Twinning in the Mid-Market
The concept of digital twinning first arose almost 30 years ago. It was applied to Product Life Cycle Management by Dr Michael Grieves.
As the name suggest, an identical digital copy is made of the real-world process which is fed real world data in a virtual simulation. Test can be run and real time results on performance can be obtained. Process reengineering can be tweaked and fed back into the simulation resulting in efficiencies being achieved much more quickly
The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and software analytics can all be used together to refine the process reengineering in the digital twin model.
Currently, the digital twin technology is primarily being used in complex processes. Such as:
- In construction of large objects. E.g. bridges, buildings, and other complicated structures.
- Complex mechanisms. e.g. Jet engines; vehicles; and airplanes all fall within this category. Using digital copies, machines and engines large and complex may be made more efficient.
- Equipment for powerifying.
- Manufacturing Sector
However, the growth of the application of the technology is expected to grow from $6.9B today to $73.5B by 2027 with a CAGR of 60.6% . The key leaders in this technology are: GE Digital, IBM, Microsoft, Siemens, Ansys.
IBM are very strong in the public sector within the UK. They confirmed that there are advantages to be gained from applying Digital Twinning technology to SME Enterprises and even smaller public sector bodies with limited data.
IBM confirmed at the DTX conference in Excel in October 2022 that only 3 data points were necessary to produce a meaningful analysis using digital twinning technology, with data point’s simply being the Process ID, Time and step taken. The best approach is to start small and initiate a proof of concept.
The strong market growth prediction of 60.6% CAGR is believable when the application of Digital Twinning technology has only been applied to the tip of the iceberg!
