The essential role of digital twins in asset management
Digital twins in asset management serves as a powerful tool collecting data from every asset therefore improving operational efficiency. Find out more!
Many times you will have heard about digital twins and the advantages that this technology is able to offer during project design, construction and management processes. The AEC sector (Architecture, engineering and construction) is certainly not the only sector that can benefit from the potential of the so-called “digital twins”. Successful applications have been developed in numerous other sectors.
In this article we’ll focus on the usefulness of digital twins in the field of asset management. We will see how these virtual representations are of fundamental importance to ensure an efficient management and maintenance of resources in any organization.
Starting today you can improve your asset management processes with the help of a digital twin software. Try this powerful system now and start taking advantage of the information provided by your digital twins software to analyze your assets performance, identifying any inefficiencies and plan maintenance interventions. This solution also helps monitoring all activities in real time while optimizing future strategies for your asset management.
Let’s discover the advantages and potential generated from the combination of digital twin and asset management!
What is digital twin in asset management
A digital twin can be considered as the virtual copy, faithful in every detail and constantly updated, of a real-world entity. It constitutes a digital model capable of representing physical elements, such as buildings floors, plants, infrastructures or entire cities. But also other entities, such as systems, processes, supply chains and so on.
This virtual model is built on the basis of accurate data, and remaining “connected” to the existing object for the entire life cycle, therefore capturing its design, behavior, performance and other relevant parameters in real time.
In the field of asset management, digital twin technology is crucial because it helps to concentrate information in one place, allowing companies to optimize their resources management and maintenance processes.
Through the use of digital twins it is possible to collect accurate information on asset functionalities in relation to their useful life, and by adopting a proactive approach that helps to extend an equipment’s life, improving its operational performance.
Digital twin in asset management
The Essential Role of Digital Twins in Resource Management
Digital twins have enabled asset managers to make great progresses in asset management. The functions of these models extend, in fact, far beyond the simple virtual representation of the physical objects that surround us, for example, by:
- monitoring equipment performance and operating conditions in real time;
- comparing historical data with the most recent data in order to predict future changes;
- ensuring that all information can be easily available to stakeholders when necessary.
Thanks to their ability to perform predictive simulations, “digital twins” are helpful evaluating different scenarios. As well as to analyze risks and potential outcomes associated with possible decisions.
In other words, they represent an essential tool to inform asset managers’ choices by guiding the decision-making process towards an optimization of maintenance programs.
Digital twins are therefore able to combine concepts and data sources of various kinds. They provide a clearer and more complete view of maintenance processes enabling a more successful forecasting and planning of future asset management strategies.
How to integrate digital twin and asset management
The first step to integrate digital twin technology into asset management processes is to create a 3D digital model of the system to be managed.
This process can be developed using special software that allows you to digitally model the virtual copies of the assets and enter all the information currently available (such as installation data, risks encountered in this first phase, equipment physical attributes, etc.)
To achieve a true “digital twin”, the model created must be connected to existing objects using technologies that allow the two systems (real and virtual) to constantly interact and exchange information in real time.
By harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things, it is possible to interconnect devices and equipment to a digital twin. Therefore collecting relevant data that is then transformed into easy-to-understand information on dashboards and visualizations.
The visual representation of data provided by digital twins is fundamental. Mainly because it supports asset managers in carrying out their activities when:
- identifying assets’ behavioral patterns;
- detecting potential anomalies and issues;
- activating rule-based actions;
- predicting various operations results.
Interaction between Digital Twin and existing resources
How the digital twin benefits asset management
Digital twins offer numerous opportunities of use in asset management and numerous benefits, such as:
- providing accurate and up-to-date information on equipment’s performance;
- storing data in one place;
- helping to reduce required maintenance time and costs;
- improving assets operation by reducing unplanned downtime;
- optimizing interventions planning and scheduling;
- improving safety and minimizing unexpected risk failures or malfunctions;
- providing an accurate forecast of future maintenance needs;
- enabling organizations to improve the quality and performance of their products.
As you may have noticed, digital twins are indispensable to implement really efficient asset management processes.
Try immediately to optimize your work with a tool to manage and monitor the digital twins of buildings and infrastructures in real time. Thanks to the potential of this tool you will be able to track and manage all your assets in the facility with the utmost simplicity. Taking advantage of all the information within the facility management software you’ll be able to plan and monitor maintenance interventions, analyzing your equipment performance.
