Digital Twins collaboration at the heart of tomorrow's logistics challenges.

By combining business experience with technological expertise, Log'S and the CEA intend to jointly develop an innovative new solution for the supply chain: digital twins capable of responding to the logistics and transport issues faced by players in the sector.

Promoting the competitiveness of companies, using technologies to create innovative tools, and accelerating technology transfer to industry: these are the ambitions of the CEA's technological research department. A major player in research, serving the State, the economy and citizens, the CEA places collaborative projects at the heart of its mission:"Through the development of regional platforms, we offer SMEs the technological arsenal they need to innovate at the heart of their regions. We also forge strong links with other research entities and raise awareness of our work among local businesses. That's how we met Log'S in 2018, one of the leading logistics companies in the Hauts-de-France region", explains Boris Dartiguepe.says Boris Dartiguepeyrou, technical manager of the CEA Tech Hauts-de-France team.

Numerical modeling for logistics optimization

Together, they are looking ahead to a new subject for the logistics specialist, already mature within the CEA: the digital twin, and are launching the Digilogs project in 2019:"The CEA-List presented us with the various technological building blocks in which they had expertise: massive data analysis, on-board sensors, blockchain, digital twin... Logistics is a sector where we are very "down-to-earth", but our business is evolving considerably. We were quick to see the benefits of working together on the digital twin, in order to anticipate the upheavals in our sector", explains Benjamin Laffineur.explains Benjamin Laffineur, Head of Innovation at Log'S.

But what is a digital twin? It's a digital model of a system, whether physical or financial. The digital twin tests scenarios and hypotheses for more informed and rational decision-making. It measures the impact of a decision even before it is implemented, and adapts to the specific needs of each company, fed by data directly from the field."This is one of the major trends of the^4th industrial revolution", assures Boris Dartiguepe.says Boris Dartiguepeyrou. At Log'S, Benjamin Laffineur was immediately drawn to the benefits of such technology:"Today, there is no tool that can model, simulate, anticipate and test the impact on inventory or service rates, for example. With a digital twin, we can do this virtually. In the end, this makes it possible to carry out tests without taking risks and at lower cost: changing the location of a product, modifying a flow process, having additional loading bays in a warehouse... Anything is possible! This approach of experimentation and mathematical optimization has the merit of reassuring our customers that we are able to optimally size human and material resources, based on a principle of economic reality. We're not looking for the best solution in absolute terms, but the best solution according to the assumptions and needs of our customers".says the Innovation Manager.

Digital twins in the supply chain driven by a collaborative approach

Digilogs", continues Boris Dartiguepeyrou, "gave us confidence in the idea of developing a large-scale demonstrator to enable manufacturers to project themselves.continues Boris Dartiguepeyrou. The idea? To design generic digital twins that respond naturally to global issues. In concrete terms, this involves developing a software brick and innovative interfaces to implement the digital twin on generic cases and draw inspiration from real-life issues. Supported by 6 industrial partners, the SONARIS project has brought together some twenty people since the start of 2020, with a budget of two million euros:"It was important to involve all the stakeholders, to bring up and understand their business issues in order to turn them into common cases, and to arousethe desire to carry out related research projects", emphasizes theemphasizes the technical manager at CEA Tech Hauts-de-France."When Boris told us about SONARIS, Log'S didn't hesitate for a second to become a partner. We report all our problems to CEA! This translates into eight months of weekly exchanges, as well as workshops with the other partners.says Benjamin Laffineur.

At present, a software engineering team is managing the modeling of generic digital twins, developed around three axes: port activity, warehousing and the massification of flows. Each of these themes will be the subject of specific development via modeling objects and adapted interfaces."This is an ambitious project, starting in 2020 and ending in 2022. It's a challenging gamble, but one that will enable us to find collaborative and promising solutions for the development of the Supply Chain, and to anticipate the new needs of our customers while improving the efficiency of our processes".concludes Benjamin Laffineur.