Virtual commissioning is the practice of testing and validating automation systems in a simulated environment before the real equipment is available on site, shifting much of the debugging work from the plant floor to the engineering phase of the project. In this environment, PLC logic, robot programs, station behaviour and interfaces between equipment can be verified using realistic process models and visualization.

By moving testing earlier in the project lifecycle, many issues that would normally appear during on-site commissioning are detected before installation. Problems related to layout, sequencing, interfaces, collisions, safety behaviour, recovery behaviour or cycletime can be identified and corrected long before the first equipment arrives on site.

During the design phase, virtual commissioning allows automation concepts and software behaviour to be validated while the mechanical design is still being finalized. Design issues discovered at this stage can be corrected with minimal impact, when changes are still relatively inexpensive to implement.

As the project progresses, the simulated environment enables extensive testing of control logic, robot programs and station behaviour without requiring large on-site teams or physical equipment. This allows engineering teams to iterate faster and eliminates the risk of damaging equipment during testing. By resolving many issues before installation, the amount of debugging required during on-site commissioning is significantly reduced, leading to lower commissioning effort and cost.

Finally, when the real line is installed, much of the testing and validation has already been completed. Commissioning teams can focus on integration and fine-tuning rather than fundamental problem solving, leading to much shorter start-up phases, lower cost and a higher technical availability at start of production.