4 opportunities to use digital twins for manufacturing companies

How data is used to optimize your production process

The digitization of the manufacturing industry seems to be getting off to a good start. Manufacturing companies understand the urgency to modernize more and more. Terms such as Industry 4.0, AI, AR, IoT, and IIoT are part of everyday conversations. The majority of the industry realizes that the digital transformation of a company allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition. However, when it comes to Digital Twins, many companies lack a clear understanding of what this means and what opportunities these Digital Twins offer. A missed opportunity, since the benefits are not to be ignored.

Reports from the leading research companies Gartner and IDC provide context on the latest developments. For several years now, the 'digital twin' has been in the top 10 strategic technology trends. IDC predicted that “by 2020” 30% of G2000 companies will use data from digital twins and IoT to improve product innovation success rates and organizational productivity, with gains of up to 25%.” IoT continues to grow while digital twins initiatives are becoming very promising.

But first - What are Digital Twins exactly? In short, this term is used to describe a digital, artificial copy of a physical product. The real-time visualization runs parallel to the physical product, which is useful during product development and is essential for the entire product life-cycle. In addition, a 'Process Twin' uses Artificial Intelligence to record everything related to your work processes into the virtual replica. The Digital Twin is constantly updated based on physical adjustments; this also creates a real-time view of possible product improvements and process adjustments. It even shows you predictions based on datasets and algorithms on how a product or process will behave in the future. The best part? There is more.

1. Combine forces: give context to MES data

MES systems support monitoring of various activities, provide insight into spent time, guarantee quality, show work instructions, and analyze data. This makes your MES system an important basis for a digital process Twin. By combining the MES data with real-time Twin data, manufacturing companies are able to create useful insights. The Digital Twin Process data enriches your view about the functioning of your product resources. The next step: Automatic control of robots, machines, and other instruments.

Companies where the assembly conditions are crucial – such as companies with a cleanroom - can add the clean-room conditions to the product file. The IoT link with measuring equipment is valuable, given the large number of measurements and the importance of registration for file creation.

2. Auto-Build Device History Record (DHR)

In high-tech and medical manufacturing, creating a device history record is important – and in some cases, even mandatory. A DHR contains all measurement data, provides tracking and tracing of the relevant components, and makes it clear whether or not production has been carried out correctly. It is often part of the compliance process.

This is also a Digital Twin. The automatic addition of the measurement data and conditions of the production execution provides important information for both the manufacturer and the customer about the delivered product.

3. Improve Supply Chain performance with real-time data

The availability of production execution data provides new insights. Real-time information about resource availability, profits and rejects, the status of the required assets and capacities make problems in the supply chain more solvable. In combination with smart algorithms, the deployment of assets can be increased and inventory positions can be reduced. Insights into the chain using real-time Digital Twin data make high-mix, low volume production more efficient, reduce lead times, and make production more competitive.

4.Optimize capacity management through insights into availability and stock

Digital Twins also increase the performance of logistics. A hierarchical digital twin of production resources offers value besides the standard information and capacity load. The often mentioned IoT advantage of Predictive Maintenance and progress information is undoubtedly connected to the availability of Digital Twin information.

To conclude: a modern MES solution embraces the potential of IoT and Industry 4.0, but companies preparing for the future enrich this platform with a Digital Twin. This important step provides more information about production execution, provides greater insight into the products to be manufactured, increases performance, and provides better use of production resources.