What Is the Industrial Metaverse?
There is no doubt that the metaverse is a big deal these days. This virtual world where an infinite number of people can meet, work, play, shop, or socialize is a new realm that will change how we live forever, and industry will also find a new space for development. The industrial metaverse will bring with it infinite possibilities for the future of business.
Concept
The industrial metaverse is the convergence of individual technologies that, when combined, create a virtual or hybrid immersive three-dimensional industrial environment. As technology evolves, the industrial metaverse will likely allow access to these immersive 3D environments from any internet-connected device, including virtual reality and augmented reality (AR) devices, as well as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
The manufacturing industry is well-positioned to embrace this concept. As a result of their ongoing focus on digital transformation and their journey toward smart factories, most companies considering the industrial metaverse have already made significant investments and are currently deploying the foundational technologies behind it. These organizations are implementing technologies such as data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, 5G, and the Internet of Things across multiple projects and processes. The same happens with digital gains, 3D modeling, and 3D scanning, which can be useful as foundational components for the immersive 3D environments of the industrial metaverse.
Potential
Below are some of the most exciting possibilities of this new environment:
Industrial Efficiency
In the future, the industrial metaverse could bring together remote experts to collaborate on the design of a future plant or work process. Builders could evaluate the most efficient design or implementation, with less equipment and significant savings. A well-designed plant could minimize distances for material and product transport, and could also provide a safe place for the workers to do their jobs. It would also mean faster design processes with more efficient feedback.
Increased Collaboration
The industrial metaverse will revolutionize how industrial organizations collaborate. By creating a digital twin of the company’s products and physical assets, users will be able to collaborate in 3D design software in real-time, even before a physical product is available.
The industrial metaverse could help create an instant digital twin, allowing multiple people to work together on a piece of machinery or technology with precision, including its data and digital history, as if they were physically there, but even better, because all the collaborators will have the digital information at their fingertips. This new style of collaboration will change how experts work, saving time and energy.
Read also: What is industry 4 0 and what impact has it had?
Reduced Environmental Impact
The industrial metaverse can reduce environmental impact on several levels.
First, the ability to use remote experts more efficiently from anywhere in the world will reduce carbon emissions associated with business trips.
Spatial analytics, the essential component of the industrial metaverse, will provide companies with information about their operations and their performance that was previously unavailable. Through spatial analysis, organizations will gain a deep understanding of their physical space and how the movement within it works. This data will enable artificial intelligence to identify ways to make operations and processes more efficient, as well as to have a more efficient workforce. This also will have the potential to bring savings by reducing energy consumption.
The Role of Networks
Networks are fundamental to unlocking the enormous potential of the industrial metaverse. Nokia Bell Labs, for example, anticipates profound changes in network technology over the next decade to enable the massive capacity and scale needed to meet the growing demands of the metaverse. These demands will ultimately test the limits of even the most advanced 5G networks.
Real-world Examples
Digital twins are already bringing the real and digital worlds together to accelerate factory, construction, and urban planning. As they connect to their real-world counterparts and mine their data, operations will be improved throughout the project lifecycle.
Siemens’ Digital Native Factory in Nanjing, China, is proof of this. Digital technologies have been implemented since its construction. The factory was simulated using a digital twin, which optimized the building and identified and mitigated potential problems at an early stage. Some design errors that would have cost a lot of money and time in the past were also avoided. The benefits of having this digital factory have translated into an increase in production capacity (200%) and in productivity (20%).
At Advance Real Estate, we provide properties that companies can use soon to develop projects in the industrial metaverse.
Information Sources:
- https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/manufacturing/industrial-metaverse-applications-smart-factory.html
- https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/digital-transformation/industrial-metaverse/what-is-the-industrial-metaverse-and-why-should-i-care.html
- https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/05/1063828/the-industrial-metaverse-a-game-changer-for-operational-technology/
- https://www.ptc.com/en/blogs/corporate/what-is-industrial-metaverse
- https://www.nokia.com/metaverse/industrial-metaverse/
