A Digital Twin Case Study on Automotive Production Line

TLDR

Digital twin technology offers manufacturing benefits by integrating product development, sensor data capture, and real‑time simulation to identify issues before physical production. The study demonstrates the application of digital twin technology in the commercial production phase of an automotive production line through a comprehensive case study. The authors implemented a digital twin framework that captures simultaneous sensor data and processes it to simulate and validate each development cycle within the production line. The case study achieved a 6.01 % increase in production line efficiency and an 87.56 % reduction in downtime.

Abstract

The manufacturing sector is one of the areas where the advantages of digital twin technology can benefit mostly. The product development, including its software, electronics, mechanics, and physical behavior, is included in the digital twin of the product. Furthermore, simultaneous data capturing from the sensors and data processing are also available in the digital twin. This enables each phase of the development cycle to be simulated, processed, and validated to discover the potential problems before the production of real components. In this study, the use of digital twin technology in the commercial production phase of the automotive production line with a case study is introduced. This study is one of the most comprehensive studies in the literature related to automotive production; therefore, it puts forth the power of using digital twin technology in that area. As the result of this case study, a 6.01% increase in the commercial production line efficiency and an 87.56% gain for downtime are achieved.