
When you don’t have physical access to systems, how can you operate, maintain, and improve them? That was the challenge that NASA’s research department had to face when developing machines and systems that would travel far beyond the company’s range of action: other planets and beyond the solar system. The solution found by the American space agency was the Digital Twins, or, in Portuguese, Digital Twins.
This technology allows the creation of a virtual version of a product, process or system, which can be used for the most diverse purposes: analysis and predictive maintenance, monitoring, improvement, etc.
And it is not only applicable to problems of spatial dimensions. In fact, any product, process or system can have its digital twin and enjoy all its advantages.
In the following article, you get to know the concept of digital twins better, their applicability and all the advantages and benefits it has to offer. Follow and find out!
What are Digital Twins?
The idea of Digital Twins was first introduced to the world in 2002 by Dr. Michael Grieves. However, at the time the concept was unfeasible for general use because of cost and lack of support.
The scenario began to change in 2010, with the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) , Cloud Computing , Big Data and Artificial Intelligence , which made processes cheaper and improved.
But then, what exactly are Digital Twins? Think of them as a virtual representation of a physical object: a product, a process, or a system. They are like a bridge that connects the real and the virtual in order to improve, make cheaper and more efficient their real copies.
Through intelligent components, such as sensors, a digital twin captures information about the status of its real replica, thus creating a complete virtual representation that can be used for the most diverse purposes.
For example, a manufacturer might use the digital twin of one of its products to predict potential failures and correct them before the part is actually manufactured.
Applications of Digital Twins
The application of Digital Twins is unlimited and companies can innovate in the use of technology to meet their needs. However, we can gather their applicability in three main points: processes, products and systems.
Below, you can see how digital twins can revolutionize each of them and the impact of this on the industry as a whole. Keep following!
Process twins
With increasing consumer demand and increasing pressure to cut costs, the industry has no room for error. Digital Twins, in this scenario, appear as the perfect solution to avoid failures and meet all the demands of an increasingly complex market.
By creating production process twins, the company is able to simulate all of its manufacturing methodologies. Thus, it is possible to virtually predict failures and productivity problems.
In addition, it is possible to improve all processes, end-to-end. Which, consequently, reduces costs, eliminates sources of waste and increases the quality of the final product.
Product twins
Launching a product on the market is a process that takes time, money and is extremely prone to failure. With the creation of Digital Twins of the products, however, the company can take advantage of each of these points.
This is because, with the digital twin of a part, it is possible to analyze how it will perform under different conditions and what failures are possible even before defining a production line.
So the business can make all the necessary adjustments before investing time and money into the product. Consequently, production costs and time-to-market are reduced, and the final quality is much higher. Which increases the chances of success in the market.
Systems twins
The Digital Twins of systems are virtual models of all the systems used by the company. Through the massive collection of data referring to devices, products and processes, they favor the gain of insights and create new and innovative business opportunities.
The benefits of Digital Twins
As we have seen, Digital Twins are a very disruptive technology with wide applicability. But what benefits do they offer to companies in practice?
Furthermore, it is much cheaper, faster and more efficient to fix problems and failures in the virtual environment.
Another great benefit of Digital Twins is the reduction in time to launch new products in the market.
Finally, the technology of Digital Twins also brings advantages with its possibility of predictive maintenance. Through the pairing between physical and virtual objects, the business can predict possible failures and thus avoid their consequences.
In the case of a production machine, for example, with a digital product twin, it is possible to know in advance which parts may fail and thus carry out the exchange preventively to reduce downtime and reduce costs.
The Digital Twins as a Path to Innovation
Innovating is certainly not easy. It takes time, a lot of money and a lot of failures before innovative products are conceived, manufactured and launched in the market. With Digital Twins, however, this entire process can be greatly simplified and improved. What favors and promotes innovation within companies.
This is because digital twins bring more agility and reduce the risks of investing in innovative ideas. With a single software, for example, it is possible to simulate hundreds of production models and indicate the most efficient one.