Enhancing Supply Chain Operations Using IoT and Digital Twin
used in such complex scenarios . The Twin of Twins is a concept where the net digital twin consists of multiple digital twins , each focusing on a specific domain . In this case a cyber security digital twin would help to capture the leading indicator of security vulnerability and feed to the aggregate digital twin .
Such Twin of Twins can help to mitigate or reduce the impact of disruptions by providing early warning of potential problems and evaluating different scenarios to overcome the impact after the fact . The airline industry often has to recover from massive flight disruptions when blizzards lead to flight cancellations during a busy holiday . Such solutions , which focus on restoring flights to minimize the overall impact to thousands of stuck airline passengers , can be repurposed to apply to recover from SCM crises such as those posed by Ever Given or Colonial Pipeline .
While the technology ingredients such as platforms and tools are available , designing and deploying solutions in real-world scenarios is challenging and requires an ecosystem approach . The work done by consortia like Industry IoT Consortium ( IIC ) and Digital Twin Consortium ( DTC ) is commendable in bringing the different stakeholders together , to solve such problems collectively . We recommend looking at the below related IIC testbeds :
• Industrial Digital Thread Testbed
• FOVI Testbed
• Track and Trace Testbed
The above testbeds provide the building blocks that can be used to build the supply chain process solution using IoT and digital twins . 1
4 SOLUTION APPROACH
Another example to illustrate the power of IoT and digital twin in supply chains is the aviation industry , first from the passengers and airline perspective and then tracing it to the aviation manufacturers and the associated supply chain system . Supply chain operations are critical in that industry where aircraft require extremely high levels of reliability . Any unscheduled downtime in the airline industry results in a high cost and disturbance to flight schedules causing disruptions to passenger journeys and plans .
One of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world , Boeing , uses digital threads to connect and streamline data throughout the entire life cycle of its aircraft . Digital threads could be created by combining the digital twins at the different stages of the lifecycle of a product such as an aircraft . By integrating sensors across their factories , Boeing gains near real-time insights into inventory requirements and operational bottlenecks . Furthermore , they leverage artificial
1 https :// www . iiconsortium . org / test-beds /
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