You might know the term from medical usage or have read it in publications from the construction industry. Does the digital twin also offer advantages for textile machine manufacturers or the textile production industry? I would say: «Yes».

What is a digital twin anyway?

It is a virtual representative of a product, a production process or a service, which enables seamless linking of the individual process steps.

The digital twin should not be confused with a 3D CAD image, since the twin goes beyond a mere image. It can simulate the actual behavior of machines, plants or entire companies.

How can the digital twin help the textile machine manufacturer?

The twin can help throughout the product lifecycle and beyond.

Development phase

Even during the specification phase, the twin must first have life breathed into it. So, on day 1 of the development phase, the twin of a machine is set up digitally. This means that the status of a machine’s development can be seen, always discussed and assessed. Early integration of all instances (service, textile technology, sales) guarantees the detection of serious errors before a prototype has been completed. This makes development faster, more efficient and cheaper. This philosophy fits perfectly with the agile development approach, which is increasingly used in large companies to respond more quickly to rapidly-changing market needs.

During the verification phase, digital acceptance processes such as safety approvals can be introduced. This prevents unpleasant surprises if the product is already on the market in the validation phase.

Of course, the twin must always be kept up-to-date and feedback from the market must be applied. This certainly requires internal process adaptations and tools to be able to give feedback as easily as possible – for example, apps that show the twin and transmit feedback directly to the other end of the world through the push of a button or a chat function.

Imagine the commissioning process of a machine or plant. All required documents are already available at every age of the twins. The approved real and digital machines form the basis for future service work.

In development, the principle of model-based system engineering can be implemented more easily with the help of the digital twin. Functional behavior of the product and its components can thus be defined and simulated. Geometry, material and functional behavior can be represented together. Of course, the more data available, the more ‘real’ the simulation.

Cross-site development or inclusion of more external partners is clearly simplified. Greater planning reliability and simpler communication around the globe are possible with the twin.

The true value is certainly in early detection of errors and quality conditions. Here, it is important to obtain measurement data from real everyday life. The more machine data is entered into the database from actual practice, the better the quality of the prediction or simulation. It is therefore closely linked to machine learning: self-optimizing algorithms of an IT system from an existing database. It automatically recognizes patterns and principles and makes them available. Only real-time and historical data together can avoid false diagnoses.

Marketing phase

The twin, which permanently represents the current status as well as the final goal of the machine, offers endless possibilities to support the marketing phase, as well as its preparation. Picture material is always scarce in marketing preparation, and functionalities can often be obtained only by producing complex animations. These in turn require the construction data, which is often only available too late.

The digital twin offers animation and image material during every phase of development. It allows a view into the machine from any desired direction.

Sales process

During my product management time, I have always joked that a machine must be sold twice: first internally for sales and service, and then externally. The first internal sale is often a bigger hurdle!

Imagine that sales staff can now look virtually into the machine, so all working mechanisms can easily be explained.

Imagine, as a salesperson, you can virtually walk through the spinning mill together with a potential customer and show and explain the impressive system features in the customer’s premises. And all this can be achieved before the spinning mill is sold and set up.

Service process

Instead of merely reacting to errors and failures, preventive maintenance can minimize downtimes and reduce costs. This means condition monitoring in real time.

Changes in the production process can be tested virtually in advance – no more trial and error.

Is this really a glimpse into the crystal ball – or ‘almost’ a reality?

It all sounds very positive and maybe at one or the other point too visionary. Of course, there are still some hurdles to overcome. IT infrastructures, process adaptations and the human factor should not be forgotten.

But who doesn’t want to have these advantages in manufacturing processes?

– Shorter and cheaper development times (faster time to market, or money)

– Replacement of expensive and time-consuming prototype production

– Higher product quality (minimization of error rate)

Contact us: we will be happy to take a closer look into the crystal ball together and simulate the machine building world of tomorrow. We can connect you with the experts and pioneers of digital twins.

Iris Biermann

Photo by Clément Gerbaud on Unsplash