Dow Brings Digital Twin and Internet of Things Technology to Its Manufacturing Processes

Digital transformation is a big deal in the manufacturing business and brands the world over are seeking to bring the latest innovative technology into their production facilities and supercharge their ability to bring products to market.

One of the main challenges with any digital transformation, in addition to full-scale implementation, is making sure your business has the technology and skills in place to succeed.

That is why we have seen an increasing number of brands forming partnerships with more technology companies to leverage their expertise and resources to make implementing their own digital transformation far more streamlined and effective.

Dow Inc.

One such company is Dow, Inc., a multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Mich. Responsible for the manufacture and sale of plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products, Dow has been working on its digital transformation journey for some time.

The latest stage in this journey has seen the chemical producer partner with global technology brand Siemens – a popular choice for this kind of endeavor if you look back to our previous article on Toyota – and involves using a digital twin testbed to improve Dow’s process manufacturing capabilities.

Digital twin is – as the name suggests – a digital copy of a physical asset. These copies can be used to run simulations and test fresh ideas and processes ahead of running them on the actual machine and avoid any disruptions or complications which could potentially arise as a result. Digital twin can also run alongside physical machines and play a predictive role in detecting potential faults and failures, before they grow into large scale shutdowns.

The collaboration between Dow and Siemens is intended to create a testbed made up of sensors, automation controllers, networking, power distribution, and power monitoring equipment, drives, and motors, which can demonstrate methods of improving factory control and integrated modular automation. The technology is also equipped with augmented reality, designed to boost productivity by providing rapid access to safety manuals, maintenance forms, and other critical resources. Aside from manufacturing, the digital twin testbed will also have potential applications in research and development, and compliance.

"Dow frontline workers will see for themselves which elements of a digital twin deliver the most value," said Siemens Chemical Industry Manager, Iiro Esko. "We’re talking about field technicians, site engineers, third-party service providers, maintenance managers, reliability engineers, process automation groups, process operators, and plant managers."

Internet of Things

Dow has also been working with Applied Dynamics International (ADI), a global leader in industrial computing and connectivity, and the University of Michigan’s Barton Research Group to demonstrate advanced manufacturing concepts in an industrial open automation computing framework.

The project was centered around developing and implementing a new framework for gathering and analyzing data from a process manufacturing line. This data could be collected by IoT enabled sensors installed at every stage of the process and analyzed to discover new ways of improving visibility and control during manufacturing operations.

The framework will provide a jumping off point from which proof of concepts can be implemented for innovations such as mobile workers, cybersecurity, predictive maintenance, and many other use cases.

"ADI is very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the Dow and Michigan teams on a very fast-paced and ambitious industrial computing innovation project," said ADI President & CEO Scott James. "Each of these team members brought a tremendous amount of technology, methodology, and knowledge to the table, on day one. ADI had the good fortune to have the right technology, at the right time and place, to help remove a barrier by filling a well-defined, key technology gap, for process manufacturing."

Within this project, Dow acted as a pilot manufacturer and provide the voice of the customer when considering factors such as the applicability and scalability of the technology. Dow provided a detailed customer discovery report including solution objectives, key use cases, target demographic, solution architecture, ranked must-haves, and ranked nice-to-haves.

Final Thoughts

Facilitating Industry 4.0 manufacturing concepts such as predictive maintenance and process automation are going to be key priorities for manufacturing brands as we move through 2022 and beyond.

Half of the challenge of business is knowing when your company can handle a project such as digital transformation alone or whether you would be better served seeking innovative partnerships with external resources.

For more on digital transformation, come to Connected Manufacturing Forum 2022, being held in July at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.