While facility managers are still focused on maintaining buildings in the most efficient ways possible, they have new challenges and priorities. In addition to implementing a digital transformation strategy and execution for improved sustainability, occupant comfort, productivity, and physical-logical security, they need to adopt post-quarantine protocols that prioritize indoor air quality, space utilization, people tracking, and contact tracing.
— Jason Pelski, Director, Johnson Controls1
The world is swimming in data, but converting that into actionable information often remains more manual than automatic.
Industrial sites are multi-faceted – with physical properties and assets in varying conditions, networks of infrastructure and power flows to be optimised. Beyond assets and operations, facilities are affected by their environment as well as the organization and business itself.
Benefits of digital twins
Non-quantified results included elimination of unplanned service visits, improved reliability and asset lifetime, OPEX and CAPEX savings.2
30% reduction
in aeration energy, saving 1.2m Kwh while delivering water quality
$400m+
CAPEX savings
80% reduction
in combined sewer overflows
€100m saved
by avoiding detailed assessments followed by structural work
€100m+ saved
by avoiding refurbishment of the main water distribution system
40% reduction
in inspection scopes, each costing up to €200,0003
50% improvement
in sustainability
35% improvement
in optimization
20% improvement
in productivity
15% improvement
in space utilitzation4
The digital twin brings new ways of thinking; it reduces the complexity of the building and helps me assess decisions for its operation remotely.
— Renzo Salas, Dormeson5
Nextspace digital twins
Nextspace’s platform provides the data interoperability that brings multiple technologies together in one data model for analysis and visualisations to help teams understand complex situations at a glance—more informed and faster decision making.
Challenges to digital twin ROI
Lack of strategy. Unclear business cases and metrics.
Future beneficiaries of the digital twin are not involved.
Data quality—accuracy, completeness, consistency.
Limited buy-in, adoption and integration into the business process.
Perception of cost to deploy and scale.
Applications of digital twins to Facility Management
Adoar Espania Slioa’s comprehensive Master’s Thesis at the School of Engineering in Jönköping, Sweden, identifies a facility management digital twin system as comprising three parts—BIM, IoT, and the digital twin. A flow of IoT data from physical sensors being analysed before flowing back to the physical asset as control feedback.
The paper outlines several benefits of digital twins applied to Facility Management. Each of the features below has at least one reference paper attached to it.6
Air quality
- CO2 level monitoring
- CFD simulations and measures CO2 level
Comfort
- Allows occupants to provide feedback for comfort
- Maintain comfort levels
- Monitors comfort levels
- What to monitor to improve comfort
Cost savings
- DT cleaning schedules save costs
- VAV Dampener control
- Decrease renovation costs
- Costs and scalability between sensors
- Digital twin cost vs benefit risk
- Post occupancy evaluation optimize implementation cost
Energy saving
- Predict weather, occupancy prediction control over VAV
- Aims to decrease net primary energy usage
Energy monitoring
- Decreases time for deep energy audits
- Monitors energy consumptions
Energy performance
- Monitor energy consumption
- Energy consumption and saving
- LEED criteria and energy monitoring
Error detection
- Detect errors through performance variations in components
- Detects building condition, rating the maintenance urgency
Experience feedback
- Collects from feedback
- Emotion detection software
- Indoor environmental quality
Occupant detection
- Detects occupants for spatial proximity
- What sensors are used
Occupant prediction
- Predicts occupants
Predictive maintenance
- Uses historical data to detect faults in Air handling units
Room experience
- Monitor luminance
- Monitors glare, daylight simulation
Thermal comfort
- Evaluate thermal comfort and proximity
- Thermal monitoring
- VR thermal comfort visualization
BIM vs digital twins for Facility Management
BIM modelling was often touted as a route to better facility management. A computer model acted as a digital as-built model, replacing paper. However BIM was never designed to be a facility management tool.
Cloud-based digital twins offer many advantages:8
By transferring a BIM model into a cloud platform, all stakeholders can be integrated.
Better manage increasing complexity and incorporating new technologies, relevant to building operations but outside of the BIM scope.
Current status of an installation and its geospatial data available real time.
An integrated digital database for all stakeholders and cross-company networking along the entire building lifecycle.
A data-based tailor-made quotation for building-specific services.
Clear requirements that lead to targeted preparation and qualification of employees.
Remote analyses leading to increased process efficiency.
A comprehensive service history detailing all activities.8
BIM is a siloed tool, and never really created very well to be used by multiple parties or multiple data points. BIM is really a tool to get design and construction done better. Since a building changes every single day, facility managers need a tool to change with it.
— Jacob D’Albora, Director of Digital Building Operations, VIATechnik
By capturing and synchronizing data at a specified frequency and fidelity from various sources, you can visualize how your building has been performing, what is happening now, and what may happen in the future. You can use digital twins to break siloes in your projects. You can leverage it to convert your data to knowledge and support transforming the knowledge from one project to another.
— Mehdi Nourbakhsh, CEO, YegaTech9
Industries
When implemented correctly, digital twins deliver significant ROI. This is why more industries are building digital twins into their core asset and operational management processes.
Our platform
Data-first digital twins built on Nextspace are customizable and extensible. Our platform helps you integrate, federate, and futureproof valuable data.
Recommended reads
There’s so much information out there, so we’ve collected our favourites
By
Mike Bacidore
for
Control Design
An interview with Aurelien Le sant, CTO Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric
By
Damodar Mangalwedhe
for
Acuvate
This short article provides a quick read introduction to digital twins applied to the oil & gas industry.
By
Barbara Frei
for
Schneider Electric
An interview with Kaishi Zhang focused on data interoperability relating to industrial automation
By
ANZLIC
for
ANZLIC – Australia New Zealand Land Information Council
An overview of the drive for consistent principles for digital twins for the built and natural environments in Australia and New Zealand, with several useful links – including to the Principles themselves
By
Maurizio Bevilacqua, Eleonora Bottani, Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica, Francesco Costatino, Luciano Di Donato, Alessandra Ferraro, Giovanni Mazzuto, Andrea Monteriu, Girogia Nardini, Marco Ortenzi, Massimo Paroncini, Marco Pirozzi, Mario Prist, Elena Quatrini, Massimo Tronci, Giuseppe Vignali
for
MDPI
The paper proposes a reference model for risk control and prevention using a digital twin.
By
Xylem content team
for
Xylem
A case study from Xylem with quantified ROI from the implementation of Xylem smart wastewater technology for the City of South Bend, Indiana.
