ExxonMobil Uses Digital Twins and Open Architecture in the Industrial Metaverse

/

ExxonMobil has been open about its approach to building a digital reality ecosystem. It has been purposefully working toward open data infrastructure, cross-departmental data access, and data-driven decision-making. 

From Youtube

At this year’s ARC Forum, Michael Hotaling, Operations Excellence Digital Manager at ExxonMobil, talked about moving to an open, visual path to the industrial metaverse in a session titled, “Building the Industrial Metaverse on Open Digital Twins.”

He pointed out that most current digital twins have a single use case, but open digital twins that support multiple use cases would multiply the benefits across an enterprise. The vision is to have something similar to OPA—Open Process Automation, which is a set of open standards for process automation architecture—for digital twins. 

An set of open digital twin standards would help overcome many of the challenges enterprises face in scaling digital twins, which according to Hotaling, including:

  • Siloed data this is not interoperable

  • Multiple data types and fidelity levels of 3D visualization

  • Limited set of standards gilding 3D assets

  • Fragmented sustainment mechanisms

  • Data governance and ownership

  • Limited maturity of integration with work processes


In addition to open architecture, Hotaling also shared how ExxonMobil is moving toward using reality capture in its digital twins, rather than relying solely on CAD models. He reiterated the move from siloed data to an integrated 3D data ecosystem:

Read more about this shift and ExxonMobil’s data approach.

By opening up the data infrastructure, the goals are to:

  • Separate data and software

  • Allow plug-and-play agnostic integration

  • Enable rapid innovation and value creation

  • Establish a multiverse of suppliers to support the value case

Hotaling’s ultimate message is that the industry—producers, suppliers, and everyone along the value chain—need to work together to create open standards that go beyond a single digital twin or even an individual organization. 

Do you want to hear the latest from ExxonMobil on the next steps for their Digital Reality Ecosystem and Open Digital Twins? Join us for Industrial Immersive Week, August 28-30, 2023, in Houston, Texas to learn the latest from ExxonMobil and many other Energy XR Leaders on Industrial Reality Capture, Digital Twins and Asset Management. Learn more!