When it comes to manufacturing, predictive maintenance goes on to play a very critical and a crucial role in modern ops. Predictive maintenance makes use of machine learning as well as historical data so as to forecast when a machine has its date for maintenance. This enables getting rid of any kind of malfunctioning or even breakdown for that matter that leads to unnecessary repairs, safety challenges, and also downtime, thereby costing manufacturers immense money.
Due to a range of reasons, there are numerous manufacturing companies that must surely depend on methods of maintenance that are traditional in nature. In spite of checklists as well as processes that are set, it is more than often easy to overlook warnings until the failure has already happened.
With the rising availability when it comes to digital twin tech, the benefits when it comes to predictive maintenance have indeed gone on to become much more accessible as well as attainable.
Digital Twin – An Insight
A digital twin happens to be a virtual copy of a physical device or a system or a process with the capacity to simulate states as well as behaviors. It happens to be a digital replica that goes on to mimic the properties and also working dynamics when it comes to real objects. The digital twin mirrors objects by way of collecting data via sensors; that data is then real-time processed through AI as well as ML algorithms, which lead to creating intricate visualizations of data.
Because of the fact that the digital twins happen to be in almost consistent communication with the mirrored object and also happen to be continuously evaluating as well as accounting for the new data, manufacturers can go on to extrapolate the complete lifecycles of all the devices with much more precision.
So how do digital twins elevate predictive maintenance?
It is well to be noted that when digital twins are rolled out with manufacturing equipment as well as machinery, they enable a much better understanding of how assets are going to perform or behave at a certain point in time. Through using a safe network, a digital twin can go ahead and send alerts in real-time, insights along with recommendations that are based upon the data that it has collected and also analyzed right from the machine it is mirroring.
Digital twin technology, which is used in this way, can enable predicting a fault much before it actually takes place. It can also go on to predict when a piece of equipment might perform in a different way due to the change in the environment. This helps the manufacturers to enhance and at the same time also extend the lifespan of the equipment, decrease the downtime, and at the end of the day cut the complete maintenance costs, thereby making the digital twin technology very important when it comes to predictive maintenance.
Issues to consider in terms of employing digital twins
The fact of the matter is that the more digital technology gets used by a manufacturer, the more precise a picture it is going to have of the working assets as well as the system that it owns. But, while digital twins enable a phenomenal amount of accuracy when it comes to predictive maintenance, they also come with certain challenges.
So as to make sure that digital twins process the data and at the same time also communicate in an effective way, they indeed require a pretty strong as well as a scalable network infrastructure, something like a dark fiber network. The dearth of a strong and a dependable network such as this can go on to prevent the companies from getting the most from the digital twin tech.
Dark fiber is indeed ideal, as it happens to be an unlit fiber, which means that it is laid but is not used by a network provider. It is worth noting that companies that happen to have this kind of unlit fiber, which also includes manufacturers, can go ahead and connect with network equipment when it comes to both ends; that, in a way, helps to establish their own high-speed private network.
This helps the manufacturers to get absolute control when it comes to the network link, thereby helping them to configure it as well as scale it as required, which can come in pretty handy when it comes to rolling out the digital twin technology. But this does mean that the manufacturers will have to completely track the network on their own, which also includes safeguarding it against any kind of cyberattacks.
It also becomes pretty significant for the manufacturers to embrace a good and robust tracking strategy. These needs making use of the right tracing tools for their needs and also being proactive when it comes to the alerts. All this means making use of security tools to scan the network pretty regularly for vulnerabilities as well as any sort of incidents that can pinpoint a potential threat and also making use of encryption to safeguard the data.
It is also a great idea to go ahead and limit those who happen to have access when it comes to network controls along with digital twins. This goes on to safeguard one from the inside breaches as well as unauthorized access.
Lastly
Although the barriers when it comes to terms of adopting a strong network and, at the same time, keeping it safe happen to be quite significant, properly rolled-out digital twins can indeed be a robust tool when it comes to predictive maintenance. Keeping ahead of any kind of equipment faults as well as failures can enhance the ops by way of decreasing unplanned downtime, elevating the dependability, and also scaling-up in a much more efficient way, which, at the end of the day, can go on to push the profits.
