What your digital twin will look like. The era of Transformers: “digital twins” are already here It all sounds like a utopian movie script

More and more enterprises are showing interest in the topic of digitalization of production. The organizers of the regional scientific and technical conference “Digitalization of production processes” were able to verify this. Application of industrial software for building digital enterprises,” which took place recently in Samara.

It was initiated by the SMS-Automation group of companies, known as a universal integrator specializing in the creation and support of industrial automation systems, together with the Digital Manufacturing department of Siemens, one of the world's largest concerns in the field of automation and electrical products, with which Samara developers have had more than two decades of fruitful cooperation.

The forum of manufacturers and information system developers was also supported by the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Samara Region. Its specialists have repeatedly noted the successes of the group of companies in the field of industrial automation and the construction of large information systems.

Representatives of industrial enterprises in the Samara region were introduced to the conceptual framework and specific tools for building effective digital production. Industrial automation is only part of digitalization, or digitalization, as it is also called. Digitalization is the automation of processes throughout the entire life cycle of a product, equipment, or enterprise. The project, its functioning, and modernization fit into it.

The report of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SMS-Automation Group of Companies, Andrey Sidorov, “Industrial Software as a Digitalization Tool,” aroused great interest among the conference participants. “We are on the threshold of the intellectualization of control systems,” noted Andrey Sidorov (in the bottom photo). - Now equipment manufacturers in the West are changing their production model. Equipment begins to have a digital twin. Changing business models will mean that a digital twin will be a significant factor when choosing a supplier.”

Digitalization also means testing situations on virtual digital models, which allows you to save enormous amounts of money. Siemens is already at its digitalization site, without waiting for the arrival of a machine for the production of parts, having received its virtual image, it connects virtual robots to it and begins debugging technological processes without wasting time.

The topics raised by experts related to the use of specific digital production tools were received with interest by conference participants and raised many questions and discussions. In addition to the reports, the attention of the conference guests was attracted by demo stands with practical examples of the implementation of the principles of digitalization in the realities of process control systems of industrial enterprises in Russia. Special attention at the conference was paid to issues of information security of modern automation systems. Acquaintance with current trends in the development of enterprises within the framework of the Industry 4.0 concept, according to experts, can become an additional tool in the process of increasing competitiveness in the era of Industry 4.0.

From the editor's website: At the end of May, the Siemens PLM Connection forum was held in Moscow, the main topics of which were the creation of a digital twin, 3D printing, the Internet of things and increasing the competitiveness of Russian products.

Note that the term digital twin in Russian-language publications is translated both as “digital twin” and “digital twin”.

The hall could hardly accommodate everyone

Five steps to building a digital enterprise

Modern technologies are revolutionizing approaches to the production of products. Companies are speeding up their processes, increasing flexibility and efficiency, and improving quality. Siemens believes that to achieve this, it is not enough to focus on just one stage of production. The entire chain must be taken into account, from product development to use.

“Once you create and optimize these processes, you can integrate them, connect your suppliers, and have one holistic approach to building your business. Moreover, it will provide the opportunity to create a digital twin of your enterprise, which will allow you to simulate its operation in order to proactively identify bottlenecks, for example, where surpluses are created or where delays are expected,” said Jean Luca Sacco, director of marketing for Siemens PLM Software in the EMEA region. – This sounds like science fiction, but it is already quite feasible. Just take five steps and a digital twin can help your company.”

The first step, product development, was illustrated by Jean Luca Sacco with a real example of one of the products created by Siemens itself, with maximum reuse of its previous generations and taking into account subsequent verification without creating a physical prototype of all its properties, including heating, cooling and protection against electromagnetic influences . “Our specialty is developing products based on a systematic approach based on an information-rich digital twin of the product, which is stored in the Teamcenter collaboration environment so that all development participants have access to it,” he said.

The second step, the development of production technology, involves modeling not the product itself, but production operations. “Using the Plant Simulation system, we simulate all production operations before creating a workplace in order to anticipate all difficulties in advance. Moreover, this applies not only to one workplace, but to the entire plant as a whole. This will make it possible to optimize material flows, energy consumption and simulate production processes long before the start of investment in building a workshop,” said Jean Luca Sacco and presented an example showing how the model can be used to avoid dangerous curvature of the worker’s spine during assembly.

