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Digital Twin of an intelligent production line with adaptive resource handling

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 Digital Twin of an intelligent production line with
adaptive resource handling.
R. Hoashalarajh S. Satgunarajah
Department of Electrical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Moratuwa. University of Moratuwa.
saruga97@gmail.com
rajhoashal@gmail.com
Prof. A. G. B. P. Jayasekara
Department of Elelctrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa
Sri Lanka
buddhikaj@uom.lk
Abstract— Digital replication of an actual physical product is
known as Digital twin. In our project we have considered
Transformer production plant as our case study. Production
process is explained and modelled in the software called
“Tecnomatix Plant Simulation” and validated using paired-t
test method. We have considered the production line operation
during the low demand period. Though there are six High
Voltage (HV) winding machines in the production line, in low
demand period only three of those are running simultaneously.
Since we have noticed that those three machines are selected
randomly in factory. We propose a method of choosing the best
machine from remaining while stopping least performing
machine that are currently in operation using fuzzy system to
improve the throughput of the production line. Comparison of
the switching the machines approach using fuzzy logic with
other three scenarios, the proposed method has an increase in
the throughput about 12.5% higher. Since the model is validated
the proposed method also suit best for the actual production
line.
Keywords— Digital Twin, Fuzzy Logic, Fuzzy Inference
System, Key Performance Indicators, Simulation, Tecnomatix
plant simulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
In the current trend of highly competitive market with
involvement of software components and the mass
customization of products are facing new challenges which
can be approached using digitalization of the process. This
will make the opportunity to achieve higher level of
productivity [1]. The digital technologies will allow remote
real-time monitoring and control of the system with easy
integration of intelligent components inside of it. Therefore,
this technology will help the easy access in decision making
of the complex system by providing more direct integration
and synchronization from physical to the virtual world [6].
Planning of the process and virtualization of the product
are also the best use of digitalization of the system. By
analyzing and evaluating the large amount of data through the
simulation will make optimized decision for planning them in
real time. The basic concept behind the digital twin is the
information mirror model or a digital replica of a non-living
physical entity. It will enable the virtual data transfer by
connecting the physical and virtual worlds. The definition of
the digital twin technology highlights two main features. One
is the connection between the physical model and the
corresponding virtual model [6]. Secondly, the connection
using sensors to generate real-time data. Application of digital
twin can be in design of a product or in a production
manufacturing line. Digital twin in product design will enable
designing of a research product includes digital design and
XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE
S. Arunan,
Depatment of Electrical Engineering,
University of Moratuwa.
senthilarunan05@gmail.com
digital simulation. Digital twin integration will be in three
levels [12]. Those are digital model, digital shadow and digital
twin.
• Digital Model: In this type of digital twin the data
exchange between the physical and virtual model will be done
fully manually it will result the update of the changes in
physical system will not be present in the digital system unless
we update it manually and vice versa.
• Digital Shadow: Since the data flow from physical
world to virtual system is automated, the data flow from
digital system to physical world is manual process. So, the
changes in the physical system will be seen in its digital copy
but not vice versa.
• Digital Twin: Here, automated bidirectional flow of
data will happen between physical and digital system.
Therefore, the changes of any system will be updated in other.
Production process simulation is used to simulate the
virtual model to estimate the productivity and efficiency by
the virtual production. It will help to analyze and make a
comprehensive study of the physical productivity beforehand
[7]. Automated production process can be driven by the
coordination of the all elements of the production stage
through digital methods. This production process can also be
monitored virtually by collecting the real time operating data
of the production equipment.
Digital twin in manufacturing will lead to speed
prototyping as well as product re-designing, cost effective
achievement due to the virtual resource involvement when its
creation [5]. The predicting of problems and also the system
planning is also easy in use of Digital Twin. Therefore, the
optimized solution can also be achieved and it will enhance
the maintenance of the manufacturing process. In this paper
we have made a virtual model of a production line in the
software “Tecnomatix Plant Simulation” and finding the
problems in the physical production line. After that the
enhanced system will be proposed by verifying through the
virtual system.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Most of the researches are focused on creating the digital
twin of different production lines with various software.
Through those modelling the bottlenecks of the production
line will be identified and different approaches such as
heuristic method to solve those problems are also discussed in
it [1] [2]. Availability, reliability and quality parameters are
influencing over all equipment efficiency (OEE) of the
production line [3]. The heuristic method of approach will use
of those parameters to minimize the number of workstations
 and it will improve the bottlenecks simultaneously with
adaption of assembly line balancing [4].
Some of the researches have done in improving the
production cycle time by reducing the assembly line with
Internet of Things technologies. In most of the literatures the
key performance indicators such as throughput, OEE and
quality ratio are also analyzed and verified through the
simulation models. Genetic Algorithms are also another type
of intelligent method in optimizing the virtual model to
Figure 1Block diagram representation of the processes of the
improve the performance of the real-time model [7] [8]. transformer production line.
According to Marcelo Climaites Fernandes , et al, at a
flexible manufacturing environment the priority order of the The processing time of each machines, setup time of each
production sequence is obtained by using fuzzy inference machines and failure rate of each machines are the operational
system by using the production line parameters like, delivery details that we obtained from the factory. All the processes of
medium delay, machine quantity and profit [11]. the transformer production line are modeled with the help of
the software Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation.
III. CASE STUDY
LTL Transformers (Pvt) Ltd is chosen as our case study.
They are producing the transformers on a demand basis. There
are some processes involved in the production of
transformers.
First low voltage winding is wound and clamped for some
minutes and then a collection of Low Voltage windings are
sent to oven 1 for keep the structure of LV winding foil rigid
enough for future processes. Then every LV windings are
directed to High Voltage winding stations. High voltage
windings are wound on top of LV windings and then stored at
a temporary storage place. Here LV winding machines and
HV winding machines are semi-automated machines that Figure 2 Transformer production line modelled in Tecnomatix Plant
operated with the assistance of human. Simulation

