Digital Twins for Smart Manufacturing

Smart manufacturing requires the use of multiple OT and IT systems pulling together data from factory design, simulation and operation. Using a digital twin as a way to access all this data in one place dramatically reduces the data ‘silos’ that can so easily appear.

During the design the twin can be used as a way for multiple groups to collaborate in real time, syncing different 3D software into a single view. Once the factory is created, the twin can gather data from many different systems; multiple SCADAs, real-time location systems (RTLS), asset data and maintenance systems and display it all in a single screen. If simulation software has been used, the twin can compare the results against real time operation and highlight differences.

Data visualization is easily implemented on the twin. Operators can easily be overwhelmed by the quantities of data being generated in a modern facility – color coding equipment by alerts / hour for example can allow for focus. Modern SCADA systems often generate so many errors and warnings that many are overlooked unless data is summarized in this way.

We use NVIDIA’s Omniverse as the base technology and a result users can access all of NVIDIA’s simulation technology through the twin. This allows sophisticated use cases where production lines can be simulated using NVIDIA’s physics based tools, real production line performance can be measured and the two compared with visual indications of the differences.