CADENAS, ISG and TwinStore pave the way for the Virtual Commissioning

The digital transformation offers many advantages for industry, but at the same time also causes plants and their planning to become increasingly complex. This poses major challenges for companies that want to prepare for Industry 4.0.

CADENAS has proven itself over the past 30 years as a reliable partner for industrial companies on their way to a digital future. The software developer has been providing 3D CAD models for industrial businesses since 1995. During this time, digitisation has made considerable progress and CADENAS has greatly developed the digital planning data. Thus, the 3D models on the CADENAS platforms have long been CAD-, CAE- and BIM-capable.

Now product information is about to take the next evolutionary step: intelligent 4D models or Digital Twins. CADENAS, ISG Industrielle Steuerungstechnik GmbH and TwinStore GmbH are working together on this innovation, which serves as the basis for Virtual Commissioning (VC). The fourth dimension enriches the geometric and parametric 3D models with information on their behaviour under physical influences.

With the ISG-virtuos simulation software from ISG, users can create Digital Twins of machines and plants for any application. Thanks to the individually scalable solution, this simulation model can be used universally from early engineering to VC. In addition to the model-in-the-loop (MiL) simulation, which already provides the first motion-capable models, ISG-virtuos can also be used to map the software-in-the-loop (SiL) simulation for testing the software control. In addition, ISG-virtuos enables the behavioural simulation of machines and systems in deterministic control real time (Hardware-in-the-Loop, HiL).

As part of the cooperation between the three industry leaders, CADENAS supplies intelligent and high-quality 3D models to ISG. They serve as the basis for the 4D simulation models that will be available on the online platform ISG-TwinStore in the future. A first pilot project with the Afag Group has already been successfully implemented.

The cooperation between CADENAS, ISG and TwinStore came about because two CADENAS customers from the pick and place and sensor technology sectors wanted Digital Twins of their products. Numerous other industries have also expressed a need for 4D models. These include, for example, the automotive, logistics and transport, wood processing, machining industries and many more industries that would like to work with VC in the future.

"With the VC, Central Europe proves that it continues to be an innovation-driven industrial location and has an edge over the global competition," predicts Thomas Lang, Senior Account Manager VIM at CADENAS.

One of the digital pioneers in the industry is the Afag Group, which has had a successful partnership with CADENAS for more than 20 years. The Afag Group's goal is to provide its customers with Digital Twins of its products.

Klaus Bott, Chief Technology Officer at Afag Group, is convinced: "CADENAS, ISG and TwinStore demonstrate an absolutely sensible and logical chain with the automatic verification of Digital Twins and their provision in the TwinStore. For us as a component manufacturer, it is strategically clear that the topic of Digital Twins is gaining relevance. We want to prevent losing customers by all means by being able to provide sufficient data for VC."

The Afag Group has successfully started the pilot phase for the development of Digital Twins of its products using the example of a rotary table and a gripper. The cooperation with CADENAS provided the perfect starting point for the project, as the product portfolio was already available in the form of high-quality CAD, CAE and BIM-capable 3D models.

The 4D models were specially developed for the Afag Group's trade fair application for Automatica. The event provided an excellent opportunity to determine the interest and needs of Afag customers for such digital twins. The feedback on the 4D models at Automatica was consistently positive. Customers and trade fair visitors were enthusiastic about the potential of the components and the functionality of the Digital Twin using the trade fair application as an example. These positive reactions have led to a continuation of the cooperation, whereby the Afag Group is going to encourage the development and integration of 4D models.

Experience the 4D models from CADENAS, ISG and TwinStore live in the webinar on 17 October 2023 with Thomas Lang, Senior Key Account Manager VIM CADENAS, and Dr Christian Scheifele, Managing Partner ISG Industrielle Steuerungstechnik. During the webinar, which will be held in German, you can ask questions about how to equip your company for VC.

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