Asset performance management and digital twins get together.
What have Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) brought us? Data. Lots of it. Never before have we had so much data.
Think about the data generated by physical objects (the “things” in the Internet of Things) that capture information and share it in real time over the Internet or other communication networks. In industrial applications, this information needs to be monitored and used to gain insights into optimizing production processes. This data lets us quickly react to changes but, equally as important, it provides a record of operation that can be used for preventive and predictive maintenance.
As valuable as this data is, the sheer volume of it can be overwhelming. Those on the receiving end of this data struggle to handle it and keep up with it while still retaining a focus on the key metrics. In other words, how do you cut through the numbers to get a clear picture of what is happening?
To help engineers get the picture, GE Digital has entered into a technology partnership with Visionaize, a self-proclaimed leader in 3D digital twin technology. You can now get Visionaize’s V-Suite Starter, along with GE Digital’s APM Mechanical Integrity software.
About Visionaize
Visionaize’s expertise is in industrial plants and their related assets. The company has been in the business of digital laser scanning and 3D conversion services for over 20 years. With its services, you get a 3D model accurately representing a plant’s as-built conditions. Tack on Visionaize’s applications that apply AI to the data collected and you have a 3D picture. You are ready to unlock the information that the data contains.
“See it, model it, and understand future behavior,” it says on the Visionaize website.
The Visionaize platform forms an operational digital twin, which is a digital copy of a real-world physical asset that behaves similarly to the physical asset in key aspects. The operational digital twin consumes data and replicates processes. The digital twin can be used to simulate, test, monitor and maintain the real-world asset. Visionaize’s differentiates its digital twin on the basis of accuracy.
About GE Digital
GE Digital, a division of GE, supplies asset performance management (APM) software to manufacturing facilities and power and process plants. Its APM Mechanical Integrity platform aims to optimize efficiency across a company’s equipment and plants.
APM encompasses data capture, visualization and analytics to aid in managing assets. The recent trend toward the integration of digital technology and workflows can make good use of APM to improve the reliability and availability of physical assets.
“Our partnership with Visionaize brings an enhanced scalable templated capability to APM that accelerates implementation and simplifies replication across sites and reduces implementation costs,” said Linda Rae, general manager of GE Digital’s Power Generation and Oil & Gas business. “Incorporating this state-of-the-art visualization platform is valuable as asset-intensive companies mature in their operational use of digital twins.”
A Good Match
GE’s APM and Visionaize’s digital twin getting together makes sense. The strength of Visionaize’s V-Suite Starter is presenting asset information in 3D. GE Digital’s APM Mechanical Integrity platform is strong at optimizing asset performance, including managing data to predict and prevent failures. Bringing the two together means seeing the site (virtually and in 3D)—even before the crews set foot on it—and being able to truly understand the status of the assets in operation. This should lead to a host of benefits, including optimized maintenance programs and more efficient scheduling.