The third step, preparation and launch of production, involves the use of another digital twin, this time for technical processes and equipment. According to Jean Luca Sacco, Siemens is the only company in the world that can offer an integrated computer engineering system that allows the creation of a complete digital twin, including all disciplines such as mechanics, electrical and software, to test everything before production begins. He emphasized the importance of integrating all components of such a double: “After all, in life everything is interconnected. We design a product, on this basis we develop a process, and the features of the technical process impose requirements for product development.”

The fourth step, production of the product, is also implemented using a digital twin. After all, without it it is impossible to create a real work schedule in order, for example, to determine time losses and optimize production processes. Traditionally, this required a lot of paper instructions, which was inefficient and error-prone, but digital modeling makes it possible to create the perfect set of instructions for the production and assembly of a product. Jean Luca Sacco explained that such a solution is comprehensive, it covers all the resources of the enterprise, such as people, materials, equipment, machines, and with the help of a digital twin allows you to manage production. Electronic information is transmitted to the operator at that moment. when he needs her. At the workplace, he can use augmented reality technology and better understand what he needs to do with the incoming workpiece and thereby minimize errors during assembly. But even if errors occur, comparing the real product with its digital twin will eliminate them. “This approach removes the walls that have always existed between designers and workers, and thus makes it possible to significantly improve product quality,” said Jean Luca Sacco.

The fifth stage, maintenance, will become more efficient if you use a solution that allows you to collect and analyze the information that the product generates during its operation.

To implement these five steps, Siemens offers a Digital Enterprise Software Suite, including Teamcenter, NX, Tecnomatix and others, which takes into account production chain processes for various industries. According to Jean Luca Sacco, this solution shows the state of the product at all stages - from the initial idea to the consumer's use, all in a single environment. At the same time, at each stage, people use the work of their colleagues, benefiting from the fact that they have data not only about the current stage, but also about all previous and subsequent ones.

Russian realities

This advanced approach will also be useful for Russian companies, since they are in the same development trend as the entire global industry. “We have the same problems as everywhere else - the increasing complexity of products. This is typical not only for aviation and the automotive industry, but for the entire mechanical engineering industry,” said Viktor Bespalov, vice president, general manager of Siemens PLM Software in the Russian Federation and the CIS. “In addition, new business models are emerging related to the spread of advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things, additive manufacturing, human-machine interfaces, and big data.”

Despite all the difficulties, our companies create complex innovative products, solving problems that have not been solved before. As an example, Viktor Bespalov cited several developments. Thus, when creating the new Il-76 transport aircraft, a digital model was built and a unified information space was implemented, covering the parent organization - the Design Bureau named after. Ilyushin, and suppliers.

When developing the new KamAZ-5490 tractor, modeling of almost all assembly processes was carried out before the start of production, which corresponds to the Siemens concept, and when creating the new PD-14 engine, which is now being tested, its full digital model was developed, used not only in production, but in technology services.

At the same time, Viktor Bespalov emphasized, Russian enterprises have to solve many problems. Thus, due to the increasing complexity of products, traditional methods of product decomposition cease to work. Therefore, requirements management and compliance with certification standards must be addressed at the earliest stages.

Making changes during development and beyond remains a challenge. The use of digital modeling and various calculation methods helps here, however, the complexity of this task suggests that there is still work to be done. There are resource management issues associated with the interaction between PLM and ERP.

Victor Bespalov: “Despite all the difficulties, the majority of our Russian customers
plans to expand the use of Siemens PLM Software products."

There are also national problems. Our companies operate not only locally, they enter global markets, as it is impossible otherwise. Viktor Bespalov cited data obtained from one Russian aviation holding company and its foreign competitors, which show that our company spends almost twice as much time on fine-tuning production as they do. In his opinion, this is an alarming signal indicating that Western companies are bringing products to market much faster, and Russian manufacturers need to try to reduce these losses.

