The use of this site and the content contained therein is governed by the Terms of Use. When you use this site you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and that you accept and will be bound by the terms hereof and such terms as may be modified from time to time.
All text, graphics, audio, design and other works on the site are the copyrighted works of nasscom unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Content on the site is for personal use only and may be downloaded provided the material is kept intact and there is no violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. Any alteration of the material or use of the material contained in the site for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright of nasscom and / or its affiliates or associates or of its third-party information providers. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way for non-personal use without obtaining the prior permission from nasscom.
The nasscom Members login is for the reference of only registered nasscom Member Companies.
nasscom reserves the right to modify the terms of use of any service without any liability. nasscom reserves the right to take all measures necessary to prevent access to any service or termination of service if the terms of use are not complied with or are contravened or there is any violation of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right.
From time to time nasscom may supplement these terms of use with additional terms pertaining to specific content (additional terms). Such additional terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.
Disclaimer
The Company information provided on the nasscom web site is as per data collected by companies. nasscom is not liable on the authenticity of such data.
nasscom has exercised due diligence in checking the correctness and authenticity of the information contained in the site, but nasscom or any of its affiliates or associates or employees shall not be in any way responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person from any inadvertent error in the information contained in this site. The information from or through this site is provided "as is" and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any service or channel, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed. nasscom and its affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time, for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.
nasscom or its affiliates or associates or its employees do not provide any judgments or warranty in respect of the authenticity or correctness of the content of other services or sites to which links are provided. A link to another service or site is not an endorsement of any products or services on such site or the site.
The content provided is for information purposes alone and does not substitute for specific advice whether investment, legal, taxation or otherwise. nasscom disclaims all liability for damages caused by use of content on the site.
All responsibility and liability for any damages caused by downloading of any data is disclaimed.
nasscom reserves the right to modify, suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all sections, or service at any time without notice.
For any grievances under the Information Technology Act 2000, please get in touch with Grievance Officer, Mr. Anirban Mandal at data-query@nasscom.in.
Video sourced from @Prop-Art Studio's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Propartstudiosllc/featured
Are we far from this? ……not with the progress being made in Digital Twin Tech.
As industries aim to achieve efficiency in their processes, innovation, and a competitive edge, Digital Twins have emerged as a game-changer. They are transforming the world of manufacturing, providing real-time data that has eliminated redundancies, improved decision-making, and optimised supply chain processes. As a technophile overseeing the Digital Transformation of industry verticals at Cisco, I’ve had the chance to explore digital twins, how they are different from simulations, and the benefits they offer to industries, and these are my key insights. Before I get to that, let's get the definition right and differentiate it from simulators and modelling.
Defining a Digital Twin
A digital twin is a digital replica of a physical product, system, or process that serves as an indistinguishable virtual counterpart for practical purposes. Additionally, digital twins can be virtual replicas of physical devices such as assets, systems, or processes.
This description might sound like a simulation. Simulations and digital twins both utilise digital models to replicate a process. While simulations are model-based representations of technical processes and unit operations in software, a digital twin is a completely virtual environment that generates multitudes of data for engineering teams to analyse. The difference in scale between digital twins and simulations, along with the use of cutting-edge technologies such as AI and ML, provide a goldmine of data and information. This data is often used to fine-tune end products and optimise supply chain processes. Digital twins can run multiple simulations simultaneously and transmit data in real time.
Let’s now get to the insights:- Providing Real-world Real-time Scenarios in Manufacturing
While digital twins are being widely used in everything from healthcare to urban planning to power generation to real estate, they have found the fastest adoption rates in the manufacturing industry.They can be built for assets, production lines, raw materials, and pretty much the entire operational chain, to recreate real-world real-time scenarios. The inherent capability of a digital twin to automate data pulling, cleansing, structuring, and transforming, helps put valuable data into the hands of engineers. This eliminates the need for manual data manipulation and frees resources for innovation and market readiness.
Digital twins can be leveraged by any spoke of the manufacturing wheel, the early adopter industries are automotive, agriculture, aviation, consumer goods, healthcare and medical devices, and smart cities. Across these industries, digital twins are truly able to represent the product and production systems, leading to reduced time and cost associated with assembling, installing, and validating factory production systems.
A Vehicle for Massive ROI
Digital twins are sure-shot vehicles for organisational savings. A recent survey by market advisory firm ABI Research affirmed that cost benefits from the twins are upwards of $280 billion by 2030 in the implementation of smart cities, driven primarily by the design, plan, and implementation of connected infrastructure and assets. However, within manufacturing, car manufacturing businesses are the frontrunners in leveraging digital twins to reduce redundancies in design, leading up to cost savings to the tune of 41–54% globally. Moreover, industries that use metals for production are already saving half of their costs compared to legacy simulation methods. In short, every industry is either realising better profits or is en route to long-term cost savings by leveraging digital twins.
Three Steps to Initializing Digital Twins
A typical question that arises in the minds of CXOs and decision-makers of manufacturing businesses is how to kickstart a Digital Twin journey that is streamlined to their unique business needs. While each business needs to first identify the most critical aspect in the manufacturing life cycle that is most repetitive, time-consuming, and resource-reliant, a lot of businesses choose the McKinsey model.