Core of the transformer is cut using a fully automated A. Problem statement.

machine and directed to the process of core stacking which is
a fully manual process. Core of the transformer is stacked at
different places and stored at a temporary storage for future
use.
Then Stacked core from a temporary storage and HV
winding rolls from a temporary storage are assembled at
different places. There could be many assembly stations are
working at a same time according to the production
environment. Here assembly stations are fully manual where
the parts are purely handle by workers. Assembled active parts
are stored in a temporary storage.
From the temporary storage a collection of active parts are
then assembled with their corresponding tanks and directed to
the machine Oven and vacuuming for further removal of
moisture form the active parts. Here the Oven and vacuuming
machine is a fully automated machine. Its processing time
may vary according to the collection of transformers that are
entering into the machine.
After oven and vacuuming machine all the transformers
are directed to testing workstation of the factory where the
basic testing is done. It is a purely a manual process. After the
testing procedure the transformers are ready for dispatch.
As described earlier, our domain of interest is the application
of Digital twin in the production/ Manufacturing system.
Lanka Transformers (Pvt) Ltd is chosen as a case study for
the application of digital twin of their production line in order
to initiate the transformation of traditional type of
manufacturing plant to cater with modern industrial
revolution concepts. Digital twin is considered as one of the
important concepts among Industry 4.0 concepts.
Actual operational data of machines such as processing time,
setup time and failure rate of machines were obtained from
the factory and the manufacturing plant was modelled in the
software of Siemens Tecnomatix Plant Simulation and
validated.
Moreover, the data we obtained were during the pandemic
period of production line where there was a low demand for
transformers. Therefore, most of the machines were not
operated and some were not operated to their full potential. If
operated it would cost additional expenses.

