Digital twin gives Sleipner competitive edge Sleipner Finland Ltd manufactures and markets innovative and safe transport systems for tracked equipment. The company’s customers operate in the mining, quarrying and earth-moving industry. Sleipner products bring users significant savings by boosting productivity and reducing maintenance and fuel costs, and they reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 85% during transport. Case Sleipner Expertise Engineering Sleipner Finland markets and sells its products worldwide through distributors. In recent years, the company has focused strongly on its aftermarket service by developing a digital platform, or portal, that brings all aftermarket services under one user interface for the customer. Sleipner uses a digital twin of its product as part of the company’s digital aftermarket service. Digital twin digitalizes Sleipner’s aftermarket service Among the tasks of aftermarket service is to train users and distributors, as well as to ensure and maintain their know-how so that the end customer gets the full benefit of the product and knows how to safely use it. At Sleipner, future product training will take place on a digital twin, i.e. on a simulation model developed by Etteplan and Mevea Ltd, a company specializing in simulation software. "Etteplan’s strong role in the mechanical engineering of our product greatly contributed to the success of the digital twin project. We did not have to explain how our product works." Tomi Korhonen, Managing Director of Sleipner Finland Ltd. Roughly 80% of product training can be carried out on a digital twin The model simulates the transport of an excavator using Sleipner’s transport system. Both the excavator and the transport system have the exact same operational characteristics and performance as the physical machines. The excavator’s natural environment is also modeled in the simulation, which makes the user experience even more real. "The digital twin significantly lowers logistics and training costs and speeds up the commissioning of the machine. The most important benefit is the improvement in the machine’s utilization rate, as it no longer has to be taken out of the field for training purposes. This has a major cost impact, as a 400-ton excavator can load 25,400 tons in a 12-hour work shift.” Tomi Korhonen, Managing Director of Sleipner Finland Ltd. Increased customer satisfaction and market differentiation with digital twin Prior to the digital twin, training took place on the customer’s actual production machines, which reduced the utilization rate of the machines and thus temporarily reduced productivity. The digital twin brings major benefits to Sleipner’s customers. Taking the transport platform into use is faster, thanks to the digital twin: training can now be completed first as simulator training, and a day of practical training is sufficient, whereas it used to take an average of three days. There are also other significant cost savings to be had. Digital twin goes along in a briefcase The digital twin also opens up new opportunities for Sleipner in sales and marketing. – We see major potential to use the digital twin to help market our products. We can demo our products in any conceivable environment, even places where it would not be possible to go with our customers using the actual product. We can even use the model in the conference room, in an environmentally friendly way, to show what our machines can do. Nowadays, this is an important consideration for all industrial companies who manufacture large and heavy-duty industrial machinery, stresses Korhonen. Sleipner Finland’s future plans also include making use of the digital twin in product development. At some point, the digital twin can also be part of Sleipner’s product and service offering, whereby a digital twin of the product is sent to the customer along with the delivery and maintained by Sleipner. World-class engineering know-how meets simulation technology in digital twin – Etteplan’s expertise in mechanical and hydraulic engineering, 3D modeling and technical documentation combined with Mevea’s high-quality simulation software has been a guarantee for us that the digital twin meets our specific needs. We have been very happy both with the service we have received and with each partner’s vision of the solution and the potential it holds in terms of developing our business, says a pleased Korhonen.
EHTA-Test Factory: Transforming Pulp By-Products into Biofuel Tampere University is one of the most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. It brings together research and education in technology, health and society. The University is known for its excellence in teaching and research and it collaborates with hundreds of universities and organisations worldwide. Its’ community consists of 21,000 students and over 4,000 staff members from more than 80 countries.
Etteplan helped scaling Q Power's production capacity Q Power is an innovative Finnish company that specializes in power-to-x deliveries, offering cost-effective and highly efficient technologies for producing synthetic fuels to replace fossil fuels. Q Power’s patented technologies are designed to enable companies to transition towards a fossil-free and self-sufficient energy system, while decreasing their CO2 emissions. With a goal of providing 500 MW of production capacity for renewable synthetic fuels annually by the end of the decade, Q Power is fighting against climate change.
Active Alignment and Bonding of CMOS-to-Lens for Adimec's high-performance cameras Adimec, a leading provider of reliable and high-performance industrial camera systems, is known for delivering crisp, clear images for the machine vision, global security, and healthcare applications. Achieving high accuracy during the alignment and bonding of CMOS sensors to lens systems is critical for ensuring optimal image quality. To accomplish this, Adimec was supported by Etteplan. By combining active alignment with bonding methods, Adimec creates metrology cameras that offer superior resolution and exceptional performance.
VTT and Etteplan Partnership Paves the Way for Finnish MedTech Innovation VTT is one of Europe’s leading science and technology organization. We are owned by the Finnish state. We advance the utilisation and commercialisation of research and technology in commerce and society. Through scientific and technological means, we turn large global challenges into sustainable growth for businesses and society. We bring together people, business, science and technology to solve the biggest challenges of our time.
Developing Autonomous Smart Wood Processing Solutions with ANDRITZ ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors as well as for animal feed and biomass pelleting. Other important business segments include automation and service business. The publicly listed technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria, and has a staff of approximately 29,100 employees. ANDRITZ operates more than 280 sites in over 40 countries.
Valmet develops green-transition technology that replaces plastic with new fiber products - Etteplan part of the project team Valmet is a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. With Valmet’s automation systems and flow control solutions the company serves an even wider base of process industries. Valmet has over 220 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement and renewal.
