Session

Track: Application & Implementation

Leveraging Digital Twins for Enhanced Facilities Management: A Promising Integration
John Niles

In recent years, the convergence of digital twin technologies has presented unprecedented opportunities for optimizing facilities management (FM) practices in the commercial world.

Digital twins encompass technologies such as building information modeling, laser scanning, photogrammetry, and asset data; it facilitates the creation of accurate digital representations of physical objects. These technologies empower FM professionals to capture intricate details of facilities, ranging from architectural nuances to spatial configurations, with unparalleled precision and efficiency.

However, the true value of digital twins emerges when coupled with IoT, and advanced AI-driven analytics with decision-making algorithms.

AI algorithms can process vast amounts of captured data to derive actionable insights for FM tasks, including predictive maintenance, space utilization optimization, energy efficiency enhancements, and asset management.

This integration offers several benefits to FM practitioners. First, it enables proactive maintenance strategies by predicting equipment failures before they occur, minimizing downtime and operational disruptions. Second, AI-powered analytics facilitate data-driven decision-making, allowing FM teams to effectively allocate resources and prioritize tasks based on real-time insights.

But the adoption of digital twins in FM is not without challenges. Data privacy concerns, interoperability issues, and the need for specialized skill sets pose hurdles that must be addressed to unlock the full potential of this integration.

The integration of digital twins technology holds immense promise for revolutionizing FM practices.

Digital Twins: Advanced Spatial Intelligence to Support Facility Operations and Maintenance
Brian Melton & Robert Eckdahl

Digital twins are becoming widespread across various industries, yet their uses significantly can vary. Ask 10 people about their idea of digital twins, and you might get 10 different responses.

This presentation focuses on a specific application of digital twins: enhancing spatial insights by integrating building information modeling (BIM) data for facility operations.

We are working through a pilot implementation of a BIM-enabled spatial digital twin and are excited to share some insights on what it takes to connect BIM data with facility management. We would like to discuss how a spatial twin might offer practical benefits for operations and maintenance teams.

This presentation will feature some digital solutions we’ve deployed to explore and assess the value of this technology. Our discussion will touch on the integration and convergence of BIM, GIS, and CMMS information. We will share some behind-the-scenes details about the impact of how BIM data is created and its alignment with facility operations systems. This includes the level of detail in BIM data, its organization, and how current record modeling processes might impact BIM usage.

Our findings also reveal there may be additional advancements required in the delivery processes to ensure BIM turnover is better aligned for operational use cases. By highlighting some of these specifics, we hope to discuss areas where improvements are necessary to optimize the handover of BIM data, making it more practical and valuable for facility operations.

Through applied research with customers, we’re trying to uncover the value of a BIM-enabled digital twin and we hope to unlock new spatial insights for their staff, streamline information access, and lay the groundwork for continued innovation. By bringing more awareness to the intricacies of BIM data creation and its alignment with facility management, we are excited to help pave the way for more efficient and effective facility operations workflows and use cases.