By Assoc. Prof. Dr. Porn Virulrak, Independent Scholar [email protected]
- Vice President of the BIM Association of Thailand
- Expert in Digital Twin Technology in Thailand
- CEO of Asset Activator

In the previous article Digital Twin: The Virtual Partner in Digital Transformation for Commercial Property Management, we discussed What is Digital Twin? and What are its overall benefits? Today, we will share a real-life example of its application, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as society transitions into the New Normal. Many people are asking, When will we return to normal? When can we meet again? When can we physically interact?

The reason people long for face-to-face interactions is that we are social creatures. Even with the internet connecting us globally, the feeling of meeting in person cannot be replaced by online interactions.

Nowadays, when we need to discuss important matters, we still want to meet in person. Although we can see each other through video calls, it doesn't replicate the feel of being physically present in the same space.

On the other hand, people are beginning to realize that after a year of Working from Home, the benefits include better time management. The most evident advantage is the reduction in travel time and expenses, along with improved collaboration since everyone can easily click into any meeting room they desire immediately (though some say they are working harder as well).

Many analysts, both Management Consultants and Tech Companies, agree that many organizations see the benefits of the Work from Home phenomenon and will not return to the traditional office work model. The COVID-19 crisis has pushed everyone in organizations to learn how to use technology and adapt effectively.

As people start to understand that Working from Home is the new norm, they will begin to Work from the place they want to be, leading to a Work from Anywhere mentality to improve their quality of life.

From an organizational management perspective, many employees have adapted to the point where they can confidently say their organizations have transformed into a Permanent Remote Work model. However, Permanent Remote Work does not mean that organizations will no longer have office space; it simply means they will have less office space.

Old problems in offices still exist, but the difference is that when issues arise, the problem solvers or decision-makers are often not present in the office at that moment. This poses a significant management challenge. Having experts available to solve problems and decision-makers present at the site of the issue can expedite resolutions. The need for external personnel to come in for repairs or adjustments will be less frequent. However, in a COVID world where no one is on-site, problem-solving becomes challenging, leading to repeated analyses and decisions, which increases the risk of infection.

This article will illustrate two scenarios of the current Permanent Remote Work world: one with an office building without Digital Twin and one with Digital Twin.
The starting event involves an office building where Company A rents a space of 400 square meters. A beautiful ceiling section worth millions collapsed in the middle of the meeting room, damaging the sprinkler pipe, breaking the sprinkler head, and flooding the meeting room. Fortunately, there was no meeting at that time; otherwise, there could have been injuries.

The World Without Digital Twin Based on a Real Incident

From this point onward, I will compare the workflow and procedures of a building that does not utilize Digital Twin technology.

What the building has is a stack of construction plans on large paper for reference.

Step 1: The administrative staff of Company A calls the building technician to report the ceiling collapse.

Step 2: The building technician (external personnel enters the office for the first time) comes to assess the situation, shuts off the water valve, and confirms that the ceiling has indeed collapsed. However, he informs the administrative staff that this ceiling is not part of the building but belongs to Company A's contractor. They need to speak with this contractor. The building has sustained damage as the ceiling has collapsed and affected the building's sprinkler system, which must be reported to the building manager.

Step 3: The administrative staff quickly calls their boss because, in addition to the ceiling damage, the carpet on the floor is also ruined, and the company will have to pay the building.

Step 4: The boss calls the manager of the ceiling contractor to send a technician to assess the site.

Step 5: Meanwhile, the building technician, knowing that the sprinkler needs repair, contacts the sprinkler repair technician and sends photos for review.

Step 6: The ceiling technician assesses the damage on-site (external personnel enters the building for the second time) and informs the administrative staff that they will send a repair technician with equipment to fix it.

Step 7: The administrative staff informs the building manager according to protocol about bringing in external technicians for repairs. The building manager asks how Company A will repair the ceiling if they are closing it off. In summary, they must wait for the sprinkler technician to fix the sprinkler first.

Step 8: The sprinkler repair team is called to assess the site (external personnel enters the building for the third time) to analyze and evaluate what equipment and parts are needed to repair the pipe and replace the head, as the photos previously sent by the building team were incomplete. They then call the repair team to schedule another repair date.

Step 9: The sprinkler repair team arrives to fix the issue, taking before and after photos (external personnel enters the building for the fourth time). The building technician reports to the supervisor to process the damage claim in the system, preparing to charge the office rental company.

Step 10: The ceiling contractor arrives to repair the ceiling, completing the process (external personnel enters the building for the fifth time). Everything looks as it did before.

Step 11: Later, the executives of Company A, who have never been to this office, learn about the sprinkler claim from the building and are dissatisfied. They request a meeting with the building manager, who brings evidence and various photos from the day of the incident for review. The executives then concede due to the evidence.

Step 12: To prevent such incidents from happening again, the executives of the office rental company order an architect to inspect the ceiling's integrity by opening it (as much as possible) to evaluate the specifications and construction plans (external personnel enters the building for the sixth time).

Step 13: The architect informs the executives in a report that upon opening the ceiling and reviewing the installation details, it does not match the specifications in the plans (this is the first time anyone has opened the plans), and some areas are at risk of collapsing again.

Step 14: The same executive from the office rental company calls the construction contractor to redo the ceiling entirely.

Step 15: In summary, the contractor removes the entire ceiling and rebuilds it (external personnel enters the building for the seventh time), with the architect supervising the work to ensure it meets specifications.

