The digital transformation imperative: Are your engineering processes built for tomorrow’s electronics market?
In today’s hyper-competitive electronics landscape, the brutal truth is this: traditional, siloed development processes are no longer just inefficient—they’re existential threats to your business. Products are exponentially more complex, smarter, smaller, and connected. Innovation cycles are compressing at breakneck speed. Yet 46% of companies still hinder their operations by using multiple BOM systems, creating data chaos that slows decision-making and inflates costs. If your engineering teams are still relying on disconnected legacy systems, disparate tools, and manual processes, you’re not just falling behind—you’re actively sabotaging your competitive position.
The solution isn’t incremental improvement. It’s comprehensive digital transformation powered by a comprehensive digital twin approach that merges the real and digital worlds. Here’s the proven roadmap:
The 5 steps to digital transformation
1. Configuration: Build your digital foundation
Transition from document-based to model-based workflows by creating a physics-informed digital twin and standardized bill-of-materials (BOM), work breakdown structure (WBS), or product breakdown structure (PBS). This establishes product data management (PDM) that ensures secure, traceable, and well-organized data from requirements to the industrial edge—creating a single source of truth across your enterprise.
2. Connection: Bridge multidomain product data
Establish end-to-end connectivity across the entire product lifecycle—from requirements to design, manufacturing, and disposal. Create common data models that enable seamless flow across engineering tools and databases, breaking down silos between ECAD and MCAD codesign. This enterprise interoperability enables traceability, fosters cross-functional collaboration, and drives innovation.
3. Automation: Liberate engineering talent
Deploy AI and machine learning to automate both mundane and complex tasks—from part design to risk-based inspections and workforce management. The goal isn’t to replace engineers but to enhance their environment, freeing them to focus on high-value, strategic engineering challenges while AI handles repetitive processes and generates design alternatives.
4. Generative design: Unlock AI-powered innovation
Leverage AI/ML to automatically create one-to-many design alternatives based on engineer-defined parameters. This multidomain process generates detailed design artifacts and enables physics-based analytics for “tuning” assets in the virtual world of the digital twin, producing hundreds of optimized iterations before a single physical prototype is built.
5. Closed-Loop optimization: Drive continuous improvement
Evaluate design alternatives against KPIs, test virtual prototypes, and continuously refine products based on real-world feedback. Model-based optimization analyzes the full data stack with live, federated feeds, linking AI/ML to markets, supply chains, equipment performance, and maintenance—creating a competitive edge through data-driven decision-making and affordable iteration.
The bottom line: Operational excellence through digital transformation
This framework delivers what matters most: measurable operational impact. Digital transformation enables you to develop optimized products faster and at significantly lower cost through three critical outcomes:
- Enhanced collaboration and speed by breaking down silos for faster decision-making and product development
- Simplified processes and systems that reduce complexity and make it easier to scale operations without unnecessary hurdles
- Continuous improvement and innovation that dramatically improves processes, driving greater efficiency throughout the product lifecycle
The result? Faster time-to-market, reduced risk, lower operational costs, and a sustainable competitive advantage in an ever-evolving industry. This isn’t just technology adoption—it’s a strategic transformation that directly impacts your bottom line and positions your organization as a market leader. When approached step-by-step with a comprehensive digital twin at its core, it becomes the engine of continuous improvement and innovation your business needs to thrive.
Ready to transform your engineering operations and build a roadmap to digital maturity?
Download the E-book: Accelerate Digital Transformation in Electronics to discover the complete framework, technical implementation strategies, and real-world insights to optimize your product development faster, at lower cost, with enhanced collaboration and innovation.
