Human Centered Design Approach
Digitization – shifting from technology view to customer view. The needs of customers and users are always our focus.
The structured design thinking approach allows the consideration of real existing problems of different stakeholders, since each person faces different challenges with the same product.
In several user experience workshops, realistic critical situations including so-called “pain points” in certain use cases were identified and relevant features and submodels were derived as specific solutions.
Product Life Cycle
Each phase of the product life cycle is characterized by different types of information and requirements.
The VDMA and its companies participating in the Fluid Power 4.0 initiative developed specific use cases for this purpose. These range from marketing, development, simulation, logistics, commissioning and operation to maintenance and service. Different planning and product domains require different solutions for the flow of information.
In each phase, there are different expansion stages of the digital product twin, which ensure the exchange of data among each other.
Personas
Representative characters, so-called personas, were derived for each use case and the stakeholders involved. These embody real people and application-related problems.
Design Engineer Nick Yang, Line Manager Ingo Stetter, Dispatcher Nina Hof and Application Engineer Marianne Seiler are the first representatives. Learn more about their roles and expectations and get to know specific digital twin solutions.
As an application engineer, I am responsible for commissioning complex systems from different manufacturers. Insufficiently documented data or false customer expectations due to missing standards in the job description often increased time and cost pressure. Now the asset administration shell provides a uniform data pool with all the necessary information, both for planning with the customer and for commissioning itself: I always have up-to-date operating instructions, can quickly identify products and interfaces. In addition, standards for describing customer applications simplify the planning.
After product changes, I have to coordinate with the engineering department and check whether the changed product can still be used on the basis of its specifications. Until now, this has always been associated with a high risk and a lot of effort: Since there was usually no direct connection between the e-shop and the ERP, information was often inconsistent or outdated. Now, with the digital twin, I am able to assess changes because I always have the latest information available and I also can become familiar with technical details more easily thanks to the uniform, clear structure.
As a line manager, I have to resume production as quickly as possible in the event of a machine downtime. Eery second counts! The complete documentation of the entire fault and service history, as provided by the digital twin, makes troubleshooting much easier. In addition, the standardization of the information helps with the interpretation of the data. And since I now also have access to all parameterization data via the asset administration shell, I can easily transfer this to the spare parts and thus also save time when replacing components.
The digital twin tremendously helps me to manage the constant flood of information. In the past, I had to register with every manufacturer and supplier. Now, with the asset administration shell, I have a central point of contact and all the latest data immediately – and thanks to clearly structured submodels, I am quickly able tofind all the information I need. From CAD data to usage data with valuable information for improving my development. I save a lot of time even during research, which helps me to fully concentrate on my actual work.
