Digital Twin Technology in Manufacturing Industry: Detailed View
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It is a challenging task for the manufactures to match the evolving market demands and meet up all the customer requirements effectively. Therefore, they tend to take digital help, and that is how the concept of digital twins takes place in manufacturing sectors. Digital twin technology has a wide variety of use in the Industrial Internet of Things or IIoT that helps the manufacturers to visualize, design, monitor, and maintain their system and equipment.
According to the latest statistics, Digital twin market growth is said to rise at a CAGR of 28% till 2025.
Embarking on the digital twin applications in manufacturing will help the company to stand the global competition with some new business opportunities. This article is all about what is digital twin in manufacturing to provide you with a clear concept of this modern technology.
Table of Contents
What is a Digital Twin?
Digital twins work as a living entity, which means they are the digital model of their physical counterparts. They grow intellectually, which is why they have to experience everything happening in the real world. So digital twins must make a balance in their approach for the real-time variables and the exceptions so that they can provide the most effective results. It is better to go for a different digital twin framework for every individual project. With the technology of digital twin, you are able to experiment with new ideas in virtual reality. Most of the digital twin companies embrace this technology to eliminate the variable related to the physical world. All you need is a reliable and precise knowledge of IT. The digital twin technology applications are helpful to generate value and check the system performance with a view to making a change in the manufacturing process.
Advantages of Digital Twin Technology in the Manufacturing Sector
It is clear from the digital twin definition that this technology has the potential to be used in safety and maintenance in manufacturing, but you will find several other benefits from digital twins.
- They are very effective in creating new opportunities for your business and help to improve productivity and efficiency. Some digital twin technology companies prefer them for their cost-cutting facility.
- By incorporating digital twin in the system, the manufacturers can survive the global competition in a significant way. Previously, this technology was used to enhance the performance of the products as well as reducing the cost of production. Moreover, they speed up production time, which helps the manufactures in an effective way.
- There is also a great prospect of digital twins in logistics industry which, in a way, help the manufactures to improve their business by meeting up all the requirements of their customer.
The Versatility of Digital Twin in the manufacturing
There are many companies using digital twins because of their versatile applications. Several digital twins examples are available that let the manufacturers take unique strategies for their production. Though it majorly depends on the estimated business value and the use case, digital twin product development is gradually coming to be the essential technology for manufacturing sectors.
A manufacturing manager has to take care of different things, unlike the floor staff. Throughout the production, it will need timely insights, and the general manager should check the overall production system and the equipment properly. The operator deals with the assets and assists in monitoring and analyzing metrics to check the quality and availability. Manufacturing executives have the responsibility to monitor, manage, and optimize the traditional supply chains with the help of end-to-end visibility. Besides, they have to pay attention to assess the financial metrics like assets turnover, return on assets, etc.
Therefore, digital twin product development supports to go with complex industrial strategies. Digital twins are not subjected to work for a single machine or use case, but it helps to endure heavy industrial processes effectively.
Impact of Digital Twins on Product Development Speed
Most manufacturers are likely to embrace digital twins as they are able to figure out failures in advance. The manufacturers can adjust the parameters accordingly. Also, you can compare the digital model with physical objects in order to analyze the product’s behavior. If you want to check the products during production, digital twins also help you in the best possible way. Furthermore, they allow technicians to arrange the essential equipment at the time of troubleshooting the damages instantly. Therefore, it is an effective way to reduce the production cost and ensure excellent customer service.
In addition, incorporating digital twins in the manufacturing process is helpful in detecting the performance of the products. And thus, you will be able to assess the usage ratio of that particular product. With the result, you can try to generate new strategies for product development that will help to increase the margin of production. If you have the proper concept of digital twins, you will never miss the important information required for your production. With digital twin IoT, the manufactures can have a hybrid visualization that comes up with the historical data. As a result, it gives the workers, managers, and supervisors have more leverage to work than traditional visualization.
Reducing Failure Points in the Manufacturing Process
The future of digital twins depends on the connection between the machine and the people. Digital twins are very effective in creating this connection that helps to monitor and supervise the production system remotely. Simply put, if the manager is away from the production system, he will be able to monitor and maintain the performance through the azure digital twin. Likewise, the engineers are allowed to check the digital model that helps them to reduce the points of failure. And thus, they can maintain error-free production. Also, with digital twins, you are allowed to get in touch with the professionals who have comprehensive knowledge about the machines and the work overall.
Another important aspect of including digital twins in the manufacturing sector is that they are able to finish off the product loop. At present, most of the manufacturers do not keep long term relationships with their customers, so they do not gather data related to the sold products. So, they do not get substantial feedback from their customers. But if you see from a consumer point of view, it will not provide you with any innovative products for which the manufactures may harm their potential customer base. In such cases, digital twins support significantly. They provide the feedback effectively with the help of digital twins and AI that will help the manufacturers to develop innovative products according to the market demands.
Required Technologies for Digital Twins
Without having the right IT foundation, it will be challenging to develop digital twins for manufacturing purposes. You will need some specific tools and equipment to develop this technology. MapleSim software introduced by Maplesoft is a modern tool that helps in developing digital twins by multidomain modeling along with the simulation. Including this digital twin to the production, machines are beneficial for optimizing production by conceptual design, virtual commissioning, etc. It is how the manufacturers can avoid the production risk and speed up the production without any errors. New tools are required for engineers to increase performance and productivity. Digital twins work like those new tools that help to create innovative products to compete with the global market.
At the end
Needless to say, digitalizing the assets is one of the most effective ways that support the manufacturers to stand high among their competitors. Digital twins are such essential technologies generating value in the manufacturing system and empowering the manufacturing process by including IIoT, AI, cloud computing, augmented reality, and more. So, it will be wise to go with this digital transformation with the help of digital twin technology companies to create the best business opportunities. If you opt for the right strategies, digital twins will help you the best to boost your business quickly.
FAQ's
Physical manufacturing units are paired with smart sensors that gather real-time data about the state of the unit. The data is then processed and analyzed through a cloud-based application.
Digital twins help manufacturing industries understand their operations better and tune it according to what the customer exactly needs, operating, maintaining, and repairing systems efficiently and in real-time, significantly reducing costs. Industry 4.0 Digital twin also helps in keeping different manufacturing assets intelligently connected and communicating with each other for optimal performance.
The first step is to analyze the objective of the digital twin and try to ascertain the data that is to be derived using the technology. According to the analysis, the digital system will be designed and then integrated with the physical asset. Once the integration is achieved, critical data from processes can be used to put into action useful changes.
