Posted by 3DPrint.com—As manufacturing becomes more distributed and product development more complex, companies are under more pressure than ever to connect data across design, engineering, and production. The idea of a “digital thread,” this continuous flow of product data across systems, is no longer just a long-term goal, but something many organizations are actively pushing to implement.

A recent collaboration between OpenBOM and AMC Bridge points to exactly that shift. And for additive manufacturing (AM) in particular, connecting data across systems is critical to moving from design to production.

The partnership focuses on improving how product data moves between systems, particularly in environments where multiple CAD tools are used. This is common. Many manufacturers, suppliers, and engineering teams do not rely on a single design platform; instead, they operate across a mix of tools shaped by internal needs, legacy systems, and external partners.

A Growing Need for Integration

For many engineering organizations, the issue is not a lack of software, but how hard it is to keep data consistent across systems that were never designed to work together. As teams adopt a mix of desktop and cloud tools, this becomes even harder.

Here, integration is less about convenience and more about keeping workflows running. This plays out across a wide range of industries.

For example, global automotive companies like BMW or Volkswagen typically rely on platforms like CATIA, a widely used design and engineering software from Dassault Systèmes, for core design work, while suppliers contributing parts often use a range of other tools, including SolidWorks or PTC Creo. In these cases, product data has to move between companies, often without a shared system.

In aerospace, companies such as Airbus and Boeing operate highly distributed supply chains, where different partners use different design tools and product lifecycle management systems (PLMs). A single aircraft program can involve hundreds of suppliers, each using different data formats, making integration key to keeping everything consistent and easy to track.

This is also true for contract manufacturers like Flex or Jabil, which build products for different customers using different software. Some, like Jabil, also use AM as part of their production workflows, adding another layer of complexity to how data is managed across systems.

Even in smaller or fast-growing companies, mixed software setups are common. Many teams start with cloud-based tools like Onshape or Autodesk Fusion, then add more advanced systems as they grow. Over time, this can lead to setups where older and newer tools need to work together.

In electronics and hardware development, tools like Altium Designer are used alongside mechanical CAD systems, requiring close coordination between electrical and mechanical design teams. Keeping these systems aligned is critical to avoiding design errors and delays, a well-known challenge in hardware development.

Now, if we take AM workflows into account, that adds a whole other layer of complexity. For example, a part might be designed in one CAD system, then adjusted in another, and finally prepared for printing using machine-specific tools. Companies like GE Aerospace or Siemens Energy use AM in production, where workflows typically involve multiple tools and systems.

So, across all of these scenarios, the challenge is the same: data is created in one system but needs to be used in many others. Without good integration, teams end up doing things manually, working with different versions of the same file, and facing delays.

Why This Matters

This is where the OpenBOM and AMC Bridge collaboration fits in. While the partnership is not new, their continued work points to the growing demand for better integration.

OpenBOM helps companies manage product data in the cloud, from parts lists to engineering changes. AMC Bridge makes that system work with design tools like SolidWorks, Autodesk Fusion, and PTC Creo.

Together, the companies are working to connect traditionally separate systems, allowing data to move more easily between design environments and downstream processes like manufacturing and supply chain management.

For the AM industry, these developments are quite interesting.

Additive workflows are digital, but they pull data from many different places, like design, simulation, and production. When these systems aren’t well-connected, scaling production and keeping things consistent becomes harder. That’s why better integration and smoother data flow are becoming essential for using AM in production.

Read the full article on 3DPrint.com.