To do this, our companies must use technologies that make them competitive. In this regard, Viktor Bespalov believes that it is necessary to carefully consider the choice of technologies: “I categorically disagree with the statements of some Russian developers that have appeared recently in connection with the import substitution policy, which emphasize that Russian PLM systems are 80% meet the requirements of our enterprises. What to do with the remaining 20%? How will our domestic companies be able to compete in such a situation? How to deal with global players who are already equipped with modern technologies?

As an answer to these rhetorical questions, Viktor Bespalov cited the results of a survey of Russian customers, which show. that despite all the difficulties, most of them plan to expand the use of Siemens PLM Software products.

Apparently, the attention that the Russian office pays to customer requirements plays an important role in this. Moreover, today we are no longer talking about the design of drawings, but about functional requirements. At the last conference, taking into account the requirements of the Design Bureau named after them was mentioned. Sukhoi and ASTC named after. Antonov in the NX CAD system.

This work continues for other products, in particular, the integration of the Sinumetrik CNC system and NX CAM has been strengthened to combine the real and virtual worlds, the integration of NX and Fibersim for aviation programs has been improved, the Product Cost Management system has been adapted to Russian cost calculation methodologies, and the Teamcenter and Test systems have been integrated. Lab for end-to-end requirements verification process.

This topic worries Russian users. So Michael Rebruch, NX Development Director, was asked from the audience a question about how you can convey your problems to NX developers and influence development. To which he replied that the company continues to cooperate with customers in Russia, listening to their wishes and taking them into account: “It is important for us to understand how they work, where they experience difficulties, and then we will try to help.” For his part, Viktor Bespalov promised that immediately after the forum he would continue to work with customers to define requirements and create a plan to meet them in future versions of products.

Attention is also paid to the topic of creating a prototype of a standard solution. “PLM is not a cheap technology, so customers are interested in getting value quickly. In this regard, over the past four years, our efforts have been focused on reducing implementation times,” said Viktor Bespalov.

Special pre-configured data models, NX templates for supporting unified storage systems, templates for change management processes, libraries for standard parts, materials, technological resources, etc. have already been created, and a methodology for quick commissioning has been developed. According to Siemens estimates and data from pilot projects, implementation time can be halved due to the fact that almost 80% of the work is covered by a standard solution, and only 20-30% is taken into account the specifics of the customer.

In addition, as part of the implementation of the industrial approach announced several years ago, Siemens is promoting in Russia a set of industry pre-configured Catalyst solutions, which includes best practices and basic processes for various industries, such as shipbuilding, automotive, mechanical engineering, electronics, energy, etc. . According to Victor Bespalov, these solutions make it possible to introduce new solutions into existing processes in such a way as to reduce the gap between advanced technologies and what the enterprise actually uses.

The presentations of Russian customers showed how we implement the listed Siemens technologies. Thus, Vasily Skvorchuk, head of the IT department of Ural Locomotives LLC, said that when launching the new production of Lastochka electric trains, it was decided to create a comprehensive automation system at the enterprise, including Teamcenter, NX CAD/CAM/CAE from Siemens, Russian Belarusian ERP system Omega (Russian-Belarusian) and “1C: Manufacturing Enterprise Management”.

Vasily Skvorchuk: “Currently about 1,100 people work in the integrated corporate system”

Ural Locomotives LLC, a joint venture with Siemens, was created in 2010. “From that moment, the rapid development of information technology began at our plant,” said Vasily Skvorchuk and added that about 1,100 people now work in the integrated corporate system, and management can monitor the progress of work on the manager's panel, which receives all the basic information. Thanks to this system, all departments have access to a single source of up-to-date information necessary to produce high-quality equipment for Lastochka.

The company plans to use a three-dimensional electronic model of the product for parts processed on a CNC machine. A pilot project has already been carried out.

The transition to an electronic prototype of the product is also underway at the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, which develops and produces Mi-8 helicopters. The plant's IT director, Maxim Lobanov, spoke about two projects to organize a digital process for technological preparation of production based on the original design documentation in the form of an electronic layout.

First, for the new helicopter model, the “End Beam” project was implemented, during which the equipment and the beam itself were created, and then the “Cargo Floor” project, manufactured entirely using paperless technology. As part of this project, the tooling assembly process was refined, which made it possible to increase assembly accuracy and reduce time.

