Binary code has deep roots. If I have my history right, the idea first showed up in the I Ching text from China in 2149 B.C. as 3-bit and 6-bit binary numerals. Centuries later, a binary numeral system appeared in India, and people in sub-Saharan Africa have long used a base-2 system. The march of binary systems in the West moved through scientist Francis Bacon, to mathematicians Gottfried Leibniz, Georg Cantor, and George Boole. Of course, Alan Turing and John Von Neumann nailed binary code to the emerging computer. It would be safe to say that the math and logic behind the digital revolution are truly worldwide contributions. The computer was digital processing’s primary star. A machine that could count became a machine that could be used to write, store, and retrieve information. With the connection to the Inter-net, the computer became an information resource and communications tool, a role that today eclipses all earlier functions. Digital computing has also had an enormous impact on manufacturing. Most traditional machine tools and processing instruments have been digitized. And the technology’s impact is still unfolding. Many of us recall that in the late 1970s and ’80s, in order to benefit from digital computing, manufacturers had to break down the traditional “smokestacks” of engineering, design, and production. That process was traumatic. Nobody wanted to give up their turf. Automation had a human side, and it was often contentious. But pressed by customer demand, the need for quality, and reduced reliance on labor, we moved on. The past 20 years in manufacturing have been dominated by software development, such as CIM, CAD/CAM, and PLM, and the integration of software with manufacturing processes, giving rise to digital manufacturing. Andy Chatha, CEO of the ARC Advisory Group, cites Siemens as a prime mover. The company over the past decade has expanded its automation offerings, its largest move being the acquisition of UGS, now called Siemens PLM. The objective is to incorporate PLM technology into all product area, a first step toward a time when all manufacturing processes can be simulated before production equipment is ordered. The goal is to extend lifecycle assets through more flexible design. Siemens’ next move will be to integrate simulation technology into all product areas — that is, PLM integrated with production engineering to create an interface-free automation platform. CIMdata discusses the advantages of digital manufacturing, including shorter time to market; lower manu-facturing process planning, production, and equipment costs; and reduced use of electricity, oil, gas, metals, and paper. Digital manufacturing eliminates physical prototypes, so plant design alterations can be made in seconds and show the potential effects of changes throughout the supply chain. But will forward motion again be stymied by a lack of understanding or courage? If manufacturing is to resume its prominence in our economy and those of other nations, it may well be digital manufacturing that makes that possible by establishing one data flow, from idea to satisfied customer. The best way out of this recession is to take hold of a positive, long-range set of changes, and digital manufacturing surely fills that bill.