Implementation of a Digital Twin Starting with a Simulator

Overview & Synopsis

The term complete Digital Twin describes a digital entity following and taking part in the life of a system, from its design during its regular use, up until its end of life. It is a coherent set of interoperable modules that will be used depending on the state of progress of the system. Since the Digital Twin follows the system from its design to its end of life, it can be a powerful lifecycle management tool. In this framework, it seems too complicated to try integrating all the modules simultaneously. It's important to prioritize them and build an expandable architecture. One of the major criterion is ensuring the digital continuity in order to implement a sustainable model for the Industry 4.0. The modules used after-sales, such as the predictive maintenance module, are harder to implement, because the connection/communication with the system after delivery must be managed which is not always possible. Therefore, the modules that are the easiest to implement are the ones before-sales, because they are integrally managed internally. This study is conducted in a medium size enterprise which allows us to address in a concrete way the deployment of a digital twin in the industrial activities. The deployment strategy needs to be combined in order to prevent the features of the digital twin to be perceived as a hindrance. This study focuses on the development of a simulator that will link up offer design, detailed design and assembly/manufacturing follow up.