According to Maxim Lobanov, in connection with the transition to paperless technologies, there was a need to integrate the Teamcenter PLM system with the planning system used at the plant, as well as create a modern information system to bring a digital layout to each workplace.

Foreign examples

From a global competitive perspective, it is interesting to see how the transition to digital technologies is developing in foreign enterprises. For example, Konecranes, which manufactures and services cranes and other lifting equipment, began a journey to harmonize its approach to digitalization in 2008.

“Production and service are an interesting combination; to get the maximum effect, you need to bring these elements together. We have about half a million pieces of equipment in service and digitalization is very important here,” explained Matti Leto, Director Product & Engineering Process at Konecranes.

He said the process was first defined, and then the search began for a solution to support those processes so that the systems would continue to function well into the future for many years to come. A list of platforms was compiled, including ERP, CRM, etc., but the company considers the PLM system to be the most important from the point of view of long-term sustainability, since it contains information about products. The choice fell on Teamcenter.

At the moment, some of the systems have been implemented, the rest are being implemented. Meanwhile, Konecranes is moving to the next level of digitalization by using IoT technology to automate equipment maintenance and optimize other processes. For this purpose, a portal has been created for the exchange of information between the company, partners and customers.

The Internet of Things project at Konecranes is off to a successful start. More than 10 thousand pieces of equipment are connected to the network. “The PLM system significantly increases the value of the Internet of Things, because Product data together with equipment monitoring data allows you to quickly make informed decisions,” Matti Leto shared his experience. “We believe that the Internet of Things is a new business model that is the future.”

Digital twin as the basis for future production

The industrial revolution currently taking place is transforming business and posing difficult challenges for enterprises. Development processes are changing, for example through the use of crowdsourcing and systems-based design, and in manufacturing, changes are taking place through the use of additive manufacturing, advanced robotics systems and intelligent automation.

“Creating a digital twin for lifecycle management of the entire production system allows enterprises to reach a new level of innovation,” said Robert Meschel, senior director of Siemens PLM Software strategy for Manufacturing Engineering Software, and said that by acting in this direction, the company is developing the areas of manufacturing engineering and digital production. “Several new products we are working on now bridge the gap between design and production,” said Robert Meschel.

In addition, there is an increasing use of robots, which are now much more flexible than before. 3D printing, which until recently was considered only suitable for prototyping, is beginning to be used in real production. As evidence, Robert Meschel cited specific examples from the aerospace, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering and automotive industries that show that this provides radical acceleration: “We are updating our products to provide customers with the opportunity to use this technology.”

Another promising advanced approach is virtual commissioning using an integrated hardware and software package. According to Robert Meschel, all this indicates that the basis of future production will be the simulation of reality, and an important prerequisite for this is a digital twin - a model with a high degree of detail.

It is also important that the use of a digital twin allows you to integrate calculations and full-scale tests, as well as models and data. According to Wouter Dehandschutter, technical director of product, Siemens PLM Software, the challenge here is to make the most of the information created at different stages and link it together, but there are now a number of stages in which engineering information is produced in isolation.

Wouter Dehandschutter: “The use of a digital twin allows the integration of calculations and full-scale testing”

He showed that this problem can be solved using a digital twin, analyzing the product at the earliest stages through virtual testing, controlling the twin and increasing its level of detail and accuracy so that full-scale testing focuses on meeting requirements rather than finding solutions.

As an example, Wouter Dehandschutter cited the Irkut Corporation, which applied this approach when designing the MC-21 aircraft, using the products LMS Imagin.Lab and LMS Amesim to calculate the behavior of the system. At the same time, not only individual parts were modeled, but the overall interaction of systems, which made it possible to check at the design stage how the entire aircraft would behave and, according to Irkut, reduce the creation of the most complex models by five times compared to the previously used solution.

What's new in NX 11

While promoting the digital twin concept, Siemens does not forget about its core products. Michael Rebruch, Director of NX Development, Siemens PLM Software, presented some of the new features that will appear in August with NX 11, and in November with NX 11.01.

