Interscale Content Hub – So, the big question is how digital twin technology is revolutionizing various industries, right?!
We know this new technology is changing how we design, build, operate, and maintain complex systems in a lot of different industries, including manufacturing, construction, transportation, healthcare, and energy.
As a developing technology, digital twins (DTs) offer a fresh way to test and improve the performance of physical assets in a virtual setting.
So, how are these capabilities changing industries? Let’s discuss this further here.
What is Digital Twin Technology?
Digital twin technology is a pretty big deal. It represents a revolutionary advancement in how we interact with and understand physical objects, processes, and systems.
A digital twin is basically a virtual model that copies the behavior, characteristics, and performance of a physical entity using real-time data from sensors and devices.
This simulation lets you keep an eye on things and make adjustments to improve efficiency and performance across different industries.
Andrea Willige from the World Economic Forum in “Digital twins: What are they and why do they matter?” describes digital twins as virtual models that help us experiment with real-world objects or environments to see how they might function better.
This virtual replication uses real-time data to run simulations and make improvements that can be applied to the physical counterparts, which is a huge benefit to sectors like manufacturing, urban planning, and healthcare.
The idea of a digital twin was first put forth by David Gelernter in 1991, and it wasn’t until 2002 that Dr. Michael Grieves applied it to manufacturing.
NASA was the first to use digital twins during space missions in the 1960s. They created exact replicas of spacecraft on Earth for study and simulation purposes.
In real-world applications, digital twins are used throughout the lifecycle of physical assets, from design and manufacturing to maintenance and recycling at the end of their life.
This capability lets organizations quickly make changes to product designs, find problems early, and have a single source of the truth about product performance.
What is the Role of the Digital Twin in Digital Transformation?
Digital twin technology is a big part of digital transformation. DTs help companies make data-driven decisions and operate more efficiently.
DTs lets companies test out and make their operations better, which leads to a big boost in performance and savings.
By creating accurate virtual replicas of physical assets, digital twins help us predict maintenance needs, optimize production processes, and enhance product quality.
For instance, McKinsey reports in “Digital twins: The key to smart product development” how digital twins have reduced product development times by 20 to 50 percent for some companies, while also cutting the number of pre production prototypes—often from two or three to just one.
This means you can cut down on time and money by doing lots of tests and checks before you start making things in the real world.
What’s more, digital twins are being used with other technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) in lots of different industries.
CIO News in “Revolutionizing Industries: The Future of Digital Twin Technology Beyond 2024,” shows how combining DTs with IoT and AI makes simulations more realistic and lets you use them in real time to make more autonomous decisions.
In manufacturing, digital twins help keep an eye on how equipment is performing and predict when maintenance is needed. This helps avoid downtime and improve efficiency.
In healthcare, digital twins of human organs and entire facilities help us plan treatments better and respond to them faster, which ultimately improves patient outcomes.
How Digital Twin Technology is Revolutionizing Industries
Next, we’ll look at how digital twin technology is making an impact across five key sectors: manufacturing, construction, transportation and logistics, healthcare, and energy and utilities.
Manufacturing
In manufacturing, digital twin technology lets manufacturers create virtual copies of their production processes, which they can then monitor in real time and optimize.
This capability leads to big improvements in areas like predictive maintenance, quality control, and production scheduling.
In “Discover Top 8 Digital Twin Trends in 2024,” Hazal Şimşek points out that companies like Unilever have started using AI-powered digital twins in their plants to keep an eye on manufacturing processes. This has led to big cost savings and productivity gains.
Also, digital twins help cut energy use and make better use of materials, which fits with the growing focus on sustainability.
McKinsey’s report on digital twins in “Digital twins: The next frontier of factory optimization” shows how companies have used these virtual models to simulate production schedules and find hidden inefficiencies.
For example, a digital twin used in a metal fabrication plant helped to make production sequences more efficient, which led to big savings and a more stable yield.
Construction
The construction industry is using digital twin technology to make planning, design, and construction management better.
Digital twins let us keep an eye on construction sites in real time, which helps us stay safe and efficient.
They give everyone involved in the construction process a complete overview, so that any potential issues can be spotted and fixed before they actually happen.
Andrea Willige from the World Economic Forum chats about how digital twins are helping with urban planning and construction projects.