Such issues with technicians, if they occurred before the COVID-19 era, would have been seen as inefficient and annoying. However, in this era, having various external personnel enter the office multiple times poses a risk of infection. Some buildings or offices undergoing renovations have even closed their offices and hired external supervisors. Therefore, the time taken to complete this process could take up to two months.

The World with Digital Twin in the Near Future
In the same incident as above, the difference is that the building has Digital Twin technology and a supporting team for data.

Step 1 and Step 2 would not differ from the previous incident, but when considering the next steps:
Step 3: The building technician consults with the building manager, opens the Digital Twin of the project, and notes where the sprinkler should be located and who in the Digital Twin database is involved in the damage.

Step 4: The building manager retrieves stakeholders from the Digital Twin database, including the building team, the sprinkler company, the ceiling contractor, and the tenant company, and invites them to an online meeting to compare what should be (Digital Twin) with what is (actual damage).

Step 5: During the meeting, the building technician is on standby to live stream via camera, climbing to inspect the ceiling and assess the damage (external personnel enters the building for the second time), while the Digital Twin team prepares to open the Digital Model for real-time comparison.

Step 6: The meeting begins with all involved parties, from operational staff to management and some executives with decision-making power, joining online. The building technician presents the damage to the ceiling and the sprinkler.

What is discovered is that the ceiling was not installed correctly according to the Digital Twin model, leading to its collapse and subsequent damage to the sprinkler. The manager of the ceiling construction company concedes to the data, acknowledges it, and agrees to correct it all while taking responsibility for the sprinkler repair costs directly, including the damaged carpet. Everything is resolved in the online meeting, and a resolution is recorded.

Step 7: They move on to the repair planning agenda, knowing that the sprinkler repair will take no more than 3 hours and the ceiling will take no more than 12 hours. They schedule the repairs for the same day, which is a Saturday, and finalize the arrangements.

During the meeting, the sprinkler repair team requests the building technician, who is live streaming, to show important angles and compare them with the Digital Twin to confirm the pipe parts that need to be replaced. The Digital Twin team supports the display of the model for both the sprinkler and ceiling repair teams to see what the correct original design looks like - the work is completed successfully.

Step 8: The ceiling and sprinkler repair teams enter the building to fix the issues on the same day (external personnel enters the building for the third time).

Some may argue that the hero of this story is “online meetings” or “the coordination skills of the technicians”, but in reality, Digital Twin is the true hero that differentiates the management of these two scenarios.

Why? Online meetings are not the hero.
Some may ask why the first scenario did not involve an online meeting. The reason for not having a meeting is that there was no concept of collaboration from the outset of the working principles.

Currently, the working style of technicians is to fix whatever issue arises. If there is a data problem, they refer to the construction plans; if they cannot find it, they guess based on the site. This is a reactive way of working.

Using Digital Twin Technology in buildings is not just about hiring someone to create a 3D Model and having Data. It is about ‘arming’ the team, especially the building managers, with collaboration from the start. The building technicians and construction contractors in buildings with Digital Twin must coordinate data from the office decoration design phase. Therefore, these groups have established relationships and familiarity through the process of merging the Digital Twin Database between the building's Digital Twin and the Digital Twin of Interior Works compared to the old process of simply stacking construction plans and interior designs together (I will elaborate on this in future discussions).

Thus, the answer to why there was no online meeting in the first scenario is that they did not know each other and were not familiar with collaborative data sharing. Each person viewed their work as separate and only focused on their tasks. Therefore, even with online meeting technology, it would have been of no use.

As for whether the hero is the employees' capabilities, the answer is ‘no’ because their skills have always existed, but they could not utilize them. Digital Twin is the “enabler” that enhances employees' efficiency, not just in technical work but also in management, as they have all the information at hand regarding construction, time, and personnel.

If there were no Digital Twin technology, even if everyone could meet online in real-time, presenting construction data in the old-fashioned way, which would still be on paper or blueprints, would not be comprehensible to executives.

Digital Twin Model is a 3D model that resembles the actual building, requiring no special skills to understand this data, similar to playing an online game that everyone can comprehend.

If only paper plans were available, it would be impossible to convey the understanding of the issues to the senior executives of all parties involved. The only thing executives would understand would be the “image of the damage” from the technician's live video under the ceiling.

Having a Digital Twin allows for a model that can display the building, showing pipes or ceilings that are typically not visible, enabling employees to present “the image of what should be”.

When everyone sees both “the image of what should be complete and correct” (by Digital Twin) and “the image of the damage that occurred” (Physical Situation) side by side, it makes negotiations for resolutions easier because everyone understands and agrees simultaneously without needing extensive explanations.

In contrast to the first scenario, the building technician knew that explaining would not be understood by the general public, and the various supervisors from each side would likely conflict, so they opted to fix things gradually at the operational level, completing the work at the technician level, leading to seven rounds of entry into the site.

Using Digital Twin for building management in the New Normal era will enhance collaboration by viewing a single set of data, making Permanent Remote Work more efficient, reducing communication conflicts. When everyone understands the same thing, it will lead to a decrease in the number of work iterations and inherently reduce the risk of infection.

Today, many newly constructed buildings in Thailand are already utilizing Digital Twin technology in their construction. If you are a client or building owner, you may already have a Digital Twin at your disposal; you just need to know how to twist and apply it in asset management to enhance work efficiency and create safety against disease outbreaks.