Real-World Examples of How Digital Twins Streamline Asset Management

Effective asset management can see a facility running smoothly, safely, and efficiently. But, this is easier said than done. Whether you’re managing ten facilities or one, a sound asset management approach is critical. Digital twins for asset management can make a world of difference.

As a facility manager, you’re constantly juggling numerous tasks, trying to stay on top of valuable equipment, and dealing with people management as well. All of this makes it difficult to have “eyes on the ground.” But digital twins for asset management can allow you to be in numerous places at once.

First, let’s take a look at where this technology is headed, and then how it can make a difference through real-world examples.

The future of digital twins in asset management

Digital twins, like those from Matterport, are a digital model from a physical space or object in rich detail. And unlike a traditionally 3D-modeled object, they’re created using the actual geospatial area and images of a site. This has made them popular for 3D modeling of homes and worksites. But, the technology and use cases are both growing rapidly.

• The 2023 global digital twin market is valued at $12.91 billion. 

• It's predicted that 35% of G2000 companies will use digital twins in supply chain orchestration by 2027.

The market value and predicted use for digital twins aren’t sheer happenstance. Digital twins can help create a safer and more efficient space by providing rich detail for asset managers.

• Health and safety rank as a top priority for facility managers in 2023.

• Improved efficiency is the second-largest concern for facility managers as of 2023.

As digital twin technology continues to expand in capabilities and affordability, its use will only grow. But, how can this technology make a difference?

How can digital twins improve asset management?

Digital twins provide true-to-life recreations of spaces and objects. Unlike traditional modeled items or spaces, or physical drafts of spaces, digital twins bring numerous unique benefits to asset management as a result.

Enable predictive maintenance

The Internet of Things, or IoT, enables devices to be connected and communicate with one another via cloud-based sensors. Facility managers are using this real-time data for daily operations and decision-making. When you create a digital twin of the environment that houses those devices, like a factory floor, or boiler room, you have a virtual replica to reference alongside the asset data, helping to inform operations. 

With this real-time and historical data integrated into your 3D digital twin, you can build a predictive maintenance plan that accounts for the physical environment, such as space constraints or risks getting to and from the service area. This ensures equipment is well-serviced before failure, and ultimately better your overall maintenance strategy.

For example, with the Matterport and AWS TwinMaker integration, you could have digital twins of an entire assembly line. From there, you could view real-time data on your dashboard alongside the context of the real space, to quickly interpret insights and troubleshoot. This also allows you to optimally plan service before disruptive or even catastrophic failure, which can result in even costlier maintenance.

Reduce downtime

Just as digital twins enable predictive maintenance, they also allow you to reduce downtime. Even someone who's remote from the facility is able to monitor asset performance via IoT, like current temperature or RPM. They’re able to identify and plan service for things before complete failure, without requiring boots on the ground or facility familiarity. The visual context becomes invaluable. 

Catastrophic failure of a device or piece of equipment can result in extensive, drawn-out maintenance or having to replace the equipment completely. In either event, you’re looking at more downtime than simply servicing the device.

Optimize performance

Getting the most out of any device or equipment is a goal of many facility managers. But, when you’re not actively on the ground and checking each station, this is difficult to do.

With digital twins and IoT connectivity, you can remotely monitor the performance of every station and complete workflow. This allows you to determine if devices or spaces are being used to the fullest potential, if certain devices are holding up workflows, or if certain areas are a cause of frequent maintenance.

Improved sustainability efforts

Digital twins allow you to check overall energy use and efficiency, both of your individual devices or pieces of equipment, and in workflows or entire facilities. This opens the door to improved sustainability efforts, as you’re able to determine which pieces are impacting your carbon footprint the most.

And, by focusing on inefficient equipment, you’re able to replace problematic devices and reduce energy use. This not only helps with sustainability, but also allows you to reap long-term savings on energy costs.

Enhance decision making

Extracting insights from real-time data is everything when it comes to strategic decision-making. Unfortunately, this is difficult to do unless you’re on the ground, monitoring each device.

With digital twins and IoT connectivity, you can benefit from enhanced decision-making across the board. For instance, you can quickly assess possible causes of stations or assets that aren’t performing as well as hoped by viewing physical and spatial factors around them. Or, when alerted to data from various feeds, immersively review the complete physical environment for remote and immediate troubleshooting.

Digital twins and IoT devices also allow you to accumulate historical data. With this historical data, you can look for trends, identify weaknesses or shortcomings, and streamline workflows and devices for true operational efficiency. For example, older performance data, paired with a 3D scan, compared with newer data and an updated scan after a layout change. The decision-making process and validation work become more complete with the historical data and physical environment as two parts of a whole.

All of this allows you to make more informed decisions and deliver a more optimized experience that even benefits your workers.

Improve asset lifecycle management

One of the core benefits of effective asset and facility management is improving the overall longevity of your devices and equipment. With digital twins and the detailed asset information they provide, like size, visual condition, and even serial tags, you can stay on top of maintenance, use devices in the most optimal spots, and ultimately improve their longevity, all planned without the dependency of repeated site visits. 

Employee training

Employee training, depending on your industry or the type of devices you work with, can be difficult, expensive, and potentially dangerous. With digital twins, this doesn’t have to be the case.

For example, say you have a piece of equipment that’s dangerous to operate and frequently in use. Traditional training would require an employee trying the piece of equipment out, which comes with safety risks and prevents seasoned employees from using the equipment for work.

By creating a digital twin of that same equipment, you can have an employee virtually learn all there is to know about the device using the visualization. You can even use digital twins to create virtual and augmented reality experiences that allow for a more “hands on” learning experience, before they ever really touch the equipment.

3 practical examples of digital twins in asset management

Digital twins in asset management can take various forms, having an impact across nearly any industry. So, what do digital twins for asset management look like in reality? 

1. Northumbrian Water improved the efficiency of legacy asset management

Northumbrian Water, a utility provider in the United Kingdom, operates and maintains a large number of various wastewater assets. These assets are critical to their processes and the delivery of water.

Using Matterport Pro2 cameras, Northumbrian was able to capture rich images of existing structures and assets and turn them into digital twins. From there, they could integrate scans into Maximo using Matterport 3D Showcase SDK. This allowed them to have "site visits" even at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, they're able to accelerate initial project startup phases, manage legacy assets, and reduce site visits using digital twins.

2. JFC & Associates increased ROI by enhancing asset uptimes and lifetimes

JFC & Associates specializes in helping companies get the most out of their physical assets and any related operational activities. But, as the company scaled, they knew something had to be done to still deliver the service they were known for.

Using Matterport, JFC is able to deliver digital twins to their clients. This enables their clients to easily tap on a digital twin for any piece of equipment and access detailed information, and even initiate workflows.

JFC is even able to help clients with OSHA and safety-related matters using digital twins and sensors. Clients can map out exits, create fire routes, and train employees for the worst.

Matterport API and SDK partner tools are more cost-effective than many competing, more complicated tools. This has allowed JFC to realize better ROI and get new hires up to speed quicker as well.

3. CRB helped combat COVID-19 using digital twins

CRB is an engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting firm focused on sustainability. They largely serve biotech and pharma, two industries where efficiency and accuracy are critical.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of CRB's clients was involved with Operation Warp Speed. To help them get up and running as quickly and safely as possible, CRB implemented Matterport to capture spaces and create accurate digital twins. Instead of sending six to 10 engineers to the site, a process that took several days, they only needed one person to capture the space.

Now, post-pandemic, CRB is able to replicate this process with other clients. Their use of Matterport digital twins allows them to work remotely and collaborate, provide virtual tours to customers, and expedite project planning.