Virtualization of a palletizer: a digital twin pre-implementation

This thesis is part of a corporate project aimed at virtualizing an industrial machine as a preliminary phase toward a future digital twin implementation. The primary objective was to develop a virtual model of an industrial machine capable of faithfully replicating its operational cycle and demonstrating its simulated behavior. The industrial machine considered was a palletizer, an automatic machine designed to receive simple boxes and, through a sequence of operations, position them on a pallet located in a storage station within the machine. To meet the project’s requirements, the software used to create this digital twin pre-implementation was Automation Studio, a design and simulation software that enabled an accurate recreation of the machine based on its real structure by analyzing the electrical, pneumatic, and control schematics of the industrial machine to reproduce them within the software. This approach ensured consistency in the results, as demonstrated by the accurate reproduction of an operational cycle. The importance of this work lies in its ability to provide a solid foundation for the future development of a complete digital twin, linking the simulation model to the real-time data of the physical machine. The preliminary simulation presented in this thesis thus represents an essential first step toward the adoption of digital twin technologies, paving the way for a digital transformation that could significantly impact business productivity and competitiveness. In conclusion, this thesis aims to highlight the benefits of a simulation-based pre-implementation as an immediate and valuable alternative for companies looking to improve their processes without facing the complexities of a full-scale digital transformation.