The research line "Digital Twin of Process and Plant" seeks to improve the capacity to be able to develop digital twins of Navantia's facilities and production processes, through the development of demonstration pilots to emphasize the value and functionality of this type of solution, validating its practical utility in order to improve workshop and production management.

Thus, this research line will be demonstrated through the execution of three pilot projects that will guide the entire development process:

• An automated cell for mounting supports. This cell includes a handling robot and another for automated welding.
• An automated cell for the manufacture of smaller preforms and/or intermediate products (base plate plus reinforcements) belonging to the group of smaller construction elements of a ship (dimensions 1m x 1m x 1m and maximum weight of 15 Kg). The manufacture will consist of the collection of the elements from the transport unit and the incorporation and welding (with its inspection) of the reinforcement elements on the base plate.
• The new Navantia Ferrol Block Factory. This factory will be built during the duration of the CEMI and therefore cannot be started at the moment the CEMI starts, but it constitutes the most interesting environment and one with the greatest potential for Navantia Ferrol as it is a fundamental process in the manufacture of the blocks of a ship and that it will be a new workshop that will adopt a linear manufacturing scheme. This fundamental change with respect to the traditional model of work in workshops will require an exhaustive control of the progress and planning of the activities in each work station to avoid incidents that stop the line, but in return it will allow reaching higher levels of productivity, performance and reduction of deadlines for which the digital twin solution will be a fundamental technology to achieve these aims.

In addition, as part of the goal of developing the plant's digital twin, this initiative will analyze and develop applications for viewing the twins on tablets, mobile devices and Virtual and/or Augmented Reality glasses that allow for viewing and interacting with the plant twin (following the applicable safety requirements) and perform maintenance, inspection and data visualization tasks.