Digital twins in the supply chain

Launched on 11 April 1970, the Apollo 13 was nearly 56 hours into its flight to the Moon when an oxygen tank in the spacecraft’s service module exploded, forcing the crew to abandon their planned lunar landing and focus instead on finding a way to return safely to Earth. Thanks to the combined efforts of the astronauts on board and the Mission Control team at NASA, they made it: the proposed workarounds and recovery solutions were all first validated on the ground using simulators – copies, or twins, of the actual spacecraft and its components. But these twins were physical twins. Today, with the advancement and proliferation of digital technologies, digital twins are all the rage. What are they and how can they be used? These and other questions were answered in the webinar ‘Beyond the traditional supply chain: exploring the potential of digital twins’, organised by the Vlerick Centre for Smart People in the Smart Supply Chain.