistage manufacturing processes. Moreover, product quality and production efficiency are key elements to ensure. Therefore, an integrated framework capable of ensuring an efficient manufacturing from the initial design phase is needed. The goal is to obtain the continuous evolution of the large component being manufactured by linking Product, Process and Resources data. In this regard, this paper presents a methodology for implementing a data-driven digital infrastructure supporting data exchange in a heterogeneous engineering landscape between engineering, production, quality and management. As a result, a digital platform integrating data models, digital twins and data-driven algorithms have been implemented enabling the application of feedforward control strategies as well as optimization loops to enable a more precise, efficient and sustainable manufacturing.