Latest news with #RoshanShah
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
SAS digital twins on Unreal Engine transform manufacturing
SAS is poised to help transform critical processes in the manufacturing industry with enhanced digital twins that combine SAS' powerful AI and advanced analytics with Unreal Engine (UE) from Epic Games. With these digital twins, manufacturers like Georgia-Pacific (GP) can experiment with new strategies in simulated digital worlds, then take the best approaches and implement them in the real world. Today's factories generate huge quantities of data from multiple systems and thousands of sensors. This data, if properly harnessed, can help optimise operations and achieve unprecedented efficiency, productivity and innovation. Digital twins at Georgia-Pacific One of the world's leading manufacturers of paper and wood-based building products, GP is piloting these enhanced digital twins at its Savannah River Mill, which manufactures napkins, paper towels and toilet tissue. GP is leveraging SAS' technology to optimise its use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and other processes. Operation Sindoor 'Op Sindoor's precision & execution was unimaginable': Rajnath Singh Operation Sindoor: India repels drone, missile attack across LoC Operation Sindoor: Several airports in India closed - check full list 'With the help of SAS and Unreal Engine, we can create realistic simulations of factory operations. Imagine watching AGVs navigate through a bustling factory floor, reacting to proximity alerts, obstacles and rare adverse events in real time," said Roshan Shah, GP's Vice President of AI & Products. 'The powerful analysis and photorealistic simulations delivered by SAS' enhanced digital twins can enable decision making and boost output at Savannah River Mill. And they hold great promise for improving productivity, safety and efficiency at other GP facilities.' SAS used RealityScan, a mobile app developed by Epic, to capture photorealistic renderings of GP's Savannah plant and import them into UE. Combining SAS analytics and UE is helping GP fine-tune operations without disrupting actual production lines. The pilot is expected to deliver cost savings and higher-quality products. The tech behind the digital twins 'With SAS' advanced analytics and Unreal Engine, GP created an amazing example for how a digital twin can create real-world value for businesses,' said Bill Clifford, Vice President and General Manager of Unreal Engine at Epic Games. 'SAS is opening the door for manufacturers to bring complex data and automated systems to life through 3D visuals. This will make high-fidelity, interactive digital twins more accessible so manufacturers can upgrade their operations, gain better real-time insights and save money. ' SAS software, including SAS® Viya® , helps turn massive amounts of data from factory operations and sensors into useful insights and smarter decisions. Part of the SAS offering connects UE simulations with Viya optimization routines. By integrating Viya capabilities into digital environments, users can run realistic simulations to find the best solutions. Instead of testing these solutions in the real world – which can be time-consuming and expensive – businesses can use detailed and accurate digital twins to spot any issues they might have missed. UE, the world's most open and advanced real-time 3D creation tool, enables developers and creators to build interactive 3D experiences. Epic also operates Fortnite, battle testing the latest UE rendering technology in one of the world's largest games. Epic makes this same technology available for use across games, film and television, architecture, automotive, simulation and other industries. The fidelity of Unreal's physics simulation and its next-generation lighting and refractive surface effects help create highly detailed and realistic digital models. These features allow manufacturers to visualise and interact with their operations in a digital environment, and when combined with advanced AI, lead to more accurate predictions and better business decisions. Beyond the manufacturing floor 'As manufacturers hire the next generation of workers, they need to make the use of data and AI more engaging and appealing,' said Bryan Harris, Chief Technology Officer of SAS. 'Gaming technology – for a generation that grew up playing video games – is one important way to transform business decision making from charts and spreadsheets to immersive experiences with amazing visual fidelity. Gamifying business processes and tasks can make them less repetitive and more engaging, boosting productivity and bottom-line results. ' The enhanced digital twins offered by SAS and tapping UE make advanced analytics more accessible to a wider group of people with varying job roles and experience. In addition to data scientists and quantitative experts, frontline workers, machine operators and engineers can now more easily use data and AI. SAS plans to extend these capabilities to additional manufacturers and explore other industries that could benefit from enhanced digital twins . For instance, in health care, these enhanced digital twins could significantly strengthen hospital operations by simulating and optimising patient flows, predicting equipment maintenance and enriching staff training. This technology could improve patient outcomes, reduce operational costs and ensure resources are used efficiently. Similarly, in urban planning, enhanced digital twins can model and optimise the development of smart cities, helping create more sustainable and livable urban environments. This announcement was made at SAS Innovate , the data and AI experience for business leaders, technical users and SAS Partners. This year's event is supported by our partner sponsors, including Microsoft, Intel and AWS.