However, one new product is already available. This is a free Catchbook mobile app designed for development. “By drawing a freehand sketch on a tablet, the result of which is converted into geometry, we can add dimensions and control the positioning of the sketches. You can also take a photo using your mobile phone and use this system to explore the possibilities of this project,” explained Michael Rebruch.

Michael Rebruch talks about what's new in NX 11

Coming with NX 11 is a new Converging Model product that allows you to combine precise geometry and edge-based cellular representation in a single model. According to Michael Rebruch, customers who have already met him say he has changed the way work is done, so this model can be used in design, testing and new methods such as 3D printing and hybrid manufacturing.

NX 11 will also include the new Lightworks Iray+ solution, based on Nvidia's Iray technology, which is designed for creating photorealistic images and includes a library of materials and scenes.

Additionally, NX 11 will allow you to scan, load, and interact with massive point clouds just like in the real world to design in the context of your physical environment.

NX 11.01 will feature new topology optimization technology designed to create complex surface shapes, optimizing shape, weight, materials, dimensions and design topology while maintaining part functionality. This is expected to improve interoperability with additive manufacturing. -->

More recently, German Gref, President of Sberbank, said that in 5 years artificial intelligence will replace many people: 80% of decisions will be made by machines, and this will lead to tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence expert Pedro Domingos goes even further: he suggests that people will acquire a computer psychological model of their personality. What will it be like?

Sex, lies and machine learning

The digital future begins with an awareness of the fact that when you interact with a computer - be it your own smartphone or a server thousands of kilometers away - you do so on two levels every time. The first is the desire to immediately get what you need: an answer to a question, a desired product, a new credit card. At the second level, strategic and most important, you tell the computer about yourself.

The more you teach him, the better he will serve you or manipulate you.

What model of your personality do you want to present to a computer? What data can be given to him so that he can build this model? These are questions to keep in mind whenever you interact with a machine learning algorithm, just as you would when interacting with people.

Digital mirror

Think about all your data that is stored in all the computers in the world. These include emails, MS Office documents, texts, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, internet search history, clicks, downloads and orders, credit history, taxes, phone and medical records, driving information recorded in your car's on-board computer , a map of movements recorded by your mobile phone, every photograph you've ever taken, brief appearances in security camera footage.

If a would-be biographer had access only to this data dump and nothing else, what picture would he or she emerge? Probably pretty accurate.

Imagine that you took all your data and gave it to the real Supreme Algorithm of the future, which already has knowledge about human life that we can teach it. It will create your model and you can carry it on a flash drive in your pocket. Of course, this will be an excellent tool for self-analysis - like looking at yourself in the mirror. But the mirror would be digital and would show not only your appearance, but also everything that can be learned by watching you. The mirror could come to life and talk.

The benefits of a digital twin

What would you like to do, what tasks to entrust to your digital half? Probably the first thing you would want from your model is to instruct her to negotiate with the world on your behalf: release her into cyberspace so that she looks for all sorts of things for you.

Of all the books in the world, she'll recommend the top ten you'll want to read first, and the advice will be so deep that Amazon never dreamed of it. The same thing will happen with movies, music, games, clothes, electronics, whatever. Of course, your refrigerator will always be full. The model will filter your email, voicemail, Facebook news, and Twitter updates, and when appropriate, respond for you.

It takes care of all the annoying little things of modern life, like checking your credit card accounts, appealing bad transactions, planning your schedule, renewing your subscriptions, and filing your taxes. She will select a medicine for you, check with your doctor and order it from the online store.

The model will tell you who you like. And after you get to know and like each other, your model will team up with your chosen one and choose restaurants that you both might like. And this is where it gets really interesting.

Model Society

In the very fast-approaching future, you will not be the only person with a “digital soulmate” who does your bidding around the clock. Everyone will have a similar personality model, and the models will communicate with each other all the time.

If you are looking for a job and company X is looking for employees, then their model will interview yours. Their “conversation” will in many ways resemble a real, “live” one - your model will be well instructed, for example, it will not give out negative information about you - but the whole process will only take a split second.

In the world of the Supreme Algorithm, “my people will contact your people” will become “my program will contact your program.” Each person will have a retinue of bots, designed to make his path around the world easier and more enjoyable. Deals, negotiations, meetings - all this will be organized before you have time to lift a finger.

