The Industrial Metaverse is a real thing and it will transform the way you work
Highly-optimized businesses are able to function seamlessly amid the physical and virtual worlds, writes Simon Bennett, Global Head of Research at AVEVA
We are living amid times of great change. Global factors such as political unrest, economic inflation and the ongoing war in Ukraine are stoking market volatility. What’s more, these pressing factors are playing out against the stark backdrop of climate change. The global effort to reduce carbon emissions is making progress, but continuous pressure must be applied in order to meet challenging targets in line with the Paris Agreement.
Fresh from COP27 Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt the message from business and civil society leaders is clear. It is time for action if we are to deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We need to work collaboratively and relentlessly to halve global emissions by 2030, and many companies are rapidly diversifying their energy portfolios, divesting their higher carbon emitting businesses and transitioning to greener power supplies, and renewable options.
To add complexity to the challenge however, most nations do not yet have an energy mix which can rely solely on renewable energy sources. As such, traditional fossil burning techniques are still necessary to plug the energy shortfall. Global businesses are now working overtime to develop sustainability strategies which promote the right balance of future investments and existing profit targets.
AVEVA believes that one of the key drivers of a successful sustainability strategy is a strong and committed digitization strategy. Those organizations who heavily fund their move to a completely digital business are creating a strategic differentiator; they are able to deliver their services more efficiently with greater insight into their business operations. At the heart of a mature digitization strategy lies the Digital Twin – a connected data ecosystem which allows the business to have a single source of the truth.
The creation and delivery of a digital twin is no small feat. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-world physical system that connects real-time data sources, models and analytics from across the asset lifecycle in one single place. AVEVA customers who have successfully executed their Digital Twin projects will attest to the huge benefits and positive change that a fully digitized business can offer.
One example is state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). The energy giant‘s colossal industrial operations are powered and guided the Panorama Digital Command Center – a fully integrated, real-time data visualization platform that helps gain insights, unlock efficiencies, and identify new pathways to optimize operations. AVEVA’s technologies form the foundation of the display, enabling integration across various systems and providing actionable insights. The Panorama center features a 50-metre long screen, which curves to fit seamlessly with the wall and covers its height from floor to ceiling, giving ADNOC a single, national view of their oil and gas assets and production.
Step into the Industrial Metaverse
Taking one more step into the future, AVEVA believes that the Industrial Metaverse is primed to add powerful sustainability benefits to the digital twin. But what is an Industrial Metaverse?
AVEVA defines an Industrial Metaverse as: “A persistent virtual environment allowing live collaboration across teams, agnostic of interface device, open to the full gamut of data sources and delivering role-based access to real-time operations data streams and up-to-date engineering data.”
The Industrial Metaverse is a virtual space that all employees can use to conduct their business and technical meetings. The Industrial Metaverse does not require a headset, can be used by a mouse and keyboard, and offers access to live SCADA data, up-to-date engineering data and 3D operating environments.
In short, the Industrial Metaverse is a virtual version of your actual operating assets with real-time streamed data which you can jump into with colleagues to investigate, discuss and manage tasking – all based on your digital twin.
Powerful digital sustainability benefits
The Industrial Metaverse provides immersive access to expertise from across your business and supply chain within a virtual space. This means you decrease the CO2 emissions generated by excessive travel, increase the speed of your business decision making, and reduce safety incidents within the virtual world.
In the coming years as the world’s businesses look to radically decarbonize, digital solutions will be the catalyst for securing new sustainability wins. Smart companies will place their digitization strategies at the core of their business to prime themselves for a sustainable future driven by smart decision making and intelligent data.
AVEVA also sees great opportunities for more sustainable designs, reduced steel and concrete consumption and more automation for plant operations based on collaboration within virtual spaces. The Industrial Metaverse promotes democratization of access to the digital twin, respects your enterprise access rights and can level-up the value of information.
Being immersed in the Industrial Metaverse will be feel like the equivalent of being on-site, where you’ll be able to work with colleagues and suppliers from around the world, interacting with our assets, share the same information in real time and enjoy a level of collaboration that closely maps face-to-face interactions.
The digital twin project is ultimately an information-centric endeavor – focused on data alignment, cleaning, and preparation. Utilizing the digital twin within the Industrial Metaverse powerfully connects the most important resource of all: our people.
(The author is Mr. Shubham Mishra, Founder & CEO of TOAE Security Pvt. Ltd, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
