Regardless of the label for digital manufacturing, digitally enabled operations and design is the future of manufacturing. The combination of production with information and communications technology merges customer data with machine data, facilitates the communication between machines, and allows for autonomous management of production in a flexible, efficient, and resource-saving approach. Smart sensors are providing increasing levels of information and control of previously segmented activities, improving operation and decision making. All of the terms used to describe the objective of enabling companies to use a digitally interconnected manufacturing infrastructure to collect, analyze, and make use of the huge amounts of data manufacturing creates. The objective is to turn data insights into actions that can create competitive advantage. Digital Manufacturing empowers the optimization of performance, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, asset management, etc. Digital Manufacturing employs a digital framework that connects devices and assets to collect data that can be processed and utilized in multiple applications. Digital Manufacturing facilitates communication, data flow, device management, and the functionality of applications.

In Digital Manufacturing capable factories, cyber-physical machines and products communicate over a network of things, often called the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), throughout the manufacturing process, exchanging data between systems and people through technologies such as sensors, data analytics, cloud computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence. This connectivity enables smart devices and is the future for manufacturing and supply chain management. Collecting and communicating information between smart devices through the IIoT is the foundation of Digital Manufacturing and the key to a competitive supply chain.