Employing digital twins within production logistics

Abstract

Digitalisation and automation of existing processes are key competitive factors for industry. Still, logistic operations often comprise manual effort, because the movement of goods and material places stringent requirements on the interactions between different systems, human-computer/robot-interaction as well as on changes in the operative processes. In general, the introduction and uptake of new enabling technologies, like the IoT, in complex systems evolved over decades, are challenging. The experience has shown that it is hard to assess all restrictions and interactions between new and old components before any new equipment or infrastructure is implemented and put in operation. This paper presents and discusses the usage of digital twins for supporting the decision-making processes in two different areas: Workstation design and logistics operation analysis. The results are based on tests and experiments carried out in a production logistics test-bed that includes physical devices, an IoT-infrastructure and simulation software. The digital twin is realised in a combination of using Unity and the simulation software IPS. The primary results show that there is no one-size fit all in terms of granularity of the underlying simulation model as well as for the reduction of reality in the digital twin, but the results also indicate that a context-aware digital twin supports the decision-making within a given scope.

A Digital Twin Platform Integrating Process Parameter Simulation Solution for Intelligent Manufacturing

“…For example, the study reported in [15] shows that creating a complete DT system for production lines enables machines to perform routine inspections without stopping while identifying any faulty parts. Meanwhile, DT systems can facilitate real-time analysis of manufacturing processes; as Hauge et al [16] show the role of digital twins in providing insight into errors and inefficiencies on production lines, thus reshaping the way manufacturers manage their operations.…”

Educational Case Studies: Creating a Digital Twin of the Production Line in TIA Portal, Unity, and Game4Automation Framework

“…The paper [ 40 ] discusses the use of digital twins to support decision-making in workstation design and logistics operations. The digital twin was developed using Unity and simulation software IPS and was tested in a production logistics testbed that included physical devices, an IoT infrastructure, and simulation software.…”

State of the Art and Future Directions of Digital Twins for Production Logistics: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The concept is tested in a laboratory environment and the game engine Unity is used as a virtual environment to create the VM. Applications for workstation design by using IMMA (Intelligent Moving Manikins), for picking processes, routing, education, and monitoring are described; service systems need to be implemented and more experiments are necessary to evaluate the potential benefits of this approach [38]. Nevertheless, predefined control mechanisms can lead to suboptimal results, and, in the case of material flow systems, long waiting times and wasted energy may be the result.…”