and products , which together can help customers unlock their value .
From the PTC side , Zhang has seen several mega-market trends he anticipates will not change in 2024 .
“ The evolving workforce is a big challenge in the manufacturing industry . The supply chain disruption we all know about . The other evolutions are Model- Based Definition / Model-Based Engineering ( MBD / E ) and digital thread .”
Zhang anticipates that MBD / E and closed-loop digital thread will increase in usage across manufacturing , as smart manufacturing becomes more integrated .
“ Think about this way , 70 % of product cost and 80 % of product carbon footprint are pretty much decided in the design stage .
Digital threads bring the product data and the process data across the enterprise , from engineering to manufacturing , provide realtime feedback to design engineers and manufacturing engineers , so that they can continuously improve the product design and process planning to maximise the product fit / form / function while optimise the product quality / cost / time to market .”
In 2024 , PTC will continue to evolve its strategy around the digital and support manufacturers along their digital transformation journey . For Zhang and his team , that ’ s the most exciting thing for 2024 . technologymagazine . com 103