Every day, we are hearing more and more about how digital twins are transforming supply chain and logistics operations for companies all over the world. Our friends at Neo4j recently wrote in IoTNow about the benefits of unifying digital twin technology and graph technology to provide context for making holistic decisions.
"Prior to the pandemic, we used to talk about Big Data. Now, the move is toward what Gartner terms ‘Small and wide’ data. Small and wide data provides more context, especially for machine learning programs, and this is what we need to address. The fact is Small and Wide cannot be analyzed with traditional technologies. When such complex data gets ingested into a property graph store, relationships between data are coded in. These relationships provide the first level of context to data. In a graph, this ‘dynamic context’ means the graph grows and gets increasingly rich as new information is dynamically added."
Creating a digital twin of a supply chain using a knowledge graph can result in a rich, reactive representation of complexity. This becomes highly useful in the context of supply chains, which are complex multi-dimensional connected digital networks. Knowledge graphs can connect all the facets of supply chains, providing a context for making holistic decisions.
Digital twin knowledge graphs can help managers better organize, analyze, and visualize their data, providing an in-depth picture of all the products, suppliers, and facilities in the supply chain, along with their interrelationships.
The article also outlines the benefits of using digital twins and knowledge graphs for supply chain optimization:
- Improved visibility: Digital twins can provide a real-time view of the entire supply chain, from suppliers to customers. This can help businesses to identify and address problems more quickly.
- Increased efficiency: Digital twins can be used to optimize the flow of goods through the supply chain. This can lead to reduced costs and improved customer service.
- Enhanced resilience: Digital twins can be used to simulate different scenarios, such as disruptions or changes in demand. This can help businesses to develop contingency plans and to mitigate risks.
Overall, digital twins and knowledge graphs are powerful tools that can be used to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and resilience of supply chains.
