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AUGUST 2023 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 55 nications that integrates and drives modern design, manufacturing and product support processes, and includes product and process definitions that start in design engineering and flow through multiple departments and suppli- ers in the product value chain. Emerging stan- dards provide 3D geometric models enhanced with product manufacturing information that is semantically rich and machine-readable. ere is a desire, however, for a bi-directional Digital read with component information flowing up the supply chain into higher-level assemblies and products." Basically, digital thread is all the ongoing data flows that support both digital and phys- ical aspects. is thread is part of the hori- zontal and vertical integration of Industry 4.0 between systems and disciplines. Integrated Manufacturing Software Approach is simplistic way of looking at it is not intended to mask the complexity and the real challenges of bringing together virtual and real. Just as a production operation is complex with many aspects, elements, and disciplines, there are also many elements of creating an effective virtual support system. ere are many and varied technologies and processes that need to come together to move this beyond an ideal and into reality. Despite this truth, there is one foundational solution: augmented MES. It is a plantwide soware system that is Industry 4.0-ready. is modern style of MES builds on everything MES has always done. (See sidebar Manufacturing Figure 3: The manufacturing digital twin is the virtual model of the real-world plant. With information flow- ing back and forth between virtual and real, these are dynamic and synchronized. Augmented reality is the means by which relevant data from the plant digital twin is visible as an employee points a table, smart- phone, or special goggles at a line, piece of equipment, product, carrier, etc., making both virtual and real visible simultaneously and in context.