What is digital engineering?

This is the holistic building of digital models to come up with a complex product or system. It completely digitizes product development from planning, creation of 3d models, and digital prototyping to testing of various scenarios.

Application areas of digital engineering

Let’s look at some of the areas or industries that digital engineering is applied to come up with digital products:

• Automotive industry

The automotive industry is one of the most rapidly evolving industries in the world. Due to changes in customer preferences, climate change steep competition industry players are forced to be always on the move as far as innovation is concerned.

Manufacturers are now relying on digital engineering to make prototyping less costly and more efficient. Hence, saving time and money when bringing new products to the market.

• Processing Industry

This industry deals with the processing of raw, materials into finished products through various processes. Products produced include food and pharmaceuticals thus the demand for quality is very high. This is where digital engineering comes in. A Virtual twin, which is a digital reproduction of a real plant, is created to check on the performance of the real plant. The virtual twin is fed with data for simulation purposes to check on ways the performance of the real plant can be improved.

• Plant engineering

Digital engineering is applied in plant design in development and even testing. Its application greatly saves time and costs. Changing customers and market requirements are fast hitting plant and mechanical engineering sectors making them fall to innovative tools in digital engineering to reduce the time they use in the development and testing of designs and products.

Digital engineering features

• Cooperation in Augmented reality (AR)

Project members and other stakeholders like customers and suppliers can be brought live to meetings in augmented reality remotely.

• Editing in AR

AR CAD files can be edited at ease and whenever needed.

• File format independent

No matter the format of the file, in the digital engineering platform you can display any file format in AR.

• More files

You can display multiple files side by side, make comparisons and even extract components from the Cad file tree.

• Interactive streaming for Augmented Reality (ISAR) Technology

The CAD file can be rendered remotely and then streamed directly to the output device. This ensures that no valuable data is lost.

• The setting of reference points

Static reference points can be set in the real-world using image tracking and QR code.

Four Game changers of Digital Engineering

• Led to digital evolution

Digital engineering processes together with their supporting technologies are continuously evolving. Disruption of the traditional processes will continue and even the newest technologies today will be outdated in the future. Digital evolution will remain the only constant.

• Fundamental engineering principles prevail

By going digital the fundamental principles of engineering are not rendered obsolete. They are just enhanced. Students of engineering are still taught the classic engineering principles which are now supplemented with how and when to use digital tools.

• Collaborative practice is born

The emergence of digital platforms is changing the way we work together on projects. There is more collaboration between the project teams. The process is now more collaborative in terms of design and review.

• Improved optioneering

Some time back predicting the performance of a design was a daunting task. But now digital engineers can harness cloud processing to generate several design options and even test them virtually.

Benefits of digital engineering

Digitally engineering products can lead to digital transformation that can enhance business operations by developing and deploying solutions. Applying digital engineering to your project goes a long way to enhance efficiency, cost reduction, and scalability.

Let’s look at the benefits of digital engineering:

• Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT has made the world smarter. Together with its connected products they manage assets and ensure operations run smoothly. Data protection and security are also streamlined.

It helps in ensuring companies can monitor activities in for example manufacturing with smart sensors and IoT-enabled machines. Ensuring access to real-time data and in the process saving both time and money.

• AI and Machine learning

Many industries are now using AI and Machine learning to optimize Return on Investment. Customer behavior can now be monitored without human intervention and in the process enhance decision-making for decision-makers. With AI and ML businesses can now automate operations.

• DevOps

With DevOps accelerate the integration of development and testing. Repetitive tasks can be managed through automated scripts, infrastructure configured through automation and a reliable digital product that is feature-rich can be made within a lower time frame.

• Mobility Solutions

With seamless mobility solutions, comprehensive product development services can be achieved and you can differentiate your brand with User experience, Data Analytics, Software delivery, Quality engineering & DevOps.

The mobile app development company takes care of all aspects from Ideation, UX, design, and graphics to front-end development.

• Data engineering services

Using Digital engineering huge chunks of data can be modernized by companies to improve end-user satisfaction. The engineering team can validate and visualize structured and unstructured data using suitable tools and approaches.

Aligning data is essential to get data-driven insights and accelerate the growth of a business.

Essential tips for Digital engineers

• Learn how to code

While it is seen as a preserve of IT professionals, it’s a great skill engineers can nurture. Knowledge in coding will help in a great way when it comes to applying it in design.

• Effective communication and collaboration

Since most people including clients won’t understand the technical aspects involved in digital engineering, a digital engineer must bridge the gap and tell the story of digital engineering simply and understandably.

• Keep up with the digital evolution

With the digital world ever evolving a good digital engineer will keep to tabs on new technology which may in turn help them spot an opportunity to improve on their project.

• Diverse backgrounds and skills are important

To maximize the potential of the digital evolution, a digital team with members with diverse backgrounds is important. With people with different expertise and specializations, the development of progressive design solutions will be achieved.

Conclusion

To stay competitive while optimizing their processes for efficiency, effectiveness, and cost reduction, digital engineering is the way to go for businesses. The IoT and AI and ML are among new technologies in digital engineering that when applied can give businesses an edge over their competitors.

Contact Aalpha, to know more about digital engineering and its benefits