Your digital soulmate will be like power steering: life will go where you want it to go, but with less effort on your part.

This does not mean that you will find yourself in a “filter bubble” and begin to see only what you are guaranteed to like, without any surprises. The digital personality will be much smarter, she will have instructions to leave room for chance, let you come into contact with new experiences, look for happy accidents.

As models improve, the interaction will become more and more similar to what would happen in the real world, but it will happen in silico and a million times faster. The cyberspace of tomorrow will turn into a very vast parallel world, which will select all the most promising things to try in reality. It will be like a new, global subconscious, the collective “Id” of humanity, or “It”.

Today's world is remarkable in that theories of mind have begun to appear in computers. While these theories are still primitive, they are evolving rapidly, and we will have to work with them as much as with other people to get what we want.

Based on materials from the book “The Supreme Algorithm”

In Russia today it is difficult to talk about the 4th industrial revolution, but we believe that it is necessary to talk. Among the technological drivers at industrial enterprises in the new generation, industrial Internet of things platforms will appear that implement the concept of a digital twin.

Forrester analysts define a digital twin as the creation of a real physical object in an abstract digital form that acts as an intermediary for any communication with a real device.

According to General Electric, the idea of ​​a digital twin is to go further than just working with digital models. The company says maintenance will also occur in sync with the digital model of the real object through sensor systems and communications.

Analyst agency Gartner predicts that by 2021, half of large industrial companies will use digital twins and as a result, these organizations will receive a 10% increase in operational efficiency.

“Digital twins are driving the business impact of IoT by offering a powerful way to monitor and manage assets and processes,” says Alfonso Velosa, research vice president at Gartner. This especially excites our team, since in the SAYMON project we are very closely involved in automated monitoring and management, including information systems and the Internet of things. Of course, competition in the market for platforms for IoT management is quite high - literally every major digital corporation today claims to have platforms, but not everyone has managed to make their own developments or acquire a company with a ready-made solution. Often a statement of availability is a tribute to decency - there is a technological trend, there is a statement from a corporation.

Today we do not yet work with digital models and drawings - we are open to partners with experience in this field. At the moment, we have experience collaborating with a company that creates photo-realistic copies of industrial facilities and as a result, a separate project VIOTR was born, combining the power of digitized space with the ability to obtain data from real sensors and video cameras, the ability to control switches, relays and dampers in the real world. The VIOTR project today has a focus on educational technologies of the future, but in essence is part of the concept of a digital twin.

This is exactly what our colleagues from Computer Weekly put it - the new approach involves managing communications between edge devices and internal systems and mirroring changes in the virtual model of the device - in other words, a digital twin appears.

Examples show that even such simple operations as controlling door locks can achieve significant operating savings. Dormakaba, which makes smart door locks, has been using ServiceMax's field management software since 2012, helping it monitor its installations. Detailed data on the performance of each door helps Dormakaba and its partners manage buildings more efficiently. A recent Vanson Bourne study for ServiceMax found that industrial companies lose $260,000 per hour due to unplanned downtime. Predicting failure using digital twins can help overcome this problem. The digital twin can provide engineers at Dormakaba with the most up-to-date record of every activity or event recorded by door sensors, records the installation of components and firmware updates, and can be used by Dormakaba's service team to determine the lifespan of a product along with a detailed security log that is associated with the door . It is also important to ensure close communication with parts and component suppliers and product life cycle management, ensuring an extremely clear level of control and service. By using digital lock forecasting, Dormakaba expects to reduce the number of customer calls and improve the quality of service. Together with Swisscom, a cloud platform for lock management was created. Partner training is an important element of innovation and business transformation, Dormakaba recognizes.

In a Gartner report Digital Twins Will Impact Economic and Business Models, the analytics firm draws an analogy between the amount of data collection done by companies like Google, Amazon and Netflix and how much data digital twins in industrial firms will create to continuously monitor the performance of equipment connected to control systems.

Analysts warn that this will require even more control of components and software updates, and will require car manufacturers to become software providers. “Asset operators will need to add software skills to their operations teams as they add smarter assets, and add software and data ownership to support contracts,” the analysts warn.

Image from https://www.ge.com/