Australia is well-placed to become a leading adopter of industrial metaverse

Wednesday, 09 August 2023 11:45

Australia is well-placed to become a leading adopter of industrial metaverse

Aveva Pacific vice president Alexey Lebedev

GUEST OPINION: The past six months has proven two things: that the industrial metaverse is real and that it's capable of significantly transforming ways of work in many sub-sectors.

Australian industry is no stranger to immersive technology. Over the past decade, it has been a frontrunner in the use of training simulators and virtual reality to equip new and existing staff with the skills they will need to be safe onsite. That has contributed to the country's record on industrial safety and to consistently high standards with respect to meeting safety KPIs.

It also means that many industry sub-sectors - from process-intensive heavy industries like oil and gas to fast-moving consumer goods manufacturing - are now extremely well-placed for the next evolution in immersive experiences: the industrial metaverse.

The industrial metaverse, as a concept, has quickly risen in stature. Part of the reason for this is, unlike consumer-oriented metaverses where the technology is nascent and some way off being ready for use, the industrial metaverse is already at a far more advanced stage. There are already companies building industrial metaverses, and getting results.

We previewed how the industrial metaverse could work in November last year; it was apparent even then that an industrial metaverse could be created and deployed with relative ease, and with clear benefits. Engineering companies could use the technology to speed up design reviews. Operators could use the industrial metaverse to collaborate across process areas and geographical boundaries to solve critical challenges faster, improve onsite optimisation and to better manage operational issues.

In many ways, this plays to the heart of how and why industrial companies deploy technology.

As 451 Research said in a recent note, "the operational technology (OT) world leans toward what can be practically delivered today, and that makes a significant difference to processes. It also needs robust engineering approaches that can be trusted." That deeply practical lens keeps industrial organisations focused, but also constantly on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Operators know that even a small edge gained through the use of technology can have an order of magnitude impact on revenue, safety, or environmental, social and governance, and this makes continued early adoption of technology worthwhile. Industrial metaverse is opening up new value and opportunities for industrial brands in dynamic economic conditions.

But there are also other factors driving these organisations into the industrial metaverse.

Australia, like most developed economies, has an ageing population, and industrial environments will not be spared its effects. In many industrial settings, this is driving the digitisation of tribal knowledge for how work is performed, because operators know there will come a time when traditional on-the-job learning – shadowing an experienced worker onsite for months to learn the ins-and-outs and how to perform rounds in the field – will no longer be an option.

Based on early activity, it is very likely that in the near future, all industrial sites will be metaverses, where remote field workers and experts in a central operations centre connect in a digital – augmented reality or immersive – space, to collaborate, share knowledge and ensure site operations continue to run smoothly, safely and effectively.

The three elements of industrial metaverse

So, what exactly is the industrial metaverse?

At its simplest level, the industrial metaverse is a virtual version of your actual operating assets and processes – with real-time streamed data which you can jump into with colleagues to investigate, discuss and manage tasking, optimise decision making.

There are three elements that combine to create an industrial metaverse.

The foundation for an industrial metaverse is a digital twin – a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process. The digital twin is the basis of the data that makes up the foundational elements of the metaverse. That includes engineering data, operational data and IT data - from ET/IT/OT systems.

A second important element of the industrial metaverse is codifying the tribal knowledge of how work gets done: essentially creating sets of instructions that can sit inside of the metaverse that can be used to direct people on how to do a particular activity in the industrial environment.

The third element of the industrial metaverse is the one that most people gravitate towards: the visual or presentation layer of how people will actually experience the metaverse. It is important that this is device-agnostic: the metaverse should be accessible through handheld devices, on large screens within a facility, and/or in more immersive settings such as through the use of VR headsets. For the workforce to engage in collaborative experiences in an industrial metaverse, they must be able to use any device they wish, connect to any software they need, be able to see a rich and trusted set of data from their digital twin, and cooperate in a single shared application.

The technology to support industrial metaverse applications already exists but is siloed for one reason or another. Aveva, together with partners such as Microsoft, is focused on connecting it together to support innovation within organisations' industrial metaverses.

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