Welcome to Eco Ask why, a podcast that dives into industrial manufacturing topics and spotlights the heroes that keep America running. I'm your host, chris Granger, and on this podcast we do not cover the latest features and benefits on products that come to market. Instead, we focus on advice and insight from the top minds of industry, because people and ideas will be how America remains number one in manufacturing in the world. Welcome to Eco Asks why. I'm your host, chris Granger, looking forward to hanging out with you today. Thank you so much for listening. We're going to be continuing to talk about this industrial manufacturing focus that we're really trying to just bring some insights to you on some different things that are happening out there in the industrial manufacturing world. Last month we talked a lot about the skills gap and that we recognize it's a major opportunity, it's not a hurdle, it's an opportunity and how to address that. So if you haven't listened to that, I encourage you to go back, check out that last episode in your podcast feed and hopefully you'll enjoy that. All right, so today for this, we're going to get a little technical we're looking for I'm really looking forward to this one. We're going to be talking about the power of virtual prototyping.

Okay, you may heard referred to as industrial twins and the digital twins, rather and how that is revolutionizing operations in industrial manufacturing, and we understand at ECO the critical challenges that modern industrial manufacturing chains are facing each and every day. You have challenges like optimizing complex operations to accelerating project timelines, and you need to do all this while trying to maintain a very robust return on investment right, and businesses are constantly seeking innovative solutions to get an edge. So, as we're starting to really dive deep into this evolving landscape of industrial manufacturing, we're going to be talking about right here how digital twin technology could be something you could leverage in your process and in your facility, because our value at ECO extends beyond just supply. We specialize in really connecting you the listeners, the people who we serve with the right technology partners to bring your digital transformation goals to life, and digital twins are a major step in that direction. So we fully believe that, embracing this transformative approach, the market that we love, the industrial market, can unlock unprecedented levels of efficiency and operational success, and that's just going to be a win for everybody across the board.

So, at the core, a digital twin is not merely just some animated or static visual representation. It's a controlled simulation. Really, that's what it. It's a controlled simulation. Really, that's what it is. A controlled simulation, it's a dynamic virtual model that precisely mirrors the physical system, the process, or it could be even the entire facility. It's crazy with the technology that's out there right now. So this is not like a simple animation for marketing or to try to get clicks on a LinkedIn page. That's not what this is. These are purpose built for absolute rigorous testing and validation of a design before manufacturing of that equipment, of that equipment okay, and that's a very distinct piece of information that we need to understand, because this is active. This is a functional replica and it's designed to behave exactly as the physical counterpart would.

So just think about, for example, the complexity of a modern manufacturing line. If you have been to a modern, most of us are in manufacturing. But if you haven't been to a modern manufacturing line, if you have been to a modern, most of us are in manufacturing, but if you haven't been to a modern manufacturing plant, I encourage you to go line up a tour and consider one like a beverage production facility high speed okay, they were doing 700 cans a minute. Traditionally, designing, building and optimizing such a line involved a lot of physical prototyping. I mean a lot of prototyping. So you had extensive on-site troubleshooting. Then you had some things went too far south. You had some costly adjustments after that commissioning process and this could take quite a bit of time. This could take days, weeks, months, and this could take quite a bit of time. This could take days, weeks, months. And every time that you're delaying, you're delaying production and you're eroding profitability, and that's a big deal in business. We have to do all we can to maintain that competitive edge.

So the digital twin technology gives you a powerful alternative. Okay, gives you a powerful alternative. Okay, you can use your original control code and HMIs or human-machine interfaces, right, and a digital twin can accurately model the mechanical and operational sides of a system in a virtual environment. So this means the exact application code that you're going to be using in the field for every machine, for every conveyor system, for every speed, position, valve, contact point is simulated directly inside the digital twin. Huge difference, right, and the immediate and most significant benefit of this control simulation is your ability to optimize operation and accelerate those project timelines.

So just think about it for a second Before a single piece of equipment is ever manufactured or procured or installed. You, at the plant level, can run extensive simulations to find out what the potential bottlenecks with the proposed line could be. And this capability to to run these extensive simulations will give you the opportunity to to identify the inefficiencies at the design stage. And that's revolutionary, because you don't want to find this stuff out once it's there and it's in operation. Man, at that point you're just you're putting band-aids, you're just you're having to react.

But the digital twin gives you that, that opportunity to adjust, you make some speed, optimization and changes to see, okay, what if I, if I do this, do this here, what's the impact there? And this can be done relatively quickly so we can really have a dramatic impact and return on investment directly for the project, for manufacturers, so for companies like HECO. This means we're here to guide you and help you towards solutions that deploy these systems faster and start generating revenue sooner. It's all about helping you be competitive in the market. That's what we want you to implement strategies at work. That's what it's all about at the end of the day and that's the level of commitment that we have to serving you.

And, furthermore, this digital twin technology is an invaluable tool for risk mitigation, as well as that equipment validation, because, think about it, the traditional way of testing involves very real risk of breaking either material or damaging machinery. Right, it's just there. You have to try some things at some points, but in that virtual environment these are all eliminated. Because this is critical, for if you're in an industry that's highly regulated so I'm thinking like pharmaceuticals out there for you, those that are in that industry where you know a single error can ruin your reputation or a major batch. If you have something wrong with a batch of product, it has severe consequences. And you have to leverage digital twins, and particularly in that industry, to simulate the behavior of a complex process skids with these different types of interfaces, and this helps you qualify and validate your equipment and your processes and your changes before they're ever introduced in a real-life environment. And this validation helps Just think about it practically it ensures that all your interlocks, all your operational pieces, everything functions correctly, and it safeguards your product quality as well as the people who are going to use your product the patients and their safety. So it's a big deal. So one thing to consider with this digital twin technology the patients and their safety. So it's a big deal.

