Would you like to use emulation and virtual commissioning in your projects, or assess whether a digital twin would be worthwhile for your plant?
SimPlan supports companies in implementing emulation solutions, carrying out virtual commissioning of control systems, and developing digital twins for production and logistics.
From concept to customer support: Royal Kaak’s digital engineering approach with Emulate3D
Royal Kaak builds complete production lines for industrial bakeries, under the motto ‘From silo to truck’. The company employs around 850 staff and is regarded as the global market leader in loaf bread production lines. Because each line is individually configured, Royal Kaak relies on the Emulate3D simulation software, not just during one phase of a project, but throughout the entire project lifecycle.
Initial situation: Complex systems are time-consuming to plan, commission and service
Visualising a future baking line based exclusively on CAD drawings can be challenging for customers. Furthermore, conventional on-site commissioning requires significant time and resources, as all mechanical, electrical, and control components must first be integrated before system validation can begin.
In addition, servicing complex production lines is a time-consuming and costly process. Faults may originate from interactions between mechanical, electrical and control systems, making root-cause analysis difficult. Consequently, troubleshooting often requires highly skilled personnel and can result in extended machine downtime.
Objective: To use Emulate3D throughout the entire process, from sales animations to after-sales service
Royal Kaak aimed to leverage Emulate3D throughout the entire project lifecycle: as an animation tool during the sales phase, as a simulation platform in engineering for validating cycle times and throughput, as a virtual commissioning environment for verifying control logic before start-up, and as a service tool for remote diagnostics and support.
Solution: Emulate3D with custom scripts and AI-powered tools
SimPlan provided Royal Kaak with licenses for Emulate3D, developed by Rockwell Automation. Royal Kaak primarily uses the CITM (“CAD Is The Model”) principle of Emulate3D, whereby physics and motion can directly be added to the CAD. This enables Royal Kaak to use Emulate3D for animation, simulation and emulation. Animation is used for visualization, simulation for performance analysis, and emulation for accurately replicating machine control behaviour.
While the standard functionality of Emulate3D addresses approximately 80% of Royal Kaak’s requirements, the open platform of Emulate3D enabled the company to enhance the platform by developing more than 70 proprietary C# extensions, including tools for automated modelling, performance and reality enhancement and improved visualization.
To automate the Eplan reconciliation process, Royal Kaak developed an AI-assisted solution that automatically extracts PLC addresses from Eplan documentation, aligns them with the simulation model, and generates mapping recommendations using an Auto-Match algorithm. In a second AI-driven project, the company trained a machine learning agent with Emulate3D to coordinate multiple conveyor systems, enabling the precise segmentation of large product batches into smaller, uniformly distributed groups.
Results: Less manual effort, greater precision
- Reduced engineering effort and faster project execution by using CAD-based models for animation, simulation and emulation.
- Improved validation and commissioning efficiency through virtual testing of machine performance and control logic, enabling issues to be identified and resolved before physical start-up.
- Approximately 90% reduction in engineering effort during the Eplan reconciliation process, while eliminating manual input errors through automated address matching.
- Supporting the engineering phase by employing A.I. in automating repetitive tasks, such as data processing, model generation, and validation, thereby reducing engineering effort and minimizing human error.
- Enabling Remote maintenance, for engineers to diagnose, analyse, and troubleshoot machine behaviour remotely using a digital replica of the production line, reducing the need for on-site interventions.
Simulation as an end-to-end tool throughout the entire project lifecycle
The case of Royal Kaak demonstrates that a simulation platform delivers benefits throughout the entire project lifecycle, from initial customer contact through to after-sales service. Because artificial intelligence also takes over repetitive tasks such as data reconciliation, more time is available for the actual development work. Companies in the manufacturing and logistics sectors would therefore be well advised to consider at which points in their own plant lifecycle simulation and AI can have the greatest impact.
