John Clemons is a Solution Consultant for Rockwell Automation. He's been working in the field of Manufacturing Technology for over 30 years.getty​Today’s manufacturers are focused on connecting data and eliminating silos, but that alone is no longer enough to drive meaningful impact. What comes next is making that data work harder.The digital thread will evolve from a connected data backbone into an intelligent, action-oriented operating layer that helps manufacturers sense, decide and act faster to improve quality, reduce risk and build more resilient operations. Over the next few years, it will become more embedded in daily operations, with greater automation and predictive capabilities.The Digital Thread Will Become More IntelligentWhile today’s digital thread connects data, the next phase focuses on interpreting that data. AI agents will monitor operations, identify issues, recommend actions and, in some cases, initiate workflows.Generative AI (Gen AI) will make the digital thread easier to use by allowing operators, engineers and managers to ask questions in natural language and get immediate responses. Rather than only showing what happened, the digital thread will help explain why it happened, what is likely to happen next and what should be done about it.The digital thread will become the foundation that supports broader manufacturing trends toward AI-driven operations, autonomous workflows, digital twins and connected platforms. Manufacturing and the digital thread will be shaped by cloud platforms, unified data intelligence, Gen AI (including agentic and predictive systems) and workforce augmentation.Semi-autonomous AI agents, software-defined products and closed-loop digital twins will all be connected through the digital thread, making it a core capability for advancing manufacturing maturity.The Digital Thread Will Become More Action-OrientedThe digital thread will move beyond providing insight to coordinating action. Manufacturers already use dashboards, reports and alerts, many of which are powered by the digital thread. However, visibility alone does not create business value, action does.The next phase will focus on closing the gap between knowing something and doing something. The digital thread will increasingly enable coordinated action across operations, maintenance, quality, engineering and supply chain. It will help automate workflows like maintenance scheduling, quality holds, supplier notifications, engineering change impact analysis and production rescheduling.As a result, the digital thread will play a central role in the shift from connected factories to AI-enabled autonomous manufacturing operations. Systems will sense, respond and optimize with far less manual intervention, supported by a more action-oriented digital thread.Digital Twins Will Become More Connected To The Digital ThreadDigital twins depend on the data that feeds them. The digital thread provides real-time and historical product and process context. Future digital twins will support simulation, optimization, troubleshooting and “what-if” analysis across product design, production and service. Closed-loop digital twins will connect expected performance with actual performance.The digital thread gives the digital twin its memory, context and connection to reality. Closed-loop digital twins and AI agents will help link operations across the enterprise and better align decision-making.The Digital Thread Will Extend Beyond The Four WallsThe future digital thread will not stop at the shipping dock. It will follow the product into the field and bring real-world performance data back into design, quality, service and manufacturing.Today, the digital thread often starts, and ends, inside the plant. Going forward, it will extend to suppliers, logistics, customers, field service and aftermarket support. Product genealogy will expand into life cycle intelligence as field performance data flows back into engineering and manufacturing.Manufacturers will increasingly connect field and engineering data to improve product and service quality. Broader manufacturing trends point toward ecosystem-level data integration across cloud, edge, supply chain and product life cycle systems.The User Experience Will Get Much BetterToday, manufacturers might ask why the digital thread is needed. People want the digital thread because it makes their jobs easier. It will reduce searching, guessing, reconciling and expediting. It will put the right information in front of the right people at the right time.Many systems today, especially on the shop floor, are hard to use. Future digital thread experiences will be more natural, conversational and role-based. Operators won’t have to search through systems or databases trying to find the data they need. Engineers and managers can ask natural language questions like: “What changed between these two batches?” and “What is putting tomorrow’s schedule at risk?”The digital thread will become much more powerful and, at the same time, much easier to use. It will also be supported by training and change management.The user experience will improve significantly as the digital thread evolves.Faster, Smarter And More Resilient ManufacturingThe benefits will not come from technology alone but from connecting it to the business outcomes manufacturers care about most: productivity, quality, speed, resilience, sustainability and profitability.The digital thread’s core benefits deliver measurable, hard-dollar value for the business:• Faster decision-making• Higher productivity• Better quality• Less downtime• Better first-pass yield• Faster root cause analysis• Improved traceability• Better sustainability reporting• More resilient supply chains• Faster product launchesThe Future Is Connected, Intelligent And Human-CenteredThe digital thread started simply as a way to connect silos of data. It is now becoming a way to connect and coordinate decisions. Over the next few years, manufacturers that build digital thread capabilities will move faster, learn faster and adapt more quickly. They will give their people better tools, their systems better context and their business better resilience.The digital thread is evolving from simply a passive flow of information connecting multiple data silos. It is becoming an intelligent operating capability that helps manufacturers operate more autonomously, make better decisions, act earlier and be more profitable.The future of manufacturing will belong to companies that can turn connected data into coordinated action—and that is exactly what the next generation of the digital thread will make possible.Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?