One thing to consider with this digital twin technology beyond design and validation, we get that that's important, but think about operator training as well. So instead of having an operator learn on an expensive and potentially dangerous piece of equipment, okay, you can take new and existing operators and train them in a safe virtual environment. So this means that these operators are interacting with real-world operating screens, like these HMIs that we've already talked about, and seeing the physical equipment views that replicate what they're going to be encountering when they're on the plant floor. And this type of training allows them to really dive deep and to get in to understand the different types of operational schemes and the different types of things that can happen on the floor. This also helps them respond to some faults. So you would purposely introduce faults and see how they respond to it, and as they learn this, what's happening? They're becoming more and more proficient with the system. Before they actually get to the production line to go from one machine to another. It gives you so much more opportunity to do this effectively and avoid hazards. Right, just because you put this in place, and this really is going to equate to a better prepared staff, you're going to have less human error. It's going to have smoother operations from day one. So this really aims. This technology is really. It's awesome.

And I want to put a caveat out there, because I know I've pumped this thing up pretty good. But here's your caveat. Okay, because there's no such thing as it can't always be gravy baby, there's usually something else right. There is no perfect digital twin, there's usually something else right. There is no perfect digital twin because the goal can't be to simulate every bolt and chain and every little nuanced thing that can happen, but the goal, rather, is to provide an overall view on how the system is going to operate. Ok, so think about typically, a digital twin will help you achieve 80 to 90 percent accuracy. That's still huge. Think about it 80% or 90% accuracy before anything ever gets installed. So you still have a percentage of validation when the equipment gets there and optimization to fine-tune to complete that physical system once it's built. But this still offers an enormous time and cost-saving approach compared to those traditional methods that are out there. And again, for eco, this very simply means helping you set the right expectations while delivering exceptional value in those performance gains.

So, as we kind of wrap up this talk around digital twins, they really give us a monumental leap forward in industrial manufacturing. It's incredible what's happening out there. It's empowering companies to simulate their facility before spending any significant money or doing physical troubleshooting. It offers a controlled environment for that design validation. Just think about a safe space to validate. Try, you can crash it, you're not going to hurt anything. It creates operational optimization so you can learn as you go on.

What are the things that we need to change in our operations to truly optimize and to improve the process. We're lowering the risk for our employees, the people that are working with the equipment because we can identify oh, that should not happen. Let's figure out we should have those oh that should not be happening moments in a simulated environment. Then we can fix it and also, all along the way, have chances to train our operators at a higher level. And, from our standpoint here at Electrical Equipment Company, we want to champion these different types of digital twins and help ultimately with our mission, which is to bring together the right solutions, the right partners and the right expertise so that you can thrive in this complex and very competitive world that's out there. So this is a very powerful virtual prototyping tool that we just wanted to make you aware of and it's not going to help you overcome every challenge, but it's definitely going to help you become more resilient an opportunity to be more optimized and really future ready as you start looking at your changing landscape and manufacturing. So we encourage you to embrace it. Embrace the digital twin technology, because it's not just a new tool. It's really about the partnerships to get the right people to help transform how you design, build and operate for superior operational success. Design, build and operate for superior operational success. So that was hopefully encouraging to you.

If you have questions about digital twins and what that would look like for different manufacturers, again, if you're in our eco footprint, we would absolutely love to hear from you and have the conversation. We have the cool part about it. It's experts in every area that we serve and these experts can come in and they can have a very detailed conversation with you, get down to the brass tack level to understand what are your goals, what is the equipment that you're working with, what are the lines that you have, what are the headwinds and the hurdles that you're trying to manage, what future projects are out there in expansion things that are six months, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months out in the future to help you stay ahead. That's what we're all about, and we have just again a wonderful team of experts on staff ready to come in have these conversations. Even if they're difficult to get down to the nitty gritty, we're here and we're ready to serve and that's what it's all about.

So if you know someone out there who you think would enjoy learning a little bit about Digital Twins, share this podcast out with them. Just hit the share button, send it right over to them. Thank you for listening. If you mind, give us a rating and review that would be awesome and just connect with us. In our show notes we'll have links so that you can connect with us directly. We'll also have a link to a blog directly on Digital Twin and we'll have some opportunities for you to connect.

The best way, really, if you want to try to start simulating some of this and start having conversations, we have labs at Electrical Equipment Company in all the areas that we cover. So we have labs where you can come in and build some of this equipment directly or simulate some of it rather with our technology. So maybe this is something you just want to kind of dip your toe in the water? Hey, we get it. That's why we built our labs. We love for you to connect. We'll put a link in there as well where you can actually schedule time directly to come into our labs, engage and have a little bit of fun, because who says manufacturing can't be fun? It is absolutely a ton of fun out there, particularly when you start playing with technology like this.

So thank you again for listening. Hopefully you found this encouraging. Again, give us a rating and review, share this out with others and hopefully we'll see you next month. So have a great day and remember to keep asking why. Thank you for listening to. Eeco Asks why this show is supported ad-free by Electrical Equipment Company. Eeco is redefining the expectations of an electrical distributor by placing people and ideas before products. Please subscribe and share with your colleagues and friends. Also leave comments, feedback and any new topics that you would like to hear. To learn more or to share your insights, visit EECOASKSWHYcom. That's E-E-C-O-A-S-K-S-W-H-Ycom.