Lessons for Successful Digital Twin Implementation in Operations

Abstract

With significant excitement about digital twins in industry, there is often far too much emphasis put on the technology – overlooking the fact that it is just one ingredient in a successful digital transformation. This paper will present an approach to planning, implementing, and sustaining operational digital twins, that is designed to maximise the asset owner's return on investment by putting the necessary focus on the people, process, and data elements, as well as addressing the technology. A review of project lessons and industry findings will be presented to outline common challenges experienced during digital twin projects. Based on this, a structured digital twin methodology for operating assets has been designed to help address and overcome these challenges. The approach will enable asset owners to take a more holistic view of digital transformation using digital twins, enabling them to maximise the return on existing investments and drive lasting change – and value – through their asset operations. The digital twin methodology is delivered in three stages: advisory, implementation and value realisation. During the advisory phase, the vision, business outcomes, objectives and value drivers are defined. Working closely with operations teams, use cases for the digital twin are identified, screened, and grouped to form strategic initiatives. Initiatives are then developed to define the required investment and forecast return, before being prioritised and sequenced on a strategic roadmap. The implementation phase is performed using an agile, value-driven, and user-centric approach, which utilises a design-thinking process. Through each step, the people, process, technology, and data aspects are specifically considered and evaluated. During the value realisation phase the technology, data and associated business processes are maintained, and users are engaged to guide continuous improvement and future use case development. The ongoing benefits are tracked to support continued investment. Two detailed case studies will be presented to illustrate the digital twin methodology in practice, detailing the challenges faced, and the outcomes achieved.