Industrial digitalisation: A smarter, more sustainable future (Part 2)
Author : Dr Timo Kistner, NVIDIA
16 October 2024
By embracing the opportunities offered by industrial digitalisation, organisations can drastically reduce downtime, scale operations to meet fluctuating demands, and use analytics for deeper insights and better defect detection.
Embracing industrial digitalisation
With long-term goals in mind, manufacturing organisations are fusing the virtual world with physical systems, to simplify processes, tighten up operations, and create realistic environments. Take Continental, a leading German automotive technology company. Continental collaborated with SoftServe to develop Industrial Co-Pilot, an AI-powered virtual agent to help engineers streamline manufacturing workflows.
By developing solutions on NVIDIA Omniverse and OpenUSD, Continental enables engineers to enhance productivity and efficiency on the factory floor. By integrating immersive 3D visualisation technologies, the Industrial Co-Pilot allows for real-time monitoring and management of production lines, facilitating a deeper understanding of operational dynamics and enabling prompt and effective decision-making.
The Industrial Co-Pilot, currently in its pilot phase at Continental, is expected to reduce maintenance effort and downtime by 10 percent once it’s in production. OpenUSD provides the flexibility needed for such digital transformations and ensures seamless integration across various tools and disciplines, enhancing collaboration and innovation. This collaboration between SoftServe and Continental highlights the enormous potential of digital technologies to transform industrial operations in the automotive industry.
Redefining factory logistics
BMW Group is at the forefront of this conversation - building and operating industrial digitalisation applications across its global production network. Last year, the automaker launched its first fully virtual factory for an EV plant set to start real-world operations in 2025. Using a suite of applications developed on NVIDIA Omniverse, logistics and production planners leverage different data sources to help factory planners gain an immersive experience and an understanding of the actual status of the planning process.
The automaker has also invested in robotics to redefine factory logistics. Faced with managing a production line that assembles 10,000 cars daily, the company adopted the NVIDIA Isaac robotics platform to build solutions that enable BMW to streamline manufacturing processes. To handle the logistics of receiving 30 million parts daily from 1,800 suppliers across 31 factories efficiently, BMW deployed a fleet of autonomous mobile robots. Advanced motion planning, object detection, and pose estimation enable autonomous navigation and logistics optimisation.
Meticulous preparation in the virtual world guarantees that the robots operate at peak performance in actual manufacturing scenarios. With this integration, the automaker has equipped its production lines to handle multiple car models in any sequence, ensuring parts arrive when and where needed.
Robotics and automation contribute significantly to increasing productivity, reducing errors, and ensuring safety and reliability in a factory setting. Organisations that embrace these technologies gain a competitive advantage by improving operational efficiency, enhancing collaboration, and making data-driven decisions.
Companies like SyncTwin, Hexagon, and Ascon Systems are also driving industrial digitalisation using advanced technologies such as Omniverse, OpenUSD, and generative AI. SyncTwin uses the OpenUSD framework to help customers create accurate factory replicas; Hexagon provides enterprises with AI-enabled synchronisation tools; and Ascon Systems' Industrial Metaverse Portal optimises production. By integrating sophisticated virtual models into their infrastructure, these organisations are paving the way and equipping others to transform entire industries.
By staying at the forefront of technological advancements, manufacturers can adapt to changing market demands, optimise their processes, and deliver superior products and services. It’s essential for organisations to invest in research and development, training, and infrastructure to leverage these advanced technologies effectively and ensure their long-term success in a constantly changing landscape.
Sustainability, powered by technology
Sustainability is a key focus for the manufacturing industry, with advanced technologies augmenting manufacturing practices. Virtual design and simulation tools allow manufacturers to create and test product prototypes in a physics-based virtual world before production starts. This process reduces material waste by precisely calculating required materials and minimises environmental impact. It also improves energy efficiency by enabling the analysis and optimisation of energy use across production stages, leading to significant energy savings in physical production.
Industrial digitalisation isn’t just about making things better, faster, or cheaper – it's about making them smarter. The future of industrial innovation is here, and it's virtually unlimited. Manufacturers must continue to embrace digitalisation to better manage supply and demand while contributing to a greener future. The organisations leading the charge will be the ones using the latest technologies across the value chain to drive productivity, improve resilience, and be more sustainable.
Part 1 of this article may be found here.
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