Digital twins are rapidly becoming an ever-more integral technology as businesses across all sectors push toward emissions cuts and sustainability objectives, with 34% of organisations having already implemented the tech, a new report from digital transformation consultancy Capgemini has found.
Digital twin of car manufacturing on the Siemens stand at Messe fair in Hannover, Germany, April 2018. Credit: Alexander Tolstykh / Shutterstock
A digital twin of car manufacturing on the Siemens stand at Messe fair in Hannover, Germany, April 2018. Credit: Alexander Tolstykh / Shutterstock
The ‘Digital Twins: Adding Intelligence to the Real World' report also revealed that 60% of organisations that had already invested in the technology said that sustainability was one of the key drivers for the investment.
A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system that can be used to simulate, monitor, analyse and continually optimise its real-world counterpart, acting as a digital testing ground. It functions as a tool for experimentation with different scenarios and to assess the potential impact of new decisions without having a real-world impact. The tech can help businesses lower costs, improve safety in the workplace and improve time to market.
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In terms of sustainability, digital twins are increasingly being used for better utilisation of resources, reductions in carbon emissions and optimisation of supply chains and transportation networks.
The new Capgemini report also predicts that the implementation of the technology is set to increase by 36% over the next five years, suggesting there is a fast-growing appetite for digital twinning tech across all major industry sectors including automotive, energy, aerospace, and life sciences, as businesses look to accelerate their digital transformations.
Organisations surveyed in the report said that the main two factors in digital twin investments were cost-saving benefits (79%) and technological advancement (77%).
Capgemini also found that 57% of organisations believed that digital twin tech is vital for improving sustainability efforts, itself a reflection of the growing trend in business of all kinds to deliver on Environmental Social Governance (ESG) agendas.
The report also found that the consumer goods and energy and utilities sectors were leading the way in terms of implementation of the digital twins for sustainability purposes, at 52% and 50% respectively.
Those that have already implemented the tech are seeing an average improvement of 16% in sustainability metrics, the report claimed.
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"By bridging the ‘physical-digital’ gap, digital twins help organisations to unlock value, bring synergies across data, technologies, and business processes, and are at the core of Intelligent Industry transformation", said Roshan Gya, Global Head of Intelligent Industry at Capgemini.
"Digital Twins offer a unique opportunity for organisations looking to accelerate their journey towards intelligent operations while increasing profitability and enabling a sustainable future".
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