M2030 Perspective: The Manufacturing Metaverse

Randal Kenworthy July 27, 2022

M2030 Perspective: Is there value for manufacturing in the future metaverse?   

Businesses around the world took note when Facebook announced in October 2021 that it was changing its name to Meta Platforms, Inc., formally focusing the company’s future around the concept of the metaverse.

There’s since been a lot of interest from manufacturing companies on this topic. The Manufacturing Leadership Council’s webcast on the metaverse, for example, hosted in May as part of its Manufacturing in 2030 Project series, drew one of its largest audiences ever.

But is there value for manufacturing in the metaverse?

A number of questions routinely come up in conversations with manufacturing companies about the metaverse. Will adoption live up to the hype? What is the business opportunity? Why invest in the metaverse? Where in the value chain should companies invest effort to realize the benefits? And how can manufacturing companies get started?

Defining the Metaverse

First, it’s important to develop a solid understanding of what the metaverse means. That, of course, is easier said than done. There’s a lot of buzz and many points of view swirling around, so we’ll offer a more simplified one: The metaverse is the next generation of the internet—a virtual, interconnected reality seamlessly woven into our physical world. In other words, it’s a convergence of digital and physical environments.

Most common definitions include three key components:

  • Digital environments, such as Horizon Worlds or Oculus
  • A mechanism for interacting with those digital worlds through augmented reality, virtual reality, or even brain-computer interfaces
  • A commerce engine in the digital world, such as Web 3.0, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or blockchain

But there is a fourth component that isn’t often found in other definitions: Autonomous X. There is a digital transition underway in many industries–from connected, to intelligent, to autonomous. Consider the example of a factory. Companies can use 3D renderings to engineer and design a factory. Through IoT connectivity among products, manufacturing operations, vehicles, and buildings, people can now begin to monitor factory systems more intelligently. In the future, digital twins will manage those buildings, making Autonomous X the fourth element of the metaverse.

The other key aspect of Autonomous X for manufacturing is that it allows persistence without human intervention. If you are in a virtual game with three other people, and they leave, there is no activity—or persistence—in that virtual world. But in manufacturing, there can be persistence without human intervention. In an autonomous building, a digital twin with intelligence can maintain the HVAC, security systems, and environmental controls so that both the virtual and physical worlds can continue to operate. That is why it is important to consider the Autonomous X factor when defining and thinking about the metaverse in manufacturing.

Randal Kenworthy is a Senior Partner, Consumer and Industrial Products, at West Monroe.

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