A Digital Twin comes in many shapes and sizes

With the right approach and tools you can start with the creation of a Digital Twin: a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. It is a platform where combined data can be viewed and new insights and work methods can be created. And none of this needs to be complex. After all, a Digital Twin comes in many shapes and sizes.

Technology as an accelerator and connector

With the coronavirus pandemic and all its worries, we have almost forgotten that our biggest challenge within Asset Management is to find and keep good technical staff. There is a huge shortage and due to the ageing population, it is only going to get worse. Solving this problem is an enormous challenge because you cannot force new generations to follow a technical education. What you can do is embrace new technologies that could partly replace human work or attendance and make the technical professions more attractive to new generations by introducing cool technologies. Technologies that help facilitate communication between people but also secure knowledge. Integrating innovations like Augmented Reality and Remote Support on your EAM Platform offers enormous advantages.

Four things to know when talking about a Digital Twin!

There is not just one Digital Twin

A Digital Twin is a digital representation of a real-world entity or system. But its content is not fixed and has many variants. The most important thing is that a Digital Twin can be seen as a model to which data can be linked. And this makes it visual and more tangible.

A Digital Twin is more than a solution; it’s a way of collaboration

We often see that information is fragmented within organisations. Each department has its own silo of data. By connecting this from a central model, a Digital Twin, you see that collaboration between departments and organisations is improved. Maintenance can already look and think along with engineering during the design and construction phase. This prevents errors and improves cooperation between departments and teams.

Be aware that data is available

Gartner put the number of sensors and endpoints at 21 billion worldwide in 2020. Moreover, the Gartner report expects the use of Digital Twins to triple by 2022. So there is an extreme amount of data available that can be visualised in a digital twin. Data that can also enrich the EAM process and lift it to a higher level.

Just start and you’ll see it grow

Taking your first steps in digital twin technology is very easy. Considering the benefits it offers, it is not a question of if you will start using a Digital Twin, but more a question of when. Start by looking at what data is already present in your organisation and how these can be connected. Now you have an overview to create a good basis to which you can connect all future data. And if we are to believe Gartner, this is a lot!

Find out more! 

Learn more about creating a Digital Twin and link it to your EAM platform. Take a look at our Marketplace and our partner ecosystem, where you can find several partners who can guide you in this. On to a more productive and safer future!

Other blogs written by Patrick Beekman

Enterprise Asset Management for All
Happy to help you at any time
Jeremiah Woodford VP Sales Americas
jeremiah.woodford@ultimo.com