Tomas Ambra, An Caris and Cathy Macharis
Transparency and information exchange are important parts of
synchromodality that contribute to better overview of options when
tackling delays, dynamic switching, and handling of unexpected events
that affect delivery lead-times and costs. The most challenging aspect
when making decisions in a complex adaptive dynamic system, is the
ever-changing environment as we introduce more flexibility which may
lead to more unpredictable outcomes. This paper presents 2 simple
illustrative cases to asses different transparency levels and the
adaptive behavior of assets; 1) a static case where assets do not have
the ability to respond proactively to disruptive events, and 2) a
dynamic case where assets have the ability to query their environmental
context and exchange information. The severity of the events is captured
by probability distribution functions by deploying Monte Carlo
simulations to showcase the potential benefits of the Digital Twin
concept in a synchromodal context. The links between current Digital
Twin applications and synchromodal transport are discussed in order to
spark a new wave of reducing uncertainties in dynamic environments.
Lastly, the paper sheds more light on how to connect closed virtual
simulations with the real physical system.