Developing simulation approaches: a simple case of emulation for logic validation using tecnomatix plant simulation

Abstract Over the years, simulation and simulation tools have provided industry and many other sectors with an incredible number of options for the improvement of their processes. Together with the development of new technologies and industrial practices, simulation has also evolved leading to the new solution approaches, which are used in the context of the current industrial era or Industry 4.0. The present paper presents a take on the evolution of simulation leading up until Simulation 4.0 and some of its defining elements. Special emphasis is made in some of the approaches in this context as it is the case of the Emulation models or Digital Twins and the Virtual Commissioning ones. The paper also includes a simple application example that presents a developing simulation approach as it is the case of the emulation for logic validation. This is done from the optics of Tecnomatix Plant Simulation, which is a promising fast evolving tool offering not only great 3D capabilities but also sound analytics of the simulated instances.