Technology

Using digital twins for improving factory work environment

Key points

    Maximizing factory work performance

    Minimizing workplace injuries

    Developing new workflow processes

By Carlos Miskinis
Digital twin research expert
Dec 2018

With the latest development progress the digital twin platform has experienced, there is huge potential for increasing factory work efficiency. During the past decades, the manufacturing industry was transformed from simply using manpower to run the systems and processes that are required to manufacture the end product, to using automated machinery which increased productivity and efficiency. Since the new 4.0 generation of technology is starting to make a permanent impact on the industry, the trend of automation is now being improved by digital simulation technologies such as Digital Twins. In this article, we will explore all the practical future possibilities of how digital twin technology will improve work efficiency in factories according to the research we have conducted on our https://challenge.org/ website.

 

an image of a factory being digitized

 

Factory performance data gathering using digital twin interfaces

 

When it comes to measuring and extrapolating future data of the overall performance of a factory, the majority of manufacturers are limited by not having the right tools to measure productivity in real time. Because of this reason, they are forced to stick to the traditional ways of tracking progress which involves physically measuring and registering the number of goods that have been produced.

 

The old-fashioned methods for tracking manufacturing factory progress will be in the past, due to new digital twin simulations. By attaching trackers and monitors that will give factory owners the opportunity to create digital replicas of equipment, tools, products, and systems online, they will be able to track every single process digitally. For instance, manufacturers will be capable of tracking the journey of their products right from the point of manufacturing, until the very end of the shipping process of a product. It is estimated that the accuracy of data tracking will be monitored down to seconds – this presupposes that system efficiency, machinery speed, the total amount of goods produced and overall factory progress will be monitored with extreme accuracy.

 

Finally, this means that by gathering tool, machinery, and system efficiency data, it will be possible to accurately estimate how new changes to factory work environment will impact productivity in the future. This will give developers the ability to constantly work at improving factory systems and witness the positive/negative impact on a digital scale, instead of having to risk factory productivity in real life.

Part 2

Discovering vital performance bottlenecks that hinder factory work

With the ability to accurately measure progress, digital twin will dissolve blocks that stop it

 

Discovering performance thresholds in factory facilities

 

By having the ability to fully replicate and digitize systems and machinery, users will be able to dig deeper into the main structural components of a machine – you can learn more about this in our new conference: digital twin in factory work. This is a very important concept to grasp because through creating digital twins of factory machines, they will be fully replicated including how they move and operate. By performing speed and motion tests and gathering data on the digital replicas, developers will be able to figure out the optimal speed a factory machine needs to operate at, in order to reach specific goals, such as the total amount of goods produced within a year to raise revenue levels.

 

how digital twin will be used to optimize factories

 

Developing factory simulations and new workflow processes using digital twin

 

Digital twin technology is not just limited to “twinning” factory machinery and equipment. It also can be used to build out a full digital version of factories themselves. This can be useful for many reasons. One of them is to create a more efficient work environment for employees which will mean better workflow and therefore, results. In addition, by developing a digital replica of a factory’s workspace, developers will be able to pinpoint obvious problems that are hindering work speed that was not visible prior to using digital twin simulations.

 

Want to find out more? Click here and find out if you have the opportunity to join the biggest leading companies in the world that are enhancing their factory work environments with this technology. Read more about it here.

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