Digital Twin

Today, thanks to the exponential growth in the potential of digital technologies, for the first time in history we have the ability to create not just “models”, but fully fledged digital copies of reality: Digital Twins, dynamic representations of physical objects, systems, processes or people based on gathering and processing an enormous quantity of data in real time. A Digital Twin allows a company and its managers to reduce costs, increase product and process efficiency and, as a consequence, improve business performance, at the same time representing a key ally in the path towards a zero-environmental impact society. What are the potential impacts of this technology on the competitiveness of the country as a whole?

To answer these questions, Lutech, alongside The European House – Ambrosetti, carried out a study to highlight the impacts of Digital Twin technologies.

They are the direct and indirect consequences of systemic application of improvement predictive models of the current economic, social and industrial activities. The research took into consideration the impacts of over 60 already consolidated use cases for Digital Twins, therefore their current use in the production sector and in corporate departments, in smart buildings and smart homes, in networks, and within the scope of research and development, processing the information of over 130,000 financial statements and 4 million data points.

According to the study, systematic use of Digital Twins, in the various production sectors and technological fields of application, would lead to a structural increase in Italy’s GDP of 12 billion Euros (+0.7%), thanks also to a 4.5% enhanced productivity of the manufacturing sector, and a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 30 megatonnes of CO2 (-7.3% of CO2 emissions in Italy compared to 2021 and 23% of the total emissions that Italy needs to eliminate by 2030), as well as a cut of between 16% and 33% in Italy’s total national energy bill.

Lutech Group is able to provide a series of enablers and accelerators in the development of digital twins including HPC, Cybersecurity, AI, AoT, and Machine Learning, and develops conceptual models for the application lifecycles, customer management, and everything involving the automation of operations, first and foremost predictive maintenance.

In the telco sector, digital twins are implemented from the physical point of view such as management systems, infrastructure, and in process terms: management of the quality of the planning processes services and creation of the networks and processes relative to the product lifecycle.

In the manufacturing field, Digital Twins have been used for some time, both in the design phase of discrete products and for continuous processes, as well as for the simulation of procurement, production and assembly, implementation, performance assessment, and refinement processes. The goals are not just reducing the time to market, by moving a large part of the design phase to the digital realm, but also and above all to allow continuous evolution of the products and production chains, with the goal of streamlining and reducing costs. For example, it is possible to design a mechanical component, even a highly complex one, and verify its operation, where necessary enhancing the simulation with historical data of real behavior or 2D/3D graphical representations which are able to provide an advanced visual representation of the component and its behavior. It is also possible to create models which allow for the monitoring and simulation of continuous production processes, for example varying the lot size, components used, and sequence of operations.

In Public Administration Bodies within the scope of long and complex processes, which require various stages with human operatives, the Digital Twin concept, applied to the process and the organization, allows a digital abstraction of the processes to be created using Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence to simulate human behavior in the management of processes or procedures aimed at carrying out a given task (for example analysis of hardcopy requests and implementation of services or the implementation of highly complex services, since they impact different players and different corporate areas).

For an important client in the Postal Services field, Lutech implemented a Service Desk to automate a range of different procedures.

Application of Digital Twins in the Energy & Utilities field involves numerous fields of application:  

• Monitoring and control of systems: Digital Twins can be used to monitor and control energy production and distribution systems, allowing operators to detect any problems in real time and intervene in a timely manner. 
• Simulation and optimization of processes: Digital Twins can be used to simulate energy production and distribution processes, allowing operators to test out various strategies and find the most efficient solution to reduce costs and improve efficiency. 

• Predictive maintenance: Digital Twins can be used to predict maintenance issues before they occur, allowing operators to intervene in advance and thus reduce downtime and improve system availability. 
• Integration of renewable energy sources: Digital Twin can be used to predict and mitigate the effects of renewable energy sources on the energy distribution network, allowing operators to effectively and efficiently integrate these new technologies into their existing infrastructure. 
• Education and training: Digital Twins can be used to train staff on energy production and distribution processes, allowing them to gain the necessary expertise to effectively manage the systems. 
• Environmental monitoring: Digital Twins can be used to monitor the environmental impact of energy production and distribution systems, allowing operators to identify and mitigate potential negative environmental impacts.

Lutech Group’s experience in these areas covers a wide range of use cases.

• A Digital Twin of the distribution network was created for a major gas distribution operator, with the goal of increasing the visibility and knowledge of the network, to streamline the maintenance process and significantly reduce operating costs. The system was created with the incorporation of monitoring and control systems, pipeline protection, and management of intelligent meters. This allowed the creation of a system providing a 360-degree view of the use of the network, with the ability to apply remote monitoring and predictive analysis for consumption and faults. 
• Digital Twin projects are currently in the implementation phase for some major Italian multi-utility companies operating in the electricity distribution field. These are intended to improve the operational efficiency of the network, which involves a reduction in operating costs and fines imposed by the authorities. An advanced representation of the network was created, using “Common Information Model” techniques and fault isolation systems, evaluation of the network status and voltage regulation, also allowing for different configurations of the network itself. In other cases, digital models designed to model and simulate network imbalances are being analyzed in order to identify and simulate fault locations and rebalancing strategies.
• Within the scope of electricity transmission, Digital Twins, when applied to network operations, allow for a reduction in the analysis times and evaluation of the electrical risk, through the implementation of decision support systems based on integrating field data (substations, lines, generation systems) with corporate and external data (weather forecasts, energy trading).