Valmet's Digital Twin leap allows for more effective cooperation between business areas

Delivered by Knowit, the core of the Digital Twin preliminary study was to create a clear structure for effectively leveraging the potential of the new concept across the company. Already at the beginning of the project, it was noticed how the common language developed between Valmet's different business areas supports development and contributes to new ideas.

The ideas of the workshops have already helped us to establish a common language between the different experts in our company. For example, the dialogue between our machine design engineers and our data experts brings ever more agile solutions to customer work. We now consider the business segments more as mutually supporting actors.

Arttu-Matti Matinlauri, Director of Analytics and Applications Development, Valmet

Digital Twin means the digital side of a physical device, process or system. The Digital Twin can contain a variety of data, such as a 3D model, real-time usage information and simulations for predicting behaviour and situations. With Digital Twins, the understanding of a device or process can be used in predicting maintenance and special situations, optimisation, or testing situations that are challenging or ineffective to experiment in the real world. On the other hand, they can support cooperation and the flow of information throughout the life cycle. This allows Digital Twins to grow Valmet's already comprehensive analytics and Industrial Internet solutions.

As a pioneer in digital transformation, Valmet had the potential in place to implement extensive digital innovations, but before the Knowit cooperation, there was no unified vision for utilising the Digital Twin elements. Valmet already had strong strategic skills in analytics, Industrial Internet and augmented reality (AR), and the Digital Twin project mapped the next steps and opportunities in digital business.

The Digital Twin project led by Knowit progressed from data collection to data refinement and model conceptualisation. The starting point for the project was to explore the Digital Twin potential in Valmet's business and how existing elements could be utilised in the conceptualisation of Digital Twins. Knowit's experts went to Valmet's Jyväskylä, Sundsvall and Tampere plants for workshops to identify what kind of pain points, areas for improvement and hopes were set for the project. At the same time, an understanding of the potential of Valmet's Digital Twins got a strong data-based foundation.

During the design phase, Knowit also created a light business design model that allowed Valmet's experts to innovate future improvement areas.

The agile, active and engaging approach of Knowit's experts was praised by Valmet right from the start of the project.

“From the very beginning of the project, Knowit took on the role of an active contributor, and practical work quickly got underway. The experience and skills of the experts in various sectors helped to build a quick consensus. We also value the mutual learning which took place during the project journey. At Valmet, we learned more about conceptualisation, and Knowit gained insight into our operations which they applied in the project along the way,” says Arttu-Matti Matinlauri, Director of Analytics and Applications Development at Valmet, who was responsible for the project.

The Digital Twin project led by Knowit focused on a comprehensive plan on how the new concept can be leveraged across Valmet and its business areas. An identified pain point was the distribution of skills in the business lines of a large company across multiple locations, production facilities and plants. The aim was to make more effective use of the skills of various top experts within the company, so that cooperation between experts could reach its full potential in Valmet's customer projects.

“The ideas of the workshops have already helped us to establish a common language between the different experts in our company.

For example, the dialogue between our machine design engineers and our data experts brings ever more agile solutions to customer work. We now consider the business segments more as mutually supporting actors,” emphasises Valmet's Arttu-Matti Matinlauri.

The potential of the Digital Twin system is reflected not only in project management, but also in the development of cost efficiency and competitive advantages. Conceptualisation provides for building more efficient investment paths, optimising resource-wise production and refining product development processes.

Sustainability goals are an integral part of both Valmet and Knowit's business, so the Digital Twin concept also naturally explored opportunities to promote sustainability goals. Valmet's Sustainability 360* programme, for example, focuses on the environmental impacts of the supply chain and the energy-efficient use of raw materials in production. Knowit, for its part, is committed to the UN global sustainability goals in each of its client projects.

Based on the data collected by Digital Twins, Valmet can make decisions that reduce the environmental impacts of the entire production chain. Digital Twin implementations allow for sustainable changes across multiple production sites, including improved control over raw material sizing, production energy consumption and wastewater treatment. By interpreting the data, for example, machine production can be accurately sized in relation to the client's objectives, which also makes production more cost-efficient.