Understanding this manufacturing principle will save you years of rework. Most factories do not struggle because they lack tools. They struggle because they use the wrong system at the wrong stage. It took many teams years to realise that manufacturing systems aren’t interchangeable. CAD, PDM, PLM, ERP, MES, QMS - each exists for a very specific moment in the product lifecycle. If you align them correctly, everything flows. If you don’t, complexity explodes. Here is a simple way to think...