Most factories run on a whiteboard, a spreadsheet and one engineer who has been there eleven years. We replace that with a live model of the plant, tied to the machines on it. So layout, routing and equipment status become things you can look at instead of ask about.
The system, in three layers
These aren't three products. They're three layers of the same model, which is why they stay consistent when the plant changes.
Greenfield and brownfield sites modeled to the same standard, so a new plant and an existing one can be compared in the same environment. Walk the layout, inspect equipment from any angle, and run interference and evacuation analysis before anything is installed.
Process options are generated directly from the 3D equipment model. Draw the routing between stations and run the production sequence. Then read the report on equipment order, machine utilization and throughput before a purchase order exists.
IoT gateways and sensors link the digital model to the physical line, machine by machine. Motion, temperature and operating state become live attributes on the model — visible and actionable rather than buried in a PLC.
A twin is only as good as the data feeding it. We deploy and integrate the systems of record, PDM, PLM, MES, WMS and OA, so the model reads from a single source instead of a nightly export.
Systems of record
Buyers usually ask which of these they need. The honest answer is that the order matters more than the list.
The sequence
The order below is the one that survives contact with reality. Skipping a step doesn't save time; it moves the cost to the next system.
PDM before anything else. A twin fed by uncontrolled files is a very expensive rendering.
Scan and model the existing floor before designing the future one. Brownfield reality beats greenfield optimism.
Run the layouts and the takt assumptions while changing them is still free.
Sensors and gateways only after the model is right. Otherwise you instrument a mistake.
Related work
One digital factory deployment, and the CAD/CAE environment that supplies the model it runs on.
Built on our own digital production platform: factory visualization, process routing and live equipment status, with a seamless connection from design drawing through to equipment code.
Three layers plant model · process routing · machine status
Read the programXCAD drafting and modeling, CAE topology optimization and CAM toolpath generation — where the geometry a plant is simulated from gets created and validated.
5.7 → 3.0 on the optimization example, still 3-axis machinable
Read the programSend a layout, a photo of the floor, or the equipment list. We will tell you what a twin would change — and whether it's worth building yet.