This model looks at digital twins as a virtual representation of a physical asset, person or process, in order to achieve agile, flexible and resilient operations. McKinsey has essentially created a generic model for enterprises of all sizes, across business domains, and today it acts as the basic framework for any business that believes every process related to business can be replicated and connected virtually. McKinsey looks at digital twins as an integral part of the larger “enterprise metaverse”. In simpler words, the model helps businesses envision digital twins as a vehicle to maximize value and reusability while managing ownership and governance structures.
The model simplifies the process into three generic steps: creating a blueprint, building the base digital twin, and boosting capabilities. While the first step involves ideating the governance, ownership, and operational aspects of the twin, the second step mostly revolves around a platform that leverages future-ready technologies to manage both structured and unstructured data. Finally, one can add a data analytics layer that can help unlock insights that are relevant to the future of business.
Constructing a Digital Twin
This is getting a bit lengthy…but bear with me.
Beginning with defining the scope, you must first determine the physical system or object that you want to replicate and the level of detail that you need to include in the digital twin. Then, gather data from sensors, control systems, and other sources to create a digital representation of the physical system. This may involve using techniques such as computer-aided design (CAD), 3D scanning, or machine learning algorithms to capture and process the data.
Software tools such as simulation programs or specialised platforms for digital twins are then used to develop a virtual model of the physical system using the data collected. This digital twin then needs to be validated to verify that it accurately represents the physical system by comparing the behaviour of the virtual model to the actual system under different operating conditions.
This new digital twin can then be connected to other systems, such as control systems or data analytics platforms, to enable real-time monitoring and analysis. It is vital that the digital twin is continuously improved and updated as new or live data becomes available or the physical system changes to ensure it accurately represents the current state of the system.
Overall, building a digital twin requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines expertise in engineering, data analytics, software development, and system integration.
Building Infrastructure to Support Digital Twins
Digital twins have revolutionised the manufacturing industry, enabling businesses to leverage cutting-edge technologies and drive digital transformation. At the core of all simulation activity lies the IT network that powers it. By integrating the technological ethos of digital twins into the network, businesses can automate more processes and transform their operations.
But as digital twins evolve, they become increasingly essential in automating a growing number of processes. As such, they can bring about digital transformation to the core network infrastructure of the business, enabling businesses to leverage cutting-edge technologies to drive into the future. In order to achieve digital transformation through digital twins, two backend aspects of IT need to be watertight – Security and BI.
Strengthening Security and BI: Key to Digital Transformation
In a digital twin environment, huge amounts of data travel bilaterally between simulators and engineering teams. It is essential to ensure that the right people have access to the right data to prevent vulnerabilities that could prove catastrophic for businesses. Security in a digital twin environment is closely linked to applications and processes that drive the business intelligence aspects of the supply chain, making it vital to strengthen them.
Besides security, the digital twin technology stack primarily includes a data management and analytics platform, self-learning AI, robotics, and AR/VR, depending on the business need. BI flows across the enterprise to ensure maximum and relevant output, cost, and workforce optimization across the board.
Unlocking Data-Driven Insights for the Future of Manufacturing
Digital twins are the future of manufacturing. They amalgamate a wide range of future-tech technologies while unlocking data-driven insights. With the right security defence systems in place, digital twins can truly take businesses into the future. Digital twins enable businesses to leverage cutting-edge technologies and drive digital transformation. By integrating digital twins into the IT network, businesses can automate more processes and transform their operations to be the perfect fit for an actively evolving business future.
About the author:
Vinod Karumampoyil
Vinod Karumampoyil leads the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) for Cisco India & SAARC. He's also the Program Execution Leader for Cisco's flagship Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program. Vinod's charter includes but is not limited to, accelerating the national digitization agenda by building long-term relationships with leaders at the national level as well as in the industry and academia, strengthening mindshare, and increasing our footprint in the market.
Vinod and his team have been pivotal in providing solutions and driving our success across several verticals, especially Smart Cities, Agriculture, Transportation, e-Gov, and Utilities.
That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.
India experienced growth in the number of Gen AI startups in H1CY2024. It increased from 66+ in H1CY2023 to 240+ in H1CY2025. This growth has largely been responsible because of the excessive growth in pivoted Gen AI startups. Let us first…
2023 had seen a surge of interest in Large Language Models in India. This thriving curiosity was because of the mass level adoption of ChatGPT whose first version used GPT model. Experts stated that GPT 3.5 was largely trained on English language…
BFSI Sector Innovations 2024
Open Banking
Open banking facilitates secure data sharing between financial institutions and third-party providers using standardized APIs. This innovation reduces costs associated with maintaining legacy systems and…
The rapid evolution of technology is redefining the medical domain. We are witnessing a comprehensive revitalization of the entire spectrum, from pharma to medical devices. These changes are helping transform patient care and outcomes.
An area that…
The manufacturing landscape has undergone a transformative shift over the past two decades, evolving from manual labour-intensive processes to highly automated and intelligent operations. Let us explore the progression of manufacturing from…
A strong foundation builds a resilient structure that can withstand the tests of time and storms of change. Likewise, laying a solid software structure is the core and crux of building software applications or platforms. However, it is something…
