In conversation: Nikhil Agarwal on Digital Twins
Digital twins, virtual replicas of physical assets or systems, are emerging as powerful tools for improving decision-making, optimizing processes, and enhancing performance across various industries. They represent a new frontier in technology. According to a research by Markets & Markets, the global digital twin market was valued at USD 10.1 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 110.1 billion by 2028, indicating substantial growth.
We spoke with Nikhil Agarwal, Chief Operating Officer at Business Process Xperts to explore more on this emerging technology. A pioneering force in tech-driven solutions, Agarwal sheds light on the digital twins’ ecosystem and how this tech marvel is set to revolutionize the business landscape, offering vast opportunities for innovation and growth in the coming years.
Tell us about digital twins. How is this technology optimized by AI and part of a technical shift?
Agarwal: Digital twins have become essential in today’s day and age. We have a dependence on Digital twins and reasonably so because they link physical assets with digital representations.
As a tech-driven company, Business Process Xperts has helped many organizations achieve better accuracy in performance analysis and predicting outcomes owing to the real-time digital copies of assets, processes, and systems. Our practices in Digital twin implementation have enabled better strategic planning while minimizing risks. Plus, our deployments have been instrumental for optimal resource utilization. We can safely say, Digital twins are like a cheat code for industrial operations; they cut downtime and open the doors to smarter innovation.
Which industries are currently benefiting from digital twins?
Agarwal: From our experience working with sectors like oil & gas, education, healthcare, and government, we have seen firsthand how Digital Twins enhance safety, security, and operational efficiency, making them a vital tool for various organizations looking to modernize and optimize their processes.
Speaking of the manufacturing domain, Digital Twins help in predictive maintenance, quality controls, and supply chain efficiency, which leads to a reduction in downtime and an improvement in productivity. The benefits to healthcare are manifold, be it personalized medicine, patient monitoring, or surgical simulations for better treatment outcomes.
Business Process Xperts has also witnessed how automotive and aerospace companies utilize Digital Twins to develop autonomous vehicles and maintain aircraft. The technology ensures safety and reliability. Besides, for ensuring the sustainability of a power grid and smart city planning, predictive asset management has been implemented by Digital Twins in the energy and utility industries.
Then again, the construction and real estate industries also benefit from Digital Twins in terms of building lifecycle management and improved sustainability for smart infrastructure projects.
Can you describe a digital twin project you worked on, including the benefits that you experienced?
Agarwal: One of my most impactful Digital Twin projects was optimizing manufacturing operations for an industrial equipment company. The goal we needed to achieve was to improve predictive maintenance and streamline production workflows. However, with the implementation of Digital twin technology and our fine-tuned practices, we could analyze real-time sensor data and run simulations to predict equipment failures before they would occur. The outcome was an astounding 30% cut in unscheduled downtime and a longer asset lifespan.
What are the potential ethical concerns surrounding using Digital Twins, especially in sensitive areas like healthcare?
Agarwal: The core ethical issues of Digital Twins as digital replicas include privacy violations and security matters, and human bias in their operation. Healthcare encryption requirements must be fully implemented so that Digital Twin individuals can adhere to both HIPAA and GDPR standards. Using algorithms in medical care poses the danger that biases will influence healthcare decisions and result in unequal healthcare results.
AI predictions need transparency with complementary robust data governance systems to manage identified risks. The improper validation of simulations poses a risk because it might produce incorrect decisions when applied to real-world situations. Business Process Xperts takes these concerns seriously; we ensure that every Digital Twin implementation has ethical safeguards, data security, and compliance at its core.
How will you manage and scale your digital twin over time?
Agarwal: The management and scaling of Digital Twin needs a very broad strategy. We at Business Process Xperts ensure that multiple factors are considered in the process. These include data integration, computational efficiency, and security. For this, real-time accuracy will require continuous data connectivity from IoT devices sensors, and enterprise systems. With cloud and edge computing technologies, our Digital Twinning efficiently ramps up operations to respond to increasing computational demands. We also use AI and machine learning, which are the fuel that powers predictive analytics and automation. They ascertain that the Digital Twin continuously adapts and evolves to meet business needs.
Where do you see the greatest impact of Digital Twins in the future? Will they revolutionize entire industries or remain limited to specific applications?
Agarwal: I see the future of Digital Twins is wide open. In healthcare, for instance, Digital Twins of human organs can lead to personalized medicine and predictive diagnostics. In smart cities, they can help with urban planning and sustainability efforts. The industrial sector will build upon predictive maintenance and operational efficiency. Different industries will see different degrees of adoption, but Digital Twins will be catapulted to the mainstream due to collaboration between AI, IoT, and cloud computing. It certainly has the potential to upgrade how business is done and how innovation takes place at scale.
Explore more of the AI in the industry series.
