What is a comprehensive digital twin and what does it mean to you?
You’ve probably heard of the term “digital twin” before. To be honest, the digital twin has been around for quite some time.
…but the comprehensive digital twin?
Siemens is proud to offer the industry’s most comprehensive digital twin. And while it’s been around since late 2017, it’s utility has suddenly taken off with the many hardware, software and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations taking place today. Before we get into the merits of the comprehensive digital twin and what makes it unique (and invaluable) it’s best to first describe the fundamentals behind the digital twin.
At its most basic level, a digital twin is a digital representation of a physical asset or process. This can include a product, machine, production, plant or factory. It can replay and analyze the past, reflect the present and predict future states. The beauty behind a digital twin is that enables the optimization of a product or production system before investing in physical assets, thus reducing the need for physical prototypes and avoiding expensive failures. Users get to see how their asset will perform inside a virtual environment. It’s the classic “first time right approach.”
Realizing a competitive advantage with
the comprehensive digital twin
The comprehensive digital twin takes the basic idea behind the digital twin to a more advanced level. It incorporates all product domains: mechanical, electronics, electrical systems, software, process, simulation, semiconductors and operations, and connects these domains with manufacturing and even later to data created while the product is in use.
Further, the comprehensive digital twin enables the seamless integration of the product and production lifecycles, including software and automation. It allows manufacturing companies to design, simulate, test, and verify products virtually, including mechanics, multi-physics, electronics and software. All of this is achieved in a virtual environment using robust simulation and automation tools to enhance quality, streamline operations and shorten the overall design cycle. The comprehensive digital twin unquestionably optimizes the complete lifecycle of a product or process. The more holistically the digital twin represents the physical product, process or operation, the more accurately the comprehensive digital twin can predict real-world performance.
It’s also important to understand the comprehensive digital twin is both generative and adaptive. It can provide the data needed to train AI and then leverage AI for innovation, flexibility and smarter decision making from early concept to final manufacturing – and beyond.
Siemens is at the forefront of helping customers embrace the comprehensive digital twin and transform into a Digital Enterprise. This is achieved by providing our customers a full range of proven technologies, some of which are exclusively from Siemens.
A few of these Siemens technologies and methodologies include:
–Siemens digital threads
Siemens digital threads bring a multiplying effect to the comprehensive digital twin by enabling numerous data processes across multiple systems. In addition, our digital threads help create the solutions that are needed to meet specific customer challenges.
One can think of Siemens digital threads as a digital link that aligns with the most commonly used functional programs: engineering, program management, supply chain, production, and product support. With the digital thread, task automation is achieved and functions are linked so users can quickly access, share and manage program details across the entire product lifecycle – at any time, from any location.
Siemens provides “core” digital threads that encapsulate a commonly used process. Core digital threads include accelerated product development, software systems and engineering, value chain collaboration and intelligence along with many others. Siemens “Industry” digital threads specialize in capturing the complete end-to-end process of a given industry, refining core capabilities and aligning digital strategies with sector-specific challenges. Our industry digital threads cover a variety of industries that include automotive and battery, aerospace and defense, food and beverage, electronics and semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and more.
Combining the real and digital worlds, both the comprehensive digital twin and corresponding digital threads enable users to effectively deliver on their programs in a proven, safe and secure manner.
–Moving operations to a shift-left mentality
When companies adopt a comprehensive digital twin, they find it much easier to shift key activities in the development lifecycle of a new product, manufacturing system, service offering, or internal business process to earlier stages of design and development. A “shift-left in operations” produces valuable information and insight earlier in the process where it’s easier and less costly to act on, and where it can have the greatest impact.
A shift-left approach creates significant value by reducing cost while developing a more optimized product faster.
-Taking advantage of continuous optimization
Combining the digital and the real worlds through Siemens’ comprehensive digital twin approach enables the seamless integration of the product and production lifecycles. It allows manufacturing companies to design, simulate, test, optimize and validate products with the digital twin for product. Then, using the digital twin for production, it is possible to plan and optimize machines, lines and even complete factories and plants in the digital world and make them faster, more efficient and sustainable. Once in the operational phase, the digital twin of performance is where the physical asset and digital twin coexist together, creating a closed-loop connection. Within this environment, manufacturing companies are able to conduct precise levels of continuous optimization, predictive maintenance and make better design decisions for next-gen developments. The result is a continuous loop of optimization that only Siemens, through our comprehensive digital twin, can offer from designing a product to realizing a number of critical processes.
-Integrating the latest AI technologies
The comprehensive digital twin prepares industrial companies to integrate AI technologies of today – and what might come next – into their current business or operational processes to gain further advantages. Not only are we seeing AI/GenAI as an integral part of the digital twin, but Industrial AI and the Industrial Metaverse are delivering distinct advantages with their powerful AI capabilities.
- AI-powered digital twin
There are many advantages to an AI-powered digital twin. One especially intriguing notion is how an AI-infused digital twin can accelerate the introduction of AI algorithms into production environments by acting as a “virtual sandbox” by integrating and evaluating AI algorithms. - Industrial AI
Industrial AI will be critical to increasing the processing speed and throughput of data, which will enable accelerated product and process evaluation and innovation. Within the comprehensive digital twin, it can help automate mundane tasks, leaving engineers more time to focus on solving the more complex, design challenges. - Industrial Metaverse
Our comprehensive digital twin paves the way towards the Industrial Metaverse. It can help the Industrial Metaverse evolve into a large-scale, real-time collaborative with photorealistic digital representation of the real world. This offers numerous advantages when combining the real and digital worlds at levels we’re still defining at this time!
The role of Siemens Xcelerator
Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform, comprises a curated portfolio of industry software, a continuously growing ecosystem of partners and an evolving marketplace of 3rd party hardware and software providers. Siemens Xcelerator enables companies to transform into a Digital Enterprise with speed and efficiency.
And the comprehensive digital twin serves as the operational core to that transformation. The software, services and support within Siemens Xcelerator provides all the necessary capabilities you need to turn your current operations into a Digital Enterprise. You can do it at a pace that’s comfortable for you, your team and your business – using some of your own legacy systems if you prefer.
Your path to digital transformation
The Siemens comprehensive digital twin comprises a set of consistent digital models representing different aspects of operation that can be used throughout the entire product or production lifecycle, or the supply chain. No question the comprehensive digital twin is your way forward to a bright and promising future. The digital transformation is happening among all types of businesses and companies around the world – both large and small operations.
And now, with the need to integrate the latest AI technology into all facets of operations along with the need to address growing complexity and other modern-day challenges, it’s easy to understand the need for significant change.
So the question has to be asked: What side of the digital transformation will you be on? Will you be stuck chasing trends, always lagging behind or surging ahead of the competition with proven, best-in-class software from Siemens?
The Siemens comprehensive digital twin is your only viable option.
