Everything you need to know about digital twin technology

Imagine you're standing in front of a mirror, not just any mirror, but one that reveals more than just your reflection. It captures the very essence of who you are, your thoughts, your feelings, and your behaviors and projects a digital version of you into a virtual world. This isn't a scene from a science fiction novel; it's a very real technological marvel unfolding in our time known as digital twins.

What is a digital twin?

A digital twin is essentially a virtual mirror image of a tangible object, individual, or process that allows its behavior to be emulated to better comprehend its real-world function. 

It's not simply a static representation; digital twins interact with real-time data from their surroundings, enabling continuous updates corresponding to the original entity. 

These virtual copies also encompass layers of behavioral insights and graphical depictions created from the data. 

By linking these digital twins together, an organizational construct called an enterprise metaverse is formed. This digital, often engaging, environment reproduces and integrates every part of a company, enhancing simulations, scenario assessments, and decision-making processes.

There are several distinct categories of digital twins. One is the product twin, reflecting an item at various phases of its existence, from preliminary design and development to complete operational status—providing live, up-to-the-minute details as if the product were actively in use. An everyday example of this is Google Maps, a digital twin of Earth's surface that employs real-time traffic data to fine-tune your travel plans.

Further classifications of twins include those symbolizing entire manufacturing sites, known as manufacturing plant twins, and procurement and supply chain twins, or network twins. On the other hand, infrastructure twins illustrate physical constructions like roads, buildings, or even sports arenas.

The promise of digital twins extends to fostering more nimble and robust business functions. High-level executives are keenly aware of this potential, with McKinsey studies showing that 70% of technology leaders in major corporations are already probing and investing in digital twins.

How do digital twins enhance organizational performance?

Digital twins can provide substantial value to organizations in numerous ways.

One key advantage is the significant acceleration in the product development process. Utilizing digital twins allows for quick adjustments and enhancements to product designs, bypassing the lengthy timescales associated with physical prototype testing. The result is a faster time to market and a pronounced enhancement in product quality. By modeling the product during fabrication, design deficiencies can be detected earlier in the process. As noted by McKinsey, firms that pioneered the application of digital-manufacturing twins are positioned to disrupt their respective markets.

Digital twins enable the creation of a unified, real-time understanding of how a design is performing. This consolidated source of information facilitates immediate modifications or even a complete redesign based on real-world performance data.

Another compelling application of digital twins is seen in customer interaction. McKinsey reports that organizations have achieved revenue growth of up to 10% by constructing digital twins for their customers. This innovative approach allows customers to fully engage with a company's product, even immersing themselves in virtual experiences.

Going green with digital twins

Digital twins of products offer specific benefits in advancing sustainability initiatives within organizations. By simulating a product's design, digital twins enable companies to minimize the materials needed, contributing to more efficient and eco-friendly production. This process goes hand in hand with enhancing the traceability of products, facilitating a reduction in environmental waste.

Consumer electronics producers have already leveraged this technology to achieve substantial sustainability improvements. By utilizing digital twins, these manufacturers have been able to diminish scrap waste by an impressive 20%. The application of digital twins in this context demonstrates a tangible and positive impact on sustainable practices, reflecting both economic efficiency and responsible stewardship of resources.

Getting started with digital twin construction

The successful implementation of digital twins within an organization hinge on digital maturity, underpinned by high-quality data infrastructure and the right talent to manage it. This includes reliable data gathering from both experimental and real-world environments.

But this doesn't mean that the application of digital twins is restricted to complex or ever-changing products or systems. Digital twins can be a powerful tool even in seemingly mundane or straightforward areas. Organizations are gaining immediate insights and feedback from end-users by creating virtual representations of everyday items or simple processes. This application demonstrates that digital twins are not confined to high-end or complex scenarios but can be tailored to suit various purposes and scales.

Once the initial use case is in place, organizations have the opportunity to add more dimensions of data and real-time interactions to refine and enhance the digital twin continually. This gradual building and refining showcase digital twin technology's versatile and evolving nature, meeting diverse organizational needs and goals.

Building a digital twin necessitates a methodical procedure that can be broken down into three main stages:

1. Draft a comprehensive blueprint: The initial step involves crafting a clear and structured plan. This blueprint should detail the specific types of digital twins the organization intends to create, a strategic sequence for their development to enhance value and reusability, a roadmap for evolving their functionalities, and guidelines for ownership and governance.
2. Construct the fundamental digital twin: This stage, typically spanning three to six months, centers on constructing the foundational digital twin. It commences with creating the essential data product, laying the groundwork for visualizations and enabling data science experts to develop one or two preliminary use cases.
3. Expand capabilities: With a basic digital twin operational, the organization can proceed to augment its capabilities. This involves integrating additional data layers and analytics to support emerging use cases. During this phase, many organizations elevate their digital twins from mere representations of assets, individuals, or processes to dynamic tools capable of simulations and predictive insights via AI and advanced modeling techniques.