Figure 2 Fuzzy Logic Controller Topology to Start and Stop machines

During our visit to the factory, there were only few numbers
 of machines were in operation. We also were able to observe
some of the constant type of machines in the High Voltage
Winding area were operated daily. Due to the constant
operation of certain machines the assembly area
corresponding to the particular High voltage winding
machines was almost busy every day. We were able to
observe that there was not enough space to have the parts
before assembly and they kept the parts all over the assembly
area which even could consume additional time during
assembly.
In order to make maximum use of each machines which will
reduce the serious maintenance procedure for machines in
future, an idea of switching machines according to their
performance is proposed here.
We have considered a scenario of only three high voltage
machines were machines were operating during a low
demand time of production. Other machines were considered
to be operated normally. It should be noted that there were six
machines for high voltage winding section.
Scenario #1: Only three High Voltage machines from group
#1 were operated constantly over a period of study.
Machine groups were divided into two, where group #1
consists of machines #1, #2 and #3 and group #2 consists of
machines #4, #5 and #6. Group #1 and Group #2 have
approximately equal average availability rate.
Scenario #2: Only best three High Voltage machines were
operated constantly over a period of study.
Machines with Higher availability rate such as Machine #1,
Machine #4 and Machine #5 were only considered.
IV. METHODOLOGY
The proposed approach for handling the production
situation efficiently is switching of machines considering the
machine performance data available from simulation model
as well as from actual factory data.
Here the data obtained from the simulation model is
fed into the fuzzy logic-based decision-making system in
order to identify the machine that is performing least to the
contribution to the production and to identify the machine
that would handle the current production line situation
efficiently form the remaining available machines.
Switching of machines is done under two stages
such as:
1. Removing the less performing machine among
currently operating machines from service.
2. Adding a best machine from remaining set that could
handle the production requirement.
Choosing machines and removing machines were
done with the help of fuzzy rule-based inference system.
Fuzzy Inference System was designed and tested using
MATLAB R2017a Fuzzy Logic Toolbox.
Basically, seven Fuzzy Logic Controllers were
designed to serve this purpose.
One controller is designed to stop the least
performing machine among the working machines. Other six
controllers designed as to check the viability of each
remaining machines that can handle the production
requirement more efficiently. Once the controller detects the
least performing machine among the currently operating
machines, that machine is removed and a better performing
machine is chosen from remaining set of machines by another
fuzzy controller.
Figure 3, depicts control topology used to select the
best performing machines and to detect the least performing
machines. FC#1, FC#2…, FC#6 are the Fuzzy Logic
Controllers deployed to select the best performing machines
among the remaining.
On the other hand, “Fuzzy Logic Controller #7” is
used to detect the least performing machines which are
currently in operation.
To construct fuzzy system some of the production line
parameters such as
• Present cycle time of the working machines
• Cycle time of remaining machines
• Availability status of machines
• Output from previous station.
were considered.
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒
𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 =
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒
Consider the designing of fuzzy logic controller for choosing
best machine to handle production line,
A mamdani type fuzzy inference system is used here.
This inputs and outputs parameters, their membership
function and range are same for all the machines of HV from
1 to 6. But according to the availability status of the machine
the rules are changed in order to determine their degree of
handling.
The input Cycle time is normalized in the range of (0, 1).
Output from previous station is also normalized in the range
of (0, 1).
The output variable “Degree of Handling” gives a value in
the range of (0, 1).
Input variables:
Figure 3 Input variable Cycle Time membership function
•
Cycle time: It has linguistic variables such as Low,
Moderate and High. Here very high and very low are
not practical. Membership functions for cycle time are
triangular and trapezoidal.
• Input Amount (Output from previous station):
 Table 1 Rule table for FC#2 for choosing machine #2

Figure 4 Input variable Input Amount membership function

It has linguistic variables such as Low, Medium and

High. Membership functions for input amount are
triangular and trapezoidal.

Output variable:

