FANUC UK

FANUC UK, a specialist in industrial robotics and automation for the automotive sector, faced a common but costly dilemma: the appetite for innovation was consistently tempered by the financial and operational risk of investing in new, radically different production equipment. In automotive manufacturing, where production line continuity is critical and downtime carries significant downstream costs, committing capital to unproven equipment configurations creates real exposure. Without a reliable way to validate new systems before physical deployment, the business risked both floor space inefficiency and production disruption — a status quo that constrained throughput growth and limited competitive responsiveness.

To de-risk equipment investment decisions, FANUC UK partnered with Rockwell Automation to implement a digital twin approach using Rockwell's Emulate3D simulation platform. The digital twin created a virtual replica of the proposed production environment, allowing engineers to model, test, and validate new equipment configurations — including the 5380 Compact GuardLogix safety controller — before any physical installation. This virtual commissioning approach meant that control logic, safety interlocks, and throughput scenarios could all be stress-tested in simulation, dramatically compressing the validation cycle. By integrating the digital twin with the broader Allen-Bradley control architecture, the team could iterate on layouts and workflows without touching the live production floor, preserving operational continuity throughout the evaluation process.

The digital twin implementation delivered measurable improvements across throughput, space utilisation, and operational resilience:

• +15% throughput increase projected at full production — validated through simulation before any physical commitment
• Improved asset utilisation: better use of available floor space through optimised equipment layout modelling
• Reduced disruption risk: ability to maintain live operations during equipment evaluation, avoiding knock-on impacts across production lines
• Enhanced worker safety: improved control over factory floor operations via validated GuardLogix safety configurations

The simulation-first approach compressed time-to-market for the new line configuration and gave stakeholders the confidence to approve investment without requiring a physical pilot.

• Digital twins shift investment decisions from belief to evidence — simulation-validated throughput projections reduce the subjectivity that typically stalls capital approval.
• Virtual commissioning protects production continuity: testing control logic in simulation means the live line is not exposed to integration risk during evaluation.
• Safety system validation benefits significantly from digital twins — GuardLogix configurations can be proven before deployment, reducing physical commissioning time and risk.
• The ROI case is strongest when floor space and throughput are constrained — layout optimisation in simulation surfaces gains that would otherwise require costly physical trial-and-error.
• Vendor partnership matters: Rockwell Automation's Emulate3D integrates directly with Allen-Bradley control systems, reducing the engineering overhead of building a representative simulation.