PTC and ANSYS have a solution that will enable ANSYS engineering simulation technology to be rapidly added to applications built on the ThingWorx Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform from PTC.

Development of a connector between these two technology platforms will enable customers to transform raw data into new forms of actionable intelligence. The connector will integrate intelligent digital simulation models with products as they exist and operate in the real world.

This will open up new opportunities for companies to create value by enabling them to optimize operations and maintenance and to integrate them into their product development processes.

Simulation helps companies understand situations that may occur – such as a product failure – as early as the design phase. When faced with limited access to rich historical data, companies can leverage simulation models to generate an initial “as designed” set of expected outcomes or product performance.

The results of these simulations act as a rich source of data that can be used for supervised machine learning and predictive modelling. The ongoing connection between real-world performance, simulation, and machine learning helps companies make sense of data that can lead to predictive models and a more insightful feedback loop, enabling them to improve product design and modelling.

The IoT is making it possible to create a digital twin that combines real-time data about a physical product with the organisation’s digital information about the product. Simulating digital twins provides advanced intelligence and insight into a product’s behaviours.

The combination of the ThingWorx platform capabilities with ANSYS simulation models will enable companies to deploy powerful applications that can analyse current operating conditions, rapidly identify and diagnose operations issues, predict future operating conditions, and improve product performance. PTC and ANSYS will make the capabilities of this solution available within IoT applications developed on ThingWorx.

Simulation technology combined with machine learning can help Industrial IoT solution builders identify and make sense of the data needed to improve product design and performance – and develop next-generation products.

Many customers are looking to digital twins to disrupt their industries by drastically lowering their operating and maintenance costs and by marketing their products as optimised services in real time,” said Eric Bantegnie, ANSYS general manager.