Figure 5 Output variable degree of handling

The output variable “Degree of Handling” gives a value

between 0 and 1.
For choosing the best machine from reaming set of machines
a following example of FC#2 is considered.
Figure 6 Algorithm for stopping and choosing present machines
Consider the case of choosing the machine #2: (FC#2)
Input Output
Cycle time Input amount Degree of
handling
Low Low Perfect
Low Medium Normal
Low High Normal
Moderate Low Normal
Moderate Medium Bad
Moderate High Bad
High Low Normal
High Medium Bad
High High Bad
Figure 7 Surface plot for FC#2
Input parameters are cycle time of the machine and the output
available from the previous station which is the input to HV
machines. Consider the case of stopping any of the operating
machines: (Fuzzy Logic Controller #7)
Specifications of machine #2 for being selected:
Mamdani fuzzy inference method has been chosen here.
To choose the machine #2, its cycle time should be low For the case of stopping least performing machine from the
compared to others and it should be available enough to currently operating machines, following fuzzy inference
handle the amount of output from previous station. Since the
availability of machine#2 is 93%, it is assigned to serve if
there is Low output from previous station.
 Input Output
Availability Status Present Cycle Switching Status
Time
Low Low ON
Low Moderate OFF
Low High OFF Figure 10 Output variable switch status membership function
Medium Low ON
Medium Moderate OFF Switching of machines considering the machine performance
Medium High OFF data available from simulation model as well as from actual
High Low ON factory data.
High Moderate ON Here starting from scenario #1 then switching of machines
High High OFF based on the proposed fuzzy inference system is considered.
Initially machines #1, #2 and #3 are connected to the
production line. The simulation was done in steps of a day.
Table 2 Rule table for FC#2 for stopping machine At the beginning of each day, previous day production
parameters like cycle time of each stations were extracted
from the simulation model and fed into the proposed fuzzy
Consider the input variables:
inference system to make intelligent decision of choosing
• Availability Status: Probability of operation of which machine has to be shut down among the operating
machine without being failed. machines and which machine has to be chosen from the
remaining available machines.
Here one of the three machines that are currently operating is
stopped and one of the remaining three machines is chosen to

Figure 8 Input variable availability status membership function

It has linguistic variables such as Low, Medium and High. It

has the membership functions of triangular and trapezoidal.

• Present Cycle Time: Cycle time of a machine at a Figure 11 Surface plot for FC#7
period of interest.
be operated. The stopping and selection of machines are done

by considering the values of the output variables such as

Figure 9 Input variable present cycle time membership function
It has linguistic variables such as Low, Moderate and High.
It has the membership functions of triangular and
trapezoidal
“Switching Status” to stop one of the machine and “Degree
of Handling” to select one of the machine from the remaining.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
Scenario #1: Only three High Voltage machines were
operated constantly over a period of study. Here HV
machines #1, #2 and #3 are connected all over the period of
our simulation time of 20days. In this scenario there are no
any production control mechanisms used.

Consider the Output Variable:

• Switching Status: It represents the condition of a

particular machine whether it can operate further or
not.

It has linguistic variables such as ON and OFF which has

the gauss membership function to obtain wider range of
values to make decision easier. Figure 12 Comparison of Scenario #1 with proposed approach
Rather than operating constant type of machines #1, #2 and
#3 for 20 days, switching the machines based on fuzzy logic
based approach considering the production line parameters
makes more yield at the end of simulation. Fuzzy based
approach over leads the scenario #1 machine operation from
day 6 onwards.
Scenario #2: Only best three High Voltage machines were
operated constantly over a period of study.
Figure 13 Comparison of Scenario #2 with proposed approach
Here only the machines #1, #4, #5 are only connected
throughout the simulation period of 20 days. Here the
availability rate of these machines are very high compared to
other three machines.
Even though machines #1, #4 and #6 are considered as the
best available machines in HV cell of the production line,
constant operation of those machines for a 20 days of
simulation time period makes less yield than switching the
machine considering the production line parameters. Fuzzy
based approach over leads the scenario #2 machine operation
from day 3 onwards.
CONCLUSION
Digital twin is a modern technology that is revolving every
fields of science. Digital twin is an exact digital
representation of the physical product. It is applied in many
fields such as air craft industry, Mars rover mission,
Agriculture, transportation, manufacturing etc. Our
motivation is to study the application for a production line
with adaptive resource handling. All the process of the
production line was modelled in Tecnomatix Plant
Simulation software platform and validated. Then many
scenarios were considered for adaptive resource handling and
an intelligent adaptive resource handling method of switching
the machines according to their production line parameters
were done using fuzzy inference system and that method is
proved to be the best method considering other possible
implementations.
RECOMMENDATIONS
This digital twin is exact replica of the transformer
production line of LTL Transformers (Pvt) Ltd but this is a
standalone digital twin. Some additional changes to the
model could have been done in order to connect with the
actual production line. If the digital twin is connected with
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the actual production line by means of available
communication protocol, then the real time monitoring and
control of the production line will be possible. The connected
digital twin will assist the production manager to work in his
office rather than visiting to the site to make intelligent
decisions about machine operation and control which enables
the remote production monitoring which is an important
feature of digital twin.
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