By Sarah Nicastro, Creator, Future of Field Service

It’s exciting to see more service organizations rolling out remote service initiatives, but a technology that is still in its nascent stages with the potential to have big implications when it comes to service is digital twins. 

A digital twin is a digital representation of a specific physical object that can be updated in real time via data received from its real-world counterpart. For field service veterans, that probably sounds a lot like the Internet of Things (IoT), and that's a pretty good assessment of where things stand in most industries – but digital twins can take that concept a lot farther.

Digital twins link together IoT technology, simulation, modeling, analytics and big data advancements to create full digital versions of real-world things (from consumer electronics and car parts to entire airplanes and even factories). Conceivably, the digital twin can provide a real-time, virtual view of how an asset is operating in its environment as a 3D model. What's more, that model can be manipulated in a virtual environment, which is where things can get pretty interesting from a service perspective.

Scenarios Where Digital Doppelgangers Prove Useful

For predictive maintenance, digital twins can provide accurate data about actual usage which can make it easier to manage scheduled maintenance and repairs before failures happen. Companies are already doing this with sensors and direct connections to customer equipment but serialized digital twins can give you a more granular view of these assets.

For manufacturers and third-party service organizations, digital twins can open up the possibility of offering better lifecycle support contracts. And because digital twins are asset specific, service organizations can do a better job of scheduling service based on actual utilization. Digital twins can also provide a much better understanding of how equipment is functioning over time, and that data can be fed into product lifecycle management or asset performance management applications to create better recommendations around not just service, but installation and even design.

There are already major software vendors linking together CAD, service, and enterprise data management applications to help close that design-service loop so that design engineers can improve next-gen products based on feedback from field technicians. 

Because digital twins are a full-scale virtual model of an asset, they can possibly create some new applications that can make service easier and more effective, too. Using simulation tools, you could perform virtual repairs and see, with fairly high accuracy, what effect they may have on the actual equipment. Even with a technician on site, a more experienced engineer can view what's happening in the digital twin as the on-site tech performs tests and repairs and offer remote guidance or feedback.

All these potential service applications for digital twins are even more valuable for remote assets – offshore oil and gas equipment, mining equipment, cell towers, etc. From a diagnostic and even repair standpoint, being able to have this real-time view into specific pieces of equipment can save multiple truck rolls. In some industries, those truck rolls cost thousands of dollars each, so the savings can be significant. 

While a lot of this is still future state, it’s interesting to see the potential that exists. A lot of legacy equipment may never have enough sensors or connectivity to work under this model, but a lot of new products do. BMW even leveraged some technology from NVIDIA to build a full virtual model of an entire factory – before it even broke ground. They did so to iron out any potential kinks before construction, but the same model can be tied to the actual factory once it's built for maintenance and monitoring purposes. 

While digital twin deployment is still relatively low the continued shift toward more digital, more connected service models give these virtual representations of actual machines an increasingly important role to play. If you have thoughts (or experiences!) about digital twins and service/maintenance applications, feel free to send them my way.