Extending and demonstrating an engineering communication framework utilising the digital twin concept in a context of factory layouts

Abstract

The factory layout is frequently planned in virtual environments, based on the experience of software tool users. This planning process is cumbersome and iterative to collect the necessary information, with a high risk of faulty inputs and updates. The digital twin concept has been introduced in order to speed up information sharing within a company; it relies on connectivity. However, the concept is often misunderstood as just a 3D model of a virtual object, not including connectivity. The aim of this paper is to present an extended virtual and physical engineering communication framework including four concepts: digital model, digital pre-runner, digital shadow, and digital twin. The four concepts are demonstrated and described in order to facilitate understanding how data exchange between virtual and physical objects can work in the future and having up-to date virtual environments enables simulating, analysing, and improving on more realistic and accurate datasets.