Empowering plant management with digital twins, 2D/3D visualization, and AI-driven operations

Key takeaways

Immersive, Real-Time Insights: The IRIS Foundry™ Digital Twins application transforms traditional dashboards into interactive, real-time models, providing plant managers and operators with a deep, contextual understanding of their entire facility and its performance.
AI-Driven Alert and Maintenance Intelligence: Integrated AI models enhance alert management by classifying severity and predicting root causes, while work order management supports a shift towards predictive and prescriptive maintenance—improving reliability and reducing downtime.
Asset-Centric Operations: Assets are organized hierarchically and each is represented as a digital twin, enabling users to drill down into specific equipment, analyze performance trends, access sensor data, and find documentation, facilitating informed and rapid decision-making.
Interactive 3D Visualization: A fully interactive 3D plant model visualizes the digital twin, letting users quickly identify problem areas, access detailed information, and bridge the gap between digital data and physical assets for faster, more effective responses.
AI Copilot and Natural Language Interface: An embedded AI copilot provides actionable recommendations and can generate work orders, while a natural language interface allows users to instantly locate and interact with assets, streamlining navigation and further reducing time-to-action.

How digital twins and AI are revolutionizing plant management

In complex industrial environments, where downtime can cost millions and operational visibility is critical, plant managers and operators need more than dashboards. They need an intelligent, immersive understanding of their facilities. Digital Twins application, built on top of the IRIS Foundry™ platform, delivers exactly that— harnessing the power of real-time data, AI insights, and digital twin technology to create a living, interactive model of the plant that elevates decision-making, performance, and responsiveness. [1]

From Dashboards to Digital Twins: Real-Time Insights Reimagined

The journey begins with a dynamic AI-powered Digital Twins dashboard that offers a comprehensive view of plant performance in real time. By leveraging contextualized data and models built into IRIS Foundry, key metrics like Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) are front and center, with drill-down capabilities into 24-hour, 7-day, and 30-day trends. Plant managers can see the contributing factors to OEE, quickly understand how different units (such as the hydro, FCC, or crude units) are performing, and compare their output and efficiency.

Beyond OEE, the dashboard also tracks:

Production throughput
Barrels per day
Throughput efficiency
Active alerts
Work order trends

Every data point connects directly to a real asset within the digital twin, allowing users to transition seamlessly from performance metrics to root cause analysis and targeted action. This level of visibility allows operators to stay ahead of potential issues and continuously improve performance. [2]

AI-Augmented Alert and Work Order Intelligence

Alert management is enhanced with intelligent classification by severity, duration, and operational risk to enable quick triage. Users can filter alerts by date range or severity and immediately identify which ones remain open or have been resolved. AI models evaluate each alert’s potential impact, referencing historical patterns and real-time data to provide root cause analysis and actionable recommendations.

Work order management is also fully integrated with the digital twin model, showing daily trends in the creation and completion of tasks. It categorizes work orders by type—preventive, corrective, emergency, predictive, and inspection—helping organizations shift toward more predictive maintenance strategies. Distributions by status (e.g., complete, in progress, overdue) and priority help ensure that the most critical tasks are front and center. AI-driven insights support a shift from reactive fixes to condition-based and prescriptive maintenance, reflecting a more mature maintenance strategy. [3]

Asset-Centric Operations Powered by the IRIS Foundry Digital Twin

Through intuitive navigation based on ISA-95 hierarchy, plant assets are organized from the enterprise level down to individual components. Every component-whether a storage tank, pipeline, or heat exchanger-is part of a real-time digital twin that reflects its operational state.

Each asset page includes:

Asset overview and status
OEE performance trends
Active alerts and related work orders
Sensor data visualizations (including multi-sensor comparisons)
Linked documentation such as maintenance guides or safety manuals

This enables a deep, contextual understanding of each asset and its operational state, making it easier to diagnose and act on issues. [4]

Immersive 3D Visualization: The Digital Twin in Action

One of the most powerful features of the application is its fully interactive 3D plant model that brings the digital twin to life. Color-coded indicators highlight assets with critical alerts or maintenance activities. Users can click into any asset, zoom in for details, and instantly access sensor data, documentation, or alert history.

The model seamlessly integrates with the asset hierarchy, allowing users to jump from a list view to a full 3D visualization. For instance, selecting a process pipeline in the hierarchy will automatically highlight it within the 3D model, showing its exact location and operational state. This integration bridges the gap between logical data and physical reality, enhancing operator awareness and accelerating response time. [5]

AI Copilot for Smarter Operations

An embedded AI copilot acts as a real-time decision support tool by providing actionable insights for each alert. When an anomaly is detected, for example, a high-temperature alert, the system presents:

Probable causes
Recommended actions
Contributing sensor data
Technical details and historical trends
Resolution times for similar alerts

Operators can either acknowledge the alert or go a step further—generate a fully populated work order directly from the alert. The system auto-populates relevant details, including procedures, and suggests available operators by shift. With just a few clicks, a task can be accurately assigned and dispatched.

Execution-Ready Operations with Warehouse and Inventory Integration

The system goes beyond planning and into execution readiness. When a work order is created, the application checks warehouse inventory to confirm the availability of required tools and parts. It identifies potential blockers—like an unavailable control valve—and pinpoints where the needed items are stored within the warehouse.

This real-time validation ensures work orders are not only created efficiently but are also actionable, preventing wasted time and unplanned delays.

Natural Language Interface for Instant Navigation

Need to locate a specific asset? Just ask. With a simple prompt like “Show me heat exchanger 006 in 3D,” the system highlights the exact location within the 3D model. From there, users can review work orders, inspect past alerts, and understand surrounding asset conditions.

This natural language capability removes friction from plant operations and dramatically shortens time-to-insight. [6]

Conclusion: From Visualization to Optimization with Digital Twins and AI

This application offers more than just visualization—it brings together immersive 2D/3D modeling, real-time data, AI-driven insights, and a fully integrated digital twin framework to empower plant managers and operators. Built on the IRIS Foundry platform, it unifies plant data, contextualizes it with AI, and delivers it in an interface that’s intuitive, responsive, and highly actionable. Whether it’s monitoring performance, responding to alerts, planning maintenance, or navigating a massive facility in 3D, users have everything they need at their fingertips.

In an era where industrial operations are more dynamic and demanding than ever, this kind of intelligence is not optional-it’s essential for staying agile, minimizing downtime, increasing efficiency, and maintaining a competitive edge.