Simulation of Horizontal and Vertical Integration in Digital Twins

Abstract

Horizontal integration describes the linkage of processes to simplify the flow of materials and information between different corporations. Vertical integration describes the connection or merging of processes between top and shop floors inside the very same organization to enable comprehensive possibilities for optimization, allowing – virtually as side effect – for the customized production of batch size one orders.

Both fields offer interesting issues, for example how to gain insight into what kind of effects a possible transformation could have prior to conducting said transformation – maybe assembly of a new production line, reengineering of a supply chain or managing the change of a business process due to new market constraints. Alterations naturally come at a price, thus, testing the consequences by implementation is nearly always infeasible.

To lessen the cost of change, transformations can be analyzed using digital twins – by modelling real world machinery, work pieces and processes, then simulating them and their interaction.

The authors present a possibility to implement digital twins in arbitrary magnitude and level of detail. A web-based specification and simulation environment allows for modelling both high-level business processes and field level as well as activities across companies' borders, comprising everything between.