Cities like Orlando and Singapore are using digital twins to model urban environments, which helps them plan sustainable and efficient cityscapes.
These virtual models simulate different scenarios, like how new buildings might affect traffic and emissions. This helps people make better decisions.
If you want to see things from a different angle, you can also read “Forget Time Machines – Digital Twins in Construction Show You the Future.”
Transportation and Logistics
In transportation and logistics, digital twins are changing the way companies manage and optimize their operations.
By creating digital copies of vehicles and infrastructure, companies can test out different scenarios to make things run better and safer.
This tech is especially helpful for route planning, fleet management, and maintenance scheduling.
McKinsey’s insights “Digital twins: The key to smart product development” reveal that aerospace companies are developing machine-learning-based systems to optimize the geometry of aircraft components.
These systems can run through thousands of different configurations really quickly, which means they can make big improvements in performance and efficiency.
To find out more about how DTs are shaping the aerospace industry, kindly read “Digital Twins in Engineering: The Sidekick You Didn’t Know You Needed.”
Healthcare
The healthcare industry is going through a big change with the adoption of digital twin technology.
Digital twins of human organs and systems help create personalized treatment plans and improve patient outcomes.
This means medical professionals can use these virtual models to test out different treatments in a simulated environment before applying them to real patients.
As Hazal Şimşek points out, digital twins are being used to model entire hospitals and healthcare facilities, which makes it easier to plan and manage healthcare services.
This tech doesn’t just make medical interventions more precise, it also makes healthcare operations more efficient.
And it gets better. A 2023 Market Research Report on digital twins by MarketsandMarkets says the market is growing because more companies in the healthcare industry want digital twins and they’re focusing more on predictive maintenance.
Energy and Utilities
In the energy sector, digital twins are helping to make sure that infrastructure, like power plants and grids, are kept in good working order.
These virtual models let you monitor things in real time and predict when maintenance is needed, which helps you avoid outages and make things more efficient.
The World Economic Forum’s report shows how digital twins are used in wind farms and other power generation facilities to find ways to make things more efficient and improve performance.
By running different scenarios, digital twins help energy companies make smart decisions about maintenance and upgrades, which leads to better reliability and cost savings.
Challenges in Defining Digital Twins
While digital twins have a lot going for them, there are still a few hurdles to overcome.
One of the main challenges is integrating digital twin technologies into existing IT infrastructures, which can be pretty complex and require a lot of changes to workflows and processes.
Also, keeping the data used by digital twins accurate and secure is essential, since these virtual models rely on real-time data to work properly.
And don’t forget ‒ the implementation of digital twins requires high-quality data and a substantial investment.
The data has to be reliable and robust across all the parameters of the problem. If the data is incomplete or flawed, it can make a digital twin ineffective.
On top of that, digital twins need to be kept up to date and updated regularly to make sure they’re still relevant and effective as market conditions and technology change.
Another hurdle is the cost of creating digital twins, especially for complex or large-scale projects.
While digital twins are great, not every product or system is worth the investment. It can be expensive to develop them and you need a steady stream of data from sensors.
With all those challenges you’re up against, we at Interscale have BIM and digital twin management solutions made just for your AEC projects.
By integrating advanced digital twin technology, we can be your supporting system to make project management easier, improve collaboration, and make better decisions.
Our platform makes it easy to integrate data in real time and uses predictive analytics to make sure projects are completed on time and within budget.
Take K2LD Architects, for instance. They’ve seen firsthand how our BIM management services can help them manage large-scale projects.
We know it’s tough to connect the physical and digital worlds. That’s why we’re here to give you the insights you need to make your project a success.
For more on how we can help you with your BIM and digital twin needs, have a look at our BIM Management Support Services page.
We’d also be happy to talk one-on-one if you want to learn more about how we can help your project.
We can set up a time that works for you. We’re here for you 24/7, whenever you need us.
In Closing
As digital twin technology keeps on developing, it’ll be used in more and more ways, which will basically change how industries work and innovate.
Your business can make processes more efficient, spot potential issues before they arise, and make data-driven decisions, which will boost efficiency and innovation.
So, how digital twin technology is revolutionizing industry practices and operations? It all depends on how you plan to use DTs for your projects.
