Digital twins now play a key role in all fields that are characteristic of a quite costly research and development. According to the research of the company Markets & Markets, the digital twins market will be ten times bigger in comparison with the current state (globally – 3.8 billion USD annually compared to 35.8 billion USD).

This growth will be driven especially by the fact that a lot of other industry fields will embrace using digital twins as a tool to reduce costs for construction, adjustments and testing various development variants. At the same time, it will provide enterprises with a much better overview of their processes and functioning, as well as complete supply chains.

Digital twins in full deployment

The digital twins technology is not new at all, and is used by numerous enterprises and institutions. Using them, NASA simulates almost all rocket operations, so that it is possible to detect potential problems before producing and starting the physical apparatus. The division of self-riding vehicles from Google has already driven billions of virtual miles in order to test how vehicles react in various extreme cases.

A logistics and transport company that strives for process optimization can also use digital tools for testing quicker transportation, involvement of more carriers or customer care improvements. Thanks to process simulation, they will be able to evaluate individual models and then determine what approach is the most suitable.

Quality input data are key

It’s impossible to develop digital twins in a completely independent environment. In order for a true copy of a physical product or system to emerge, it’s necessary to deliver data obtained from sensors, tables and databases in the real world. That means enterprises have to be really consistent when collecting and managing data so it is secured that tests and simulation in the virtual world correspond with the changes done in the physical world.

Of course, every company faces their own challenges and deals with their individual problems in the field of production, warehousing or supply chains. Nevertheless, in almost every case, creating and applying a digital twin can significantly strengthen the ability to maximize productivity, make the right decisions and increase future endurance.

We can expect mass expansion of digital twins application and also standardization of terminology and architecture in the following years. Out of reasons similar to those of the mentioned companies, global digital twins were deployed by six countries, for example Great Britain. Now it is obvious that this technology finds utilization across industry fields, within communal services even on a national and supranational level.