December 2022CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8CIO InsightsCXO InsightsIn My Viewdigital twin describes the process and technology to have a complete digital representation of a physical product.The definition, use cases, and benefits of digital twins have been continually evolving. Just as one can easily update, modify, and publish a digital document, the concept of a digital twin for the manufacturing and operation of physical products is to allow quick and agile updating, modifying, and production of these products. A digital twin makes perfect sense for a company that produces a product completely in-house and then has a direct connection to the operational use of that product.Unfortunately, that is rarely the case, and the more common scenario is AThe Digital Twin and the Supply ChainROBERT YANCEY, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, HEXCEL CORPORATIONa supply chain to produce the product which is then sold into the market with limited connection to its operations.A typical supply chain for a physical product might consist of raw materials, engineered materials, engineered components, and assembly before selling the product into the market. A pure digital twin model would have all of the data for the entire production of the product. In this scenario, the digital twin should contain specific details of each part of the process. The challenge is that some of the data needed might be considered proprietary by different supply chain participants. For example, engineered materials will have proprietary formulations of raw materials that will not be shared with others in the supply chain, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), or the customer of the finished product. Those creating engineered components will likely have proprietary manufacturing processes that they will not allow to be shared outside of their company.Given the constraints on access to proprietary data, it is important to define what data is needed to achieve benefits of a digital twin approach while protecting proprietary data of the supply chain. Each member of the supply chain will likely want to acquire and track all of the data that pertains to their part of the process but then share only portions of that data with their customer. There may be scenarios where one part of the supply chain needs access to some proprietary data from another part of the supply chain, but that data is not needed by all parts of the supply chain.The issue then becomes how to share the needed data while protecting that data from others. Also, there can be competitive concerns. Robert Yancey
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