What is a Digital Twin?
A Digital Twin is a virtual replica of one’s assets, systems, or processes for the purposes of analysis, optimization, or problem solving.
A digital twin can be a representation of physical component, engine, entire factory or even a supply chain. In relation to supply chain management, it can be used for solving supply chain challenges.
For digital twin analysis to be accurate and valuable in a supply chain context, it must model the entire end-to-end supply chain network in real time including every point of supply and every source of demand. It should not be a system separate from the business’s supply chain planning and execution system. The technology should be scalable to handle the large volumes of data involved today’s global supply chains. Data should be analyzed to include potentially thousands of SKUs, hundreds of sites and shipping points, and thousands of trading partners, such as suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, carriers, freight forwarders, customers, and retail stores.
Some digital twin solution providers offer capabilities by using separate simulation systems running on exported ERP and SCM systems data. This and the in-memory approach, in general, will not provide accurate optimal solutions because of data latency issues, and may not work as it could run ad infinitum due to architectural limitations.
One Network's Perspective on Digital Twins
We believe that your digital twin environment and your supply chain network are one in the same. Then you do not need to configure and support separate instances, and the underlying data used by your analytics/optimizers will always be accurate and up-to-date. Your digital twin is a current and accurate rendering of your assets and supply chain. And, you can run what-if scenarios, select the optimal plan, and immediately deploy it.
One Network Enterprises offers a network platform for real-time supply chain management. It provides a digital twin that is a sandbox and a natural extension of your supply network platform. It uses machine learning and AI algorithms to help organizations evaluate scenarios, recommend optimal decisions, and solve supply chain problems.
If your planning/operations platform and the digital twin are one and the same system, and aided by AI, they can help identify and solve problems across the network and across all time horizons. The problems, decision-support, and autonomous decision-execution can be strategic in nature (based on network options that will benefit you two years from now) or they can be problems expected to occur in the next few hours.
Digital Twin Resources
Webinar: Lean on Your Digital Twin to Optimize Supply Chain Performance
Learn how to apply prescriptive analytics to help you deliver the highest possible service levels at the lowest possible cost. Digital twins on a multiparty network alert you to problems sooner, provide better recommendations, and enable the execution of optimized solutions - all on a single platform.
Digital Twins as Part of Your Planning and Operations Platform
Your digital twin needs to be a sandbox extension of your supply network’s planning and operations platform – one that applies different statistical, ML and AI algorithms along with various workflow options to solve problems. Here’s why.
Supply Chain Networks: Think Upside Down
You need to stand conventional thinking on its head! The place to start is with the targeted business outcomes you want to achieve – namely delivering the “right product, at the right time, at the right quality, at lowest cost,” and then determine the supply network variables and flows required to achieve that optimal business result. Find out how One Network helps you achieve it.
Where Do Digital Twins Fit Into in the Supply Chain?
How to apply prescriptive analytics using your Digital Twin for the highest possible service levels at the lowest possible cost.
