What do CTO’s Need to Know about Digital Twin Technology?

Let’s start with a broad definition of digital twin technology. A digital twin is a digital replica of a physical object, person, system, or process contextualized in a digital version of its environment. Unlike static data models, digital twins are dynamic, ‘living’ entities that evolve in real-time. They learn, update, and communicate with their physical counterparts by exchanging data throughout the asset’s lifecycle using AI, ML, and IoT tech. Armed with these dynamic simulations, users of these virtual twins can head off problems before they happen, explore new opportunities, and plan for the future.

Digital twins can mirror almost every facet of a product, process, or service. It has the potential to replicate everything in the physical world in the digital space and provides feedback from the virtual world. As a result, this technology enables companies to quickly detect and solve physical problems in order to design and build better products. It helps realize the value and benefits faster, than previously possible. In all, this technology enables users to improve overall business processes and performance.

The three main aspects of Digital Twins are data acquisition, data modeling, and data application. It uses four technologies to collect and store real-time data, obtain information and provide valuable insights, and to create a digital representation of a physical object. These technologies include the IoT,  AI, Extended Reality (XR), and Cloud computing.

Src link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/

Industries using digital twins to build virtual representations of their real-world systems

Construction

In construction, a digital twin is a digital replica of a construction project or asset i.e. a building or group of buildings, a bridge, a highway, a city block, or even an entire city. Construction teams create digital twins to better plan residential, commercial, and infrastructure projects while providing a real-time picture of how the existing projects are progressing.

Digital twin technology was used in the construction of London’s Crossrail project to help engineers visualize the final product, monitor progress, and identify potential issues. The technology helped optimize the construction process and resource usage, which ultimately led to delivering a safer and more efficient railway system.

Manufacturing

Digital twins are utilized in manufacturing throughout the entire product lifecycle, from new product design and prototyping to production, operation, and maintenance. These immersive digital representations offer real-time views of manufacturing spaces that facilitate informed decision-making and improve production processes. It allows professionals to monitor and analyze the equipment at all times, to show how a particular part or the entirety of the plant is functioning.

Rolls-Royce has harnessed the power of digital twins to revolutionize its manufacturing processes and significantly enhance efficiency. By creating virtual replicas of its engines and components, it can simulate the entire lifecycle of its products in a digital environment. This innovative approach helps in real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance and identifying potential issues before they occur. Consequently, it minimizes downtime and reduces costs associated with repairs and unscheduled maintenance.

Energy

Digital twin technology is used in the energy industry to create virtual representations of physical assets, such as wind farms, solar grids, power plants, pipelines, refineries, and oilfields. This technology not only supports strategic project planning but also optimizes the performance and lifecycles of existing assets.

Shell, an energy enterprise uses digital twin technology to simulate scenarios, monitor conditions, and predict maintenance needs for their offshore platforms and other assets. This helps them optimize production, increase safety, and enhance worker training. 

Automotive

The automotive industry uses digital twin technology to create virtual replicas of vehicles, software, mechanics, and electrics to simulate and test new designs and manufacturing processes.  Digital twins can give insights into the physical behavior of the vehicle as well as software, mechanical, and electrical models. It can alert a service center or user when it finds an issue with component performance.

Volvo, the renowned automobile company, uses digital twins. They create virtual replicas to test and try out different materials and aerodynamics of new vehicle designs. This way, they are able to choose the ideal design that would improve performance and create fuel-efficient models. 

Healthcare

Digital twins are used in the healthcare industry to create a digital model of the human body and run simulations to show how patients respond to specific treatments. They are even used to replicate an entire hospital, lab, or any other healthcare facility to track device/asset performance continuously to foresee any breakdowns that would otherwise occur during crucial medical work processes.

Ossur is a leading company in the field of prosthetics and orthopedic solutions. They use digital twin technology to design and manufacture custom-made prosthetics for individuals. The key advantage here is that the prosthetics provided are more personalized and comfortable in fit. 

This cutting-edge technology is attracting the attention of practitioners and scholars alike. Today, it is used across many industries to provide accurate virtual representations of objects and simulations of operational processes. Gartner estimates that by 2027, over 40 percent of large companies worldwide will be using Digital Twin in their projects to increase revenue.

CTOs can leverage the power of digital twin technology

With investments in Digital Twins accelerating and the technology quickly becoming a core component of digital transformation strategies, understanding digital twins and their far-reaching impacts across industries is essential for any CTO looking to capitalize on their benefits and gain a competitive edge.

Digital twins have the potential to deliver more agile and resilient operations. McKinsey research indicates that 70 percent of C-suite technology executives at large enterprises are already exploring and investing in digital twins.

To begin with, CTOs can start with just one digital twin that has a data product at its core, evolving it over time to provide increasingly powerful predictive capabilities. They can then move on to interconnecting multiple digital twins to unlock even more use cases and, finally, layer on the additional technologies required to transform business.

As an example, a digital twin can be implemented to get a 360-degree view of customers, like their online and in-store purchasing behavior, payment methods, and interactions with customer service. Based on the feedback/insights, leaders can implement strategies for innovation and improvement.

However, it is essential to remember that the implementation of digital twin technology must be done with consideration for data privacy and security. Though there are other challenges in implementing digital twins, partnering with the right companies offering digital twin solutions can be of great help. 

In brief

The digital twin has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach various industries and sectors. It is imperative for leaders to adopt this approach to generate the insights needed in order to make products better and processes more efficient.