Virtual commissioning

Concept

Testing the control software of a machine or plant against a virtual model before the real equipment exists or runs, so that errors are found early and start-up is shorter.

Description

Virtual commissioning connects the real control software, for example the PLC program, with a simulated model of the machine or plant. The control code is tested as if it were running on the real equipment, long before the equipment is built or installed.

The main benefit is time. Errors in logic, signals and sequences are found at a desk and not on the floor, where each hour of delay is costly. The model can also be used to train operators and to try changes later. Virtual commissioning differs from plain simulation: simulation studies how a system behaves and what it can deliver, while here the focus is on checking that the control works. The quality of the result depends on how closely the model matches the real behaviour.

Related topics in brief

• iFAKT GmbH · Related to · Organization
  Stuttgart-based consulting company and software specialist for Industry 4.0, founded in 2001, that helps manufacturers plan and optimize production and logistics processes; developer of the Polaris software.
• Digital twin · Related to · Concept
  A maintained digital representation of a physical resource, its relationships and its operating conditions, kept up to date from observations.
• Factory simulation · Related to · Concept
  A controlled model of how work moves through part of a factory, using current operating rules, resources, orders and normal variation, so a proposed change such as an extra shift, new machine or smaller buffer can be tested before it is made.
• Industry 4.0 · Related to · Concept
  The networked, data-driven digitalization of industrial production, in which machines, products, software and people exchange data in real time; often called the smart factory or the fourth industrial revolution.
• Polaris Simulator · Related to · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that tests the production system virtually, for example capacity, staffing and buffer scenarios, and reveals bottlenecks before changes are made.
• Polaris Designer · Related to · Product
  Module of iFAKT Polaris that builds a product-process-resource (PPR) knowledge graph as the single source of truth for products, process steps and resources.

Glossary

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Experts on related topics

• Mirko Peters · via iFAKT GmbH

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-11