From digital twin to enterprise metaverse

The path to crafting an enterprise metaverse begins with creating a single digital twin founded on a robust data product. This data product is a high-quality, readily applicable dataset that serves as a unified and reusable truth source across the organization. It’s more than a static asset; it’s a dynamic foundation that can be enriched over time, forming the groundwork for future applications. As insights are gathered from behavioral data, the initial digital twin can mature, growing in its ability to offer potent predictive insights.

The journey continues as an organization develops multiple interconnected digital twins to model the intricate interactions among various elements. This interconnectedness opens doors to more advanced applications and amplifies value. Consider an organization linking digital twins of customers, retail locations, inventory, sales processes, and customer interactions. This complex network of relationships allows the company to:

• Analyze the comprehensive effects of business and market alterations on physical retail locations.

• Design a cohesive omnichannel experience, ensuring smooth transitions in customer journeys across different platforms.

• Adapt store layouts in response to evolving customer tastes.

• Evaluate various remuneration and staffing strategies based on sales metrics, individual employee performance, and the unique attributes of each store.

As the digital twin network matures within an organization, there is an opportunity to layer in additional technologies, furthering the journey toward an enterprise metaverse. A retail company might link the digital twin of its storefront with the virtual replicas of its warehouses, supply chains, call centers, and other components until a complete digital reflection of the entire organization is realized.

The creation of an enterprise metaverse is a progressive and integrative process. Starting from a singular digital twin, it evolves into a comprehensive and interconnected system that replicates and simulates complex organizational structures and dynamics, unlocking previously untapped insights and efficiencies.

Future trends and innovations in digital twin technology

The field of digital twin technology is rapidly evolving, and several trends are shaping its future:

• Augmented reality and virtual reality: Combining digital twins with AR/VR can provide immersive experiences, allowing users to interact with virtual objects more intuitively.

• Machine learning and artificial intelligence: By incorporating AI and machine learning algorithms, digital twins can become more predictive and adaptive, enhancing their ability to simulate real-world scenarios.

• IoT and edge computing: The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and edge computing can enhance the real-time capabilities of digital twins, allowing for more immediate responses to changes in the physical world.

• Sustainability and environmental impact: Digital twins can play a vital role in promoting sustainability by optimizing resource usage and reducing waste, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change.

• Healthcare applications: In healthcare, digital twins can be used to create personalized models of patients, enabling more targeted treatments and improving patient outcomes.

• Smart cities and infrastructure: The application of digital twins in urban planning and infrastructure management can lead to smarter, more efficient cities.

These trends highlight the dynamic nature of digital twin technology and its potential to transform various industries and societal domains. Keeping abreast of these developments will be essential for organizations looking to stay ahead.

Digital twins in the business world 

The burgeoning interest in digital twins, along with the fast-paced progress of enabling technologies, has fueled optimistic projections for the industry. 

According to the market forecasts of McKinsey, investments in digital-twin technology could soar past $48 billion by the year 2026. This is not merely speculative optimism; real-world advanced implementations are already unfolding. For instance:

• SpaceX: A digital twin of SpaceX's Dragon capsule spacecraft acts as a powerful tool for operators. It allows them to meticulously monitor and modify various parameters such as trajectories, loads, and propulsion systems. The overarching goal is to enhance safety and reliability during transportation, reflecting a direct application of digital twins in the demanding field of aerospace technology.

• Mars Incorporated: The confectionary, pet care, and food company Mars has created a digital twin of its manufacturing supply chain. Utilizing Microsoft Azure cloud and AI, they process and analyze data generated by production machines in their manufacturing facilities.

• SoFi Stadium: In the sports and entertainment domain, the SoFi Stadium utilizes a digital twin to streamline its management and operations. By integrating various data sources, including structural information about the stadium and real-time football data, this digital twin assists in optimizing various aspects of the facility.

Competitive edge with digital twins

The advent of digital twin technology marks a significant milestone in organizational efficiency, innovation, and sustainability. The practical applications we've explored, from aerospace technology to urban planning, demonstrate the transformative potential of this approach.

Digital twins are no longer a theoretical concept but a tangible tool that leading companies actively employ to gain competitive advantages. Organizations can optimize performance, enhance customer engagement, and contribute to sustainable practices by creating virtual representations of products, processes, or systems.