Renault partnered with The Sandbox to launch the first ‘industrial Metaverse‘ in its virtual world. The project is part of Renault’s digital transformation, and the automotive company claims that by 2025, its Metaverse will generate savings of €320 million.

According to Renault, these savings will be added to €260m in savings on inventories, a 60% reduction in vehicle delivery time, and a 50% reduction in the carbon footprint of its vehicle manufacturing. Also, as the automotive company pointed out, right now, 100% of production lines are connected (8,500 pieces of equipment), 90% of supply flows are constantly monitored, and 100% of Supply Chain data is hosted in the Renault Group Metaverse, which is a true replica of the physical world controlled in real-time.

Engaged in Industry 4.0 since 2016, digital technology has already led to savings of €780 million, Renault says.

“Every day, a billion of data are collected within the Renault Group’s industrial sites. The Metaverse provides real-time supervision that increases the agility and adaptability of industrial operations and the quality of production and the Supply Chain. Renault Group is becoming a pioneer in the sector,” said Jose Vicente de Los Mozos, EVP, Industry Group and Head of country Iberia.

The control this industrial Metaverse provides through improved visibility of the work environment lets actors gain sharpness and autonomy in decision-making. Technologies from the world of gaming offer an immersive user experience. This is the case of painting training carried out in virtual reality. AI algorithms simplify the ability of employees to anticipate, as do flow optimization and management functions for Supply Chain experts.

“The technological maturity of Renault Group allows the company to reach an important step in its digitalization and transformation: the control of our data, the choice of advanced technologies, and the expertise of our teams are all levers to accelerate towards a Tech Company,” said Frédéric Vincent, EVP, Information Systems and Digital.

Renault’s industrial Metaverse: four dimensions

Renault’s industrial Metaverse consists of four dimensions. Mass data collection, digital twins of processes, connecting the Supply Chain ecosystem and a set of advanced technologies.

For each of its physical assets, Renault has developed a digital twin. The automotive company has developed a platform for collecting mass data to feed its industrial Metaverse. This data capture solution provides the levers for the performance of the production process in real time. In addition, Renault’s factories have replicas in the virtual world, while the Supply Chain also has its digitized ecosystem.

Renault has enriched these digital twins with supplier data, sales forecasts, quality information, and various exogenous information such as road traffic or weather. The automotive company takes advantage of Artificial Intelligence to develop predictive scenarios.

“This industrial Metaverse is unique and enables us to activate previously invisible efficiency and performance levers, to the benefit of people and the environment. The management of data at the Group level allows us to monitor, for example, the energy consumption of all our industrial and non-industrial sites in detail, and above all to optimize them in real-time when a plant is stopped,” said Patrice Haettel, VP, Industrial Strategy and Engineering.