Digital twin and virtual warehouse commissioning

When a project involves significant CAPEX, time really is of the essence. Integrating digital twin technology into the customers’ warehouse management system from the beginning drastically reduces start-up costs and time, as well as improves efficiency throughout the system’s lifecycle.

Simulation from the start

“When a customer has a case involving complex material flows from production to dispatching, simulation is the first thing we do,” says Tony Leikas, CEO of Pesmel. Available data ranging from inputs to shipping and dispatching is fed into the Pesmel digitwin environment from the very start of a project. Analysis of the data lets the software illustrate an optimized physical form for the customer’s warehouse.

“The simulation is performed before any construction is carried out, right at the beginning of a warehousing project,” Tuomas Vuorenmaa, Pesmel ICT Engineering Manager, continues. “Based on the analysis, the warehouse management system WMS takes on a physical form such as the warehouse’s cranes, racking and conveyors that the customer can actually see. But the simulation gives information on the entire process.”

When the commissioning phase begins the WMS environment has already been represented virtually by the Digital Twin. One result of this is that the facility has in effect been operational before it has even been built. When manufacturing is up and running, the WMS is ready for production optimization.

“Code is already written and fully functional when start-up begins”

Tuomas Vuorenmaa, Pesmel ICT Engineering Manager

“The software is ready to handle complex material flows as soon as operational use begins,” says Vuorenmaa, “so the start-up time is very short, especially compared to earlier times when code would still have to be written at this point for the WMS. Now it’s already written and fully functional when start-up begins.”

Optimization without interruption

The fact that start-up time and costs are vastly reduced is extremely helpful. After the facility is operational the virtual environment persists, where testing and optimization can be safely performed without interruption to production.

“We don’t have to wait. Ten days can be simulated in a few hours.”

Tuomas Vuorenmaa, Pesmel ICT Engineering Manager

“When the virtual model is complete then we can be confident that we know how the actual system will perform. If the software works, the material flow will also work. We don’t have to wait for the physical warehouse to be full to understand how the process will work, for example. We can run the model beforehand at a much higher speed than in real life. Ten days can be simulated in a few hours,” Vuorenmaa explains.

A digital twin project offers many possibilities for both Pesmel and the customer. Data allows a level of business model experimentation and optimization that is unique for each project.

“Imagine a customer who plans to develop the supply chain,” says Tony Leikas, “who might want to check how their own logistics behave and interact with external logistics, and how their production can be supported. With complex material flows involving thousands of stock keeping units, trucks coming and going and so on, it’s too complex.  Traditionally, there have been separate simulation models for different phases, but now we handle all of it in the WMS.”

Upgrade the old, develop the new

The WMS and simulation software are a package that can equally be applied to old as well as newly constructed warehouses. Especially with warehouses that already have Pesmel material flow technology installed, it is relatively simple to optimize and develop the existing resources.

This is also a reflection of the fact that there are always certain elements of the WMS that are tailored to the customer, such as specific machinery, flow management, and desired analytics. “There is the software, and then there are our people who apply it to a specific project,” remarks Vuorenmaa.  “The software is fully developed and ready to be applied to a project, it’s only some company-specific variables that Pesmel employees need to take into account.”

Pesmel’s digital twin environment makes implementing large warehouse projects much faster and more reliable. Whereas in traditional material flow plans it can take months after start-up to optimize everything, with the digitwin the optimization is performed during the implementation phase.

“We had one project where we ran simulation for some months before start-up. Now, six months after operations began, we have not found very much we can further optimize,” Leikas says. “This means our simulation procedure is perfect and shows how far we have come in helping our customers manage large, complex flows and enjoy a fluent, reduced commissioning process. When we had a separate simulation and WMS there were always some hiccups, but now we create dependable, consistent material flows for our partners.”

A long-term digital vision

In the future, the digital twin model will demonstrate even more possibilities to access and make the most out of data. Pesmel are developing a circular data model whereby information obtained from different facilities can be collated, analyzed, and optimized.

“We have a long-term vision that includes artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and the digital ecosystem.”

Tony Leikas, CEO of Pesmel

“We can only imagine where the digital twin technology will be in the years to come,” remarks Leikas. “We have a long-term vision that includes effective use of artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and the digital ecosystem.”

“Our aim is that the digital twin will be present at the beginning of the warehouse commissioning process and at the end of its lifecycle some 50 years later. And all that data that we have collected in those years can be used to improve future operations,” he concludes.

Contact person

Tuomas Vuorenmaa, Pesmel ICT Engineering Manager
tuomas.vuorenmaa@pesmel.com