4 questions for …

… Rainer Eidloth, Senior Vice President Engineering IT & Digitalization at Schaeffler

Do you remember when Schaeffler first started using digital twins for production or for specific product developments? Since 2016 we’ve been working on creating digital twins in the area of product development of mechanical components. The “Operations” function uses these twins from Research and Development to keep driving digitization on the factory floor and to successively arrive at a holistic data model of the entire lifecycle.

Which twin concept is already helping you save budget and time today?

We’re currently replacing the manual process of incoming goods inspections together with quality assurance by a data-based digital process. Consequently, another element of the twin is created here, namely the link to measurement data systems. The currently complex practice of editing data in Excel files to enable evaluations of purchased parts will be handled digitally in the future. As a result, we’re going to save time and enhance quality.

What forward-looking scenarios do you envision for this development?

Due to the application of digital twins for simulations, costly and lengthy trials with real-world prototypes can be reduced, which cuts costs and is sustainable. Digital twins cannot replace physical products but they help design and operate them in more reliable, durable and sustainable ways. The deployment of digital twins for reporting and controlling purposes will also significantly help achieve our ambitious sustainability goals.

How has the world of work changed for you personally due to these new trends?

Due to shared data models, the collaboration with customers becomes closer and joint simultaneous work in development turns into a reality. Platforms enabling that – such as Catena-X as an open data ecosystem for the automotive industry – are currently in development.