Virtual Twins – Resilience and Sustainability

Published on : Friday 07-10-2022

Where Experience is Relationship – the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum India 2022 explored stories from user industry leaders.

Virtual Twin Experiences for Resilience and Sustainability was the theme of the annual 3DEXPERIENCE Forum India 2022, held on September 13, 2022 at Aerocity, near the  Delhi International Airport. The annual forum is the occasion where user industry leaders gather to share their experiences of design innovation with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, which connects an organisation’s entire ecosystem – people, ideas, data, and processes – using a single unified environment. It celebrates the success stories of companies large and small, established industry giants as well as startups, and how they made use of technology to achieve astounding results, in the process shrinking development time, and cutting not corners but costs.
 
Deepak NG, India Managing Director – Dassault Systèmes, launched the day’s proceedings citing the facts and figures that have now made India the world’s 5th largest economy, and the potential it presents, like the thriving startup ecosystem that has produced over a 100 unicorns in a relatively short period. But today the world is also facing serious issues like environmental degradation and climate change which was the theme of his talk, Business in the age of Experience. “When organisations are looking at building new products and new portfolios, they are not focussing only on aesthetics, on what they are offering to the market; they believe consumers are asking for experience and they want to actually provide real experience. By doing that, it will not stop at them; like us at Dassault Systèmes, they have a purpose to it and that purpose in today’s age is nothing but sustainability. Because what we produce, what we actually give to the market, we are also responsible to the society,” said Deepak.
 
In his presentation, Bernard Charlès, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer Dassault Systèmes elaborated on the theme of ‘Virtual Twin Experiences For Resilience & Sustainability’. Early in his presentation Bernard Charlès recalled the contribution of Alan Mulally, the legendary CEO of Ford Motors during 2006-14 who successfully digitalised the Toyota Manufacturing System at Ford, heralding a change at the company. It may be pertinent to recall here that as Director of Engineering at Boeing in 1990, Mulally had sought out Bernard Charlès, then President, Strategy and R&D at Dassault Systèmes, to design and virtually pre-assemble parts in three dimensions – bypassing paper blueprints altogether, to design the Boeing 777, in what was later hailed as ‘one of the biggest single improvements in the design and manufacturing of airplanes in the last 100 years’. The experience played a significant role in Mulally’s tenure at Ford, turning around the company in an amazing feat, without seeking government bailout.

While the concept of digital twins has already got entrenched with the manufacturing universe embracing transformation, Dassualt Systèmes has refined it further to offer the virtual twin experience that lets users visualise, model and simulate the entire environment of sophisticated experience. “We are here today to share what we have learned and where we can go together. The idea of sustainability is now touching people in the society. We at Dassault Systèmes want to continue to accelerate the journey to make 3DEXPERIENCE relevant for businesses. We have been engaged with the manufacturing industry for 40 years now. Almost 75% of the cars are designed using Dassault Systèmes software, and the reason why this is happening is because we provide solutions, which are so flexible that they can create differentiation in sectors that are so important. We have also invested massively in life sciences to create the world’s best platform for clinical trial, and the Covid-19 pandemic proved how it was the right move,” said Bernard Charlès, referring to the 2019 acquisition of Medidata, the largest in Dassault Systèmes’ history. For Dassault Systèmes’ the life sciences industry is now the second largest core business after transportation and mobility, the importance clearly demonstrated by the shrinking of the vaccine development cycle to just 9 months from what used to take up to 15 years!
 
Speaking on the theme ‘Built-in Sustainability’ Florence Verzelen, Executive Vice President, Industry, Marketing & Sustainability, dwelt upon how Dassault Systèmes provides businesses and people with 3DEXPERIENCE universes to imagine sustainable innovations capable of harmonising product, nature and life. “India is a country of sustainable innovation. Sustainability and growth need to be thought about together. It is time that we realise that the sustainability advantage is real and measurable. Businesses can transform operations to achieve this advantage in the virtual universe. Dassault Systèmes fosters sustainable innovation that includes eco design, sustainable manufacturing and sustainable enterprise. It is at the centre of our purpose,” she said.
 
What followed was the experience of the user industries that held the audience in spell.
 
Nitin Seth, Chief Executive Officer, New Mobility Reliance Industries Ltd, made an impressive presentation on Disruptive Innovation for Sustainable Transportation. After presenting an overview of the phenomenal growth of Reliance Industries over the last 40 years, Seth spoke about the Reliance Group’s new energy initiatives and clean mobility ambitions fueled by massive in investments to the tune of USD 10 bn and acquisitions of companies like Faradion and Lithium Werks in battery technologies, and SkyTan in clean mobility. The Reliance new energy business has a 15 year roadmap with an optimal mix of reliable, clean and affordable energy solutions with hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel cells, and batteries, by leveraging digital technologies to enable disruptive innovations. The most ambitious project however is the SkyTran, a high-capacity transit system where every ride is on-demand, direct-to-destination, and high-speed, based on a breakthrough magnetic levitation technology. “To drive sustainable transformation in mobility, we must remodel business operations, promote design thinking and adopt virtual twins across end-to-end value streams,” said Seth, about the project.

Speaking on the theme of Integrated Data Management and end-to-end Digital Continuity for Sustainable Innovation with Virtual Twins, Rajesh Mishra Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, VE Commercial Vehicle Ltd (VECV), a joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors Limited, elaborated on the company’s plan for an end-to-end automotive digital ecosystem. VECV has been associated with Dassault Systèmes for over two decades, and has now adopted the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform for the complete holistic experience. This experience facilitates testing of new ideas, accelerates product verification and validation, and delivers innovative products to market faster at a much lesser cost. “It is a digital transformation strategy for sustainable innovation across enterprises leveraging end-to-end digital continuity and Virtual Twin Experience,” is how Mishra summed up the VECV approach.
 
Next, it was the turn of Atul K Paranjpe, Vice President, Group Digital & IT L&T Energy – Hydrocarbon (LTEH), talking on the theme of ‘Productivity – the key to Sustainable Business’. He enthralled the audience, elaborating upon how LTEH implemented enterprise-wide Project Lifecycle Management programme (EPSILON), which provides a collaborative space for all project stakeholders to interact around a 3D-model-based integrated workspace; and how project teams can plan together, conduct what-if analysis, share and view project updates and manage changes. “L&T is converting imagination to reality – Imagineering, doing more with less, achieving a spiral of success much like the symbol representing Epsilon. Improving productivity is attaining sustainability. We achieve it through adopting virtual twin programs through cloud,” said Paranjpe.
 
Returning after a gap of two years thanks to the pandemic, the 2022 edition of 3DEXPERIENCE Forum India was complete with presentation by select start-ups with amazing breakthroughs achieved with virtualisation, the usual post lunch Breakout Sessions for industry, and the Playground providing more detailed peek into select applications. The lobby had on display the stunning all-new Mahindra Scorpio-N, completely designed and developed using Virtual Twin Experiences powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, offering a 360-degree view of the car's capabilities. According to the regular attendees, it was one of the best experiences in the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum India series.