SMART MANUFACTURING
“ THE SMART FACTORY IS REALLY USING THAT CONNECTED ENVIRONMENT TO MAXIMISE FLEXIBILITY , AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE PLANT THROUGH USE OF DATA ” SIMON KEOGH GENERAL MANAGER , FACTORY AUTOMATION , SIEMENS DIGITAL INDUSTRIES
simulate as much as they possibly can without the physical environment , it has been de-risked as much as possible and the design layout and throughputs have also been optimised .
“ Purists will say that it is not a twin until you ' ve got the virtual and the physical representation , but normally the virtual will come first , followed by the physical shortly after . But the ability to feed back real data at the production line is being utilised , back into
the digital twin enables manufacturers to improve the whole simulation , resulting in a constantly improving environment , whereby the virtual and physical are coming closer and closer together .”
A digital twin can be implemented at many levels of a manufacturer ' s operations ; it can be a digital representation of a machine , a production line , or an entire plant . “ However , to achieve a highly optimised and high-performance manufacturing sector , the gains thereafter as a result of good , lean manufacturing practices , I think , will come from the use of digital twins ,” says Keogh , who adds that “ as space becomes more and more scarce , the ability to optimise plant layouts will be critical , so will the optimisation of the life cycle as the time to market gets shorter and shorter . I believe that these demands will be achieved through an integrated digital twin .”
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