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The Digital Transformation Council (DTC) Asia webinar, hosted by ARC Advisory Group, India, on December 17, was on developing and deploying digital twins for industry and infrastructure. At the outset, G. Ganapathiraman, Vice President and General Manager, ARC Advisory Group, India, explained that the DTC is meant only for the end user community and provides a platform to connect, collaborate, learn, and share with peers who are digitalizing and transforming their organizations. Further, he informed the audience about the agenda and process to be followed during the webinar. The webinar began with a presentation by Dr. Valentijn de Leeuw, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group; followed by a lively Q&A session with Vivek Gupta, AVP and Head-Instrumentation, DCM Shriram Limited, Kota (Rajasthan, India).
Developing and Deploying Digital Twins for Industry and Infrastructure
Defining digital twins, Valentijn de Leeuw said that it is a “representation of a physical asset that has a level of completeness and accuracy and includes context information that allows the user to understand its behavior and performance.” Context information is very important and can be text-based (data model, asset or engineering information, code, etc.) or non-text-based (3D, spatial, binary files etc.); or a combination of both. The data model structure should be standardized across the enterprise and preferably across companies too.
Further, he spoke about the importance of digital twins in asset lifecycle management, the digital foundation that will be required to make this succeed, and he finally highlighted the importance of the link between productivity and the human factor. The asset lifecycle is not linear, it’s actually a few circular iterative processes (project performance management - asset performance management – asset portfolio management) to optimize the full asset lifecycle, including the trajectory to operational readiness. The gathered information during design and build phases is shared with the asset to optimize performance. In case of a bottleneck or modernization, a modification request will be sent and approved when resources and capital are available. Hence, efficient flow of up-to-date information is vital for all processes in the lifecycle. “Good asset information is the best foundation for digital twins.”
Digital Readiness and the Human Factor
The digital maturity of the organization is necessary to realize the value of digital twins, and this entails:
- Digital competencies
- Assets, processes, and people to provide digital information
- Information systems for quality and quantity of information
- Flexible ecosystems for agile supply chains
- Culture of collaboration and open communication that is built on trust
If we want optimal performance of individuals and organizations, we need to work on competence development – domain, IT, and automation skills. Social competence includes the ability to communicate, discuss, and negotiate with empathy, and respect is an important aspect too. Quality of production and products can be improved not only by process organization and skills, but also by teaching people the attitudes and behavior that lead to the best results. “Human reliability is also a factor in total reliability and quality.” Further, the economic perspective was presented. The equation for productive growth depends on CapEx (management and systems), technologies, and investment in the quality of human resources.
Q&A session
Vivek Gupta of DCM Shriram gave a brief overview of the 125 year old, privately held company with manufacturing plants in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. At Kota (Rajasthan) the company operates 8 plants in an integrated complex with a captive power plant, fertilizer plant, and vinyl plant. The output of these plants is used as inputs for other plants. He spoke about the other businesses of the company, such as Fenesta building systems, PVC, sugar plants, agriculture, etc. The next section encapsulates the queries posed by Mr. Gupta and the audience to Dr. de Leeuw.
“Where should one begin to get the best value of a digital twin in the shortest time and stay ahead of the competition?” Dr. de Leeuw said that there is no single point, it depends on the priorities (could be maintenance related, supply chain or management issues) of the organization. “So, begin from where your challenges are.”
Responding to a query on how to connect the digital twin to the Industrial IoT, Dr. de Leeuw explained that traditionally we used to work with instruments and controllers on control systems, but this provided restricted control. Now, the trend is of using IoT sensors on top of those instruments in the control system, bringing the output of both to plant servers or private clouds, potentially augment these with information from the information systems, and this is fed into asset performance management applications.
“What should a company consider before undertaking a digital project?” The digital maturity of the organization and people, and the planned technical project should be considered, explained Dr. de Leeuw. “You must have a critical look at the data you have and what you need to complement.” He gave the example of developing a digital twin for a pump or a compressor, for which there are standard off-the-shelf solutions that would be helpful as a starting point. Process evaluation will be based on the critical challenges the company is facing in terms of reliability, quality, and throughput and the company’s priority. Digital twins can help optimizing the process conditions, reducing energy consumption, improving quality, reliability, and safety. Digital twins can simulate accidents and ensure preparedness. Additionally, digital twins can improve the operator’s decision making and get remote support when required to ensure optimal performance.
End users are requested to join the DTC by clicking on this link. DTC members are eligible for free participation at the 25th Annual ARC Industry Forum, USA on Accelerating Digital Transformation in a Post-COVID World from February 8-11, 2021.