Techday NZ
07-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
SAS & Epic Games bring digital twins to modern factories
SAS has introduced enhanced digital twins for manufacturing, integrating its artificial intelligence and analytics with Unreal Engine from Epic Games. Georgia-Pacific, a manufacturer of paper and wood-based building products, is currently piloting these digital twins at its Savannah River Mill. The facility produces items such as napkins, paper towels and toilet tissue. Georgia-Pacific is using SAS technology to optimise its deployment of automated guided vehicles and other manufacturing processes. Roshan Shah, Vice President of AI & Products at Georgia-Pacific, stated, "With the help of SAS and Unreal Engine, we can create realistic simulations of factory operations. Imagine watching AGVs navigate through a bustling factory floor, reacting to proximity alerts, obstacles and rare adverse events in real time. The powerful analysis and photorealistic simulations delivered by SAS' enhanced digital twins can enable decision making and boost output at Savannah River Mill. And they hold great promise for improving productivity, safety and efficiency at other GP facilities." RealityScan, a mobile application developed by Epic Games, was used by SAS to produce photorealistic renderings of the Savannah plant. These renderings are then imported into Unreal Engine. This allows Georgia-Pacific to refine its operations in a simulated environment, thereby avoiding disruption to its live production lines. Expectations for the pilot include cost savings and improvements in product quality. Bill Clifford, Vice President and General Manager of Unreal Engine at Epic Games, commented, "With SAS' advanced analytics and Unreal Engine, GP created an amazing example for how a digital twin can create real-world value for businesses. SAS is opening the door for manufacturers to bring complex data and automated systems to life through 3D visuals. This will make high-fidelity, interactive digital twins more accessible so manufacturers can upgrade their operations, gain better real-time insights and save money." The SAS software suite, which includes SAS Viya, is designed to analyse large volumes of data from manufacturing operations and sensors. The system enables users to run realistic simulations and find optimal solutions by integrating Unreal Engine simulations with Viya's optimisation algorithms. This approach allows manufacturers to test and refine strategies virtually before applying them to real-world processes, reducing time and financial expenditure. Unreal Engine provides developers and creators with tools to build interactive three-dimensional experiences. Epic Games also uses the technology in its consumer products, such as Fortnite, and offers the same rendering capabilities for use in industries including healthcare, automotive, simulation, architecture, and film and television. The real-time physics simulations, advanced lighting, and surface rendering features of Unreal Engine create highly detailed and realistic digital representations. These detailed simulations, when used alongside SAS's AI tools, can support more accurate forecasting and business planning for manufacturers. Addressing broader industry trends, Bryan Harris, Chief Technology Officer at SAS, said, "As manufacturers hire the next generation of workers, they need to make the use of data and AI more engaging and appealing. Gaming technology – for a generation that grew up playing video games – is one important way to transform business decision making from charts and spreadsheets to immersive experiences with amazing visual fidelity. Gamifying business processes and tasks can make them less repetitive and more engaging, boosting productivity and bottom-line results." The companies stated that the integration of SAS analytics and Unreal Engine is intended to make advanced analytics more widely accessible within manufacturing, extending beyond data specialists to frontline workers, engineers, and machine operators. SAS plans to expand the digital twin capabilities to additional manufacturing clients and also explore opportunities in other sectors. In healthcare, the technology could simulate and optimise patient flows, predict maintenance for medical equipment, and enrich staff training, with the potential to improve outcomes and resource efficiency. Urban planning is another potential application, where digital twins could aid in developing more sustainable and efficient smart cities.
