Digital Twin: A Digital Replica of your Business

Businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve are constantly searching for new strategies that will put them ahead of their competitors.

One such strategy is the “Digital Twin,” which Gartner identified as one of its Top 10 Strategic Technologies in 2017. Below, we’ll dive into why you should use the Digital Twin strategy and how it will impact your business.

But before we can explore the Digital Twin, we need to dissect “Whole System Modeling.”

What is Whole System Modeling

Most decisions in an enterprise are made either at a managerial level focusing on the activities of a team or at a divisional level addressing opportunities within a division.

But, decision-support tools that are used to help make these decisions rarely consider the impact across-the-enterprise — i.e. a ‘whole systems’ view.

Whole Systems Modeling is an approach of modeling key aspects of a large complicated system such as:

The business rules (logic);
Control parameters (input data) that we intend to test;
And, the Key-Performance-Indicators (output statistics) that we want to measure.

The Goal of Whole System Modeling

The goal is to understand the behavior of an entire system to make decisions based on the holistic performance of the business as opposed to a narrow divisional view.

Examples of these would be a:

Hospital/healthcare institution
Mining operation (pit-to-process)
Manufacturing facility (raw material supply to finished goods delivery)
Supply Chain (suppliers to retail shipment)

Why Should You Take a Whole Systems View?

Business leaders must take a “whole systems view” approach for these simple reasons:

The ‘best’ solution is not always the one that is ‘best’ for the team or the division.
Inter-related variables and feedback loops within the system -can make it difficult to view non-intuitive solutions.
By ‘optimizing’ the business using the lowest cost platform, you are ensuring money is invested in the right place in the value chain to maximize NPV

Struggling to Take a Whole Systems View Into Your Business?

A Definition of Digital Twin

A digital twin is a dynamic virtual model of a process, product or service, that enables companies to better understand and predict the performance of the business and find new revenue streams, and change the way their business operates.

Essentially, it is a virtual recreation of your business.

Advantages of Putting Digital Twin Software to Work

This pairing of the virtual and physical worlds allows for the:

Analysis of data and systems to head off problems before they even occur;
Prevent downtime;
Develop new opportunities;
Plan for the future by using simulations.

Depending on the maturity of the twin, there can also be a feedback loop from the virtual to the physical asset.

Why You Should Employ a Digital Twin Across a Whole System

Digital twin models generally refer to a model of either an equipment or a machine, but can also be made for a whole system. Benefits of applying it for a whole system are:

Provides statistical validation of all options.
Allows testing of business value options in terms of risk profiles (think the level of variability in KPIs).
Test the whole system implications of departmental improvement efforts.
Enable improvement studies – we may not have all the details for an improvement idea, but a simulation model is a test-bed to try different assumptions.
Prioritize initiatives – budgets are usually fixed and a digital twin allows you to identify where to spend your money to get the ‘best’ outcome, typically represented by highest NPV.
Financial implications (cash and NPV) of engineering/operational decisions.

Real World Digital Twin Examples

Digital Twin in the Oil and Gas Industry

By leveraging a Digital Twin model, and running through a dynamic simulation, facilities can increase their terminal and trans-loading operations. Improvements are made as a result of assessing variability in business processes and data. As a result, companies can validate design and make informed decisions.

Project benefits of a Digital Twin Strategy:

Provide throughput-based infrastructure design recommendations for engineering
Generating feedback on logistical and efficient business operations
Provides a basis for improvements that lead to higher profitability and quality of overall services in client deliverables

Digital Twin in the Mining Industry

A digital twin simulation for mining projects will provide a dynamic overview of the various needs and processes of the mining operation and supply chain. A simulation tool can serve to help with engineering design and overall logistical improvements using 3D animations and data collected.

A mine pit simulation can provide valuable insights that:

Communicate the mining process to external stakeholders for buy-in
Provide an opportunity to assess cross-functional operations and their impact on logistics, fleet and supply chain
Determine feasibility and validation for projected changes to site plan and operation – leading to higher profitability

Read More About Operational Decision Making:

How MOSIMTEC Can Help Create Your Digital Twin Strategy

MOSIMTEC specializes in digital twin modeling services. We work with our clients to build a ‘focused’ or a ‘whole system’ model of their enterprise.

We do this by employing a multitude of modeling paradigms like agent-based, discrete-event and system dynamics. These models abstract out key aspects of the business while black-boxing other components providing relevant toggles to construct different scenarios.

The MOSIMTEC concept is different from traditional engineering and consulting services. We are uniquely positioned to support clients in making smart decisions by applying Modeling & Simulation Engineering (MSE) to predict outcomes, prescribe actions and improve operations.

Learn How a Digital Twin Strategy Can Benefit Your Business

Digital Twin: A Digital Replica of Your Business