Unlocking the Benefits of IIoT and Digital Twin Technologies in Manufacturing Organizations
The digital twin is a technology that enables a virtual representation of a physical object. It makes a true physical-model simulation possible. It is a way to interact with the virtual counterpart in the cloud, which can immediately affect the physical counterpart since they look like a twin. In the part of the Industry 4.0 vision, both the Internet of Things (IoT) and the digital twin seem to complement each other despite their evolutionary growths on parallel paths. It becomes apparent as some experts say that IoT is the backbone of the digital twin. IoT technology is like our five senses to the physical objects, where IoT provides the means of digitalizing from physical objects into virtual representation. Working in tandem, IoT provides the fundamental links between the physical and virtual world. This strategic complementary will drive the industrial digital transformation even further as we realize the full potential of true digital twins. As the industrial IoT (IIoT) is added to a company’s three Ps- products, processes, and people, the complete digital twin strategy can be realized and achieved. In this article, we will walk through the critical steps to accomplish it for manufacturing organizations and what to look for when developing your digital strategy.
Unlocking the Technical Capabilities through the three P elements of the company’s success
Production Optimization
We should begin to build the IIoT infrastructure. With careful design and planning on the virtual-physical interaction modeling, it should consist of a wide range of sensor-based IIoT devices that collect sensor data from the physical objects corresponding to the digital twin and then ingest it into the IoT platform. Virtual replicas of physical objects are presented on a high-definition, immersive display that allows manufacturing teams and business experts to visualize the state of the physical object and interact with it in real-time without interrupting production. The digital twin implementation could then be integrated with artificial intelligence to output valuable insights that can be used to optimize the process and production. For example, various teams can leverage digital twins to modify designs, run what-if simulations of new design options without building physical prototypes, and adjust manufacturing processes or automate operations and maintenance. Indeed, digital twins are not restricted to products or physical objects but can also be developed for operational processes or operator’s tasks.
Process Enhancement
Different digital twin views can be created for various stakeholders so that individual departments or teams can flexibly use these simulations to meet their specific project needs. A real-time interactive virtual representation of work in progress in a factory allows companies to quickly identify areas of innovation and adjust designs or processes for targeted improvements. The digital twin technology revolutionizes operations and business performance by simulating a product’s development lifecycle without putting massive efforts and investment in front. This gives a critical new opportunity to the manufacturing industry.
Team Performance
Digital twins can also benefit employees, as such tools can transform the human-machine interface and allow employees to interact with manufacturing equipment and systems in unprecedented ways. The convenience it brings inspires many businesses to reimagine how teams create and collaborate during design, build, and operations activities. Whole new responsibilities and roles need to evolve as we move forward with this path.
Unlocking the Business Values for manufacturing organizations with IIoT technology
Many manufacturing companies feel the challenge of not realizing the full potential these technologies can bring to their organization. Implementing the right technologies on the existing full stack of industrial layer architecture across business, organization, and technology could be difficult if you lack an understanding of how technologies work in concert in a manufacturing environment. Starting a grand design is crucial to the success of the digital transformation.
Capture value at scale with these three areas to watch in a successful IIoT enablement
Business side
The manufacturing organizations need to generate a list of use cases that need to be monitored by gathering and aggregating data from various activities and processes.
Organization side
The manufacturing organizations need to define a value-capture mechanism by targeting specific use-case for IIoT related to the entire journey from business, and process, to people because IoT is not just about connected devices but rather a networked system that leverages valuable information for you.
Technology side
The manufacturing organizations must carefully establish an IT-OT infrastructure encompassing the IIoT platform and data use case. Technology executives must anticipate and manage the cloud transformation to create a sustainable ecosystem.
Promising Technology Trends of IIoT Implementation that encompass across the business architecture
Deployment - IIoT platforms are becoming more user-friendly.
Software tools – Gain popularity of the low-code no-code software can help customization and feature expansion.
Decentralized computation – Utilizing edge computing enables easier management and the balance of resources used for computing and enables real-time responses.
Connectivity – This is the most critical area in the IIoT integration process. The 5G offers high-speed, highly secure, low-latency, and highly flexible solutions.
Responsiveness – The IIoT technology allows the organization to react quickly to a crisis.
Unlocking more benefits to drive Business outcomes with Digital Thread
What is a Digital Thread?
If you think that the digital twin is a current representation of the physical object, then the digital thread represents a timeline of the virtual object. This is where the manufacturer can use digital threads to improve manufacturing in a multitude of ways, such as preventing mistakes in determining specifications, improving quality, and reducing cost through optimization in material, configuration, and time. The digital thread enables digitization and traceability throughout a product’s lifespan.
Besides the digital thread, digital modeling is another critical enabling function behind the digital twin solution. Digital modeling is used to experiment with digital twins. Teams can use digital modeling to test or validate new designs presented by the digital twin; perform what-if analysis of design options. Achieving the simulation and manipulation is not as easy as it seems since it requires you to build a digital platform capable of exerting realistic manufacturing simulations with the algorithmic engine that can develop the simulated scenarios of how an object will behave when improvements are applied. Although it would be time-consuming to get workable digital modeling, you would reap the fruit of success and immediately impact your manufacturing organization.
Conclusion
We quickly summarize several essential steps of helping manufacturing organizations roll out digital twin and IIoT technologies in the factory environment. By introducing the powerful digital thread concept, companies could optimize their manufacturing and business processes throughout the entire product value chain to the next level. Once you learn how to capture and harness your data's power, you will allow the valuable information you undiscover to build perfect manufacturing systems. This is the journey of digital transformation.
The technologies of the future are already here. It’s a matter of time to envision and build that future today. — Arthur Wang
About the Author
Arthur Wang