Unilever to Scale Agentic Twin Development
Unilever is bolstering its digital twin strategy by incorporating agentic capabilities and increased AI-enabled insights.
The company has partnered with Accenture to scale digital twins across its global manufacturing network, using next-gen tech to improve quality, increase efficiency and more quickly respond to consumer demands.
Unilever will expand its digital twin adoption over the next 18 months, building more than 40 replicas to accelerate processes for identifying issues, simulating scenarios and making business decisions.
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These systems will learn over time, increasing in accuracy and ultimately making adjustments automatically, with human oversight.
Digital Twins in Action
These efforts are part of a multiyear program to scale technology across the company's end-to-end operations. Unilever already has the following digital twin implementations in place:
In Raeford, North Carolina, a digital twin for the production of brands such as Dove, Degree and Axe predicts 95% of process flow restrictions in deodorant stick manufacturing. This has so far resulted in a 20% reduction in waste and a 10% uplift in capacity.
In Haldia, India, an energy twin for powder detergents such as Surf and Sunlight helps to optimize fan speeds, temperature setpoints and moisture controls. This has reduced thermal energy consumption over the past two years.
In Poznan, Poland, digital twins have optimized the production of such brands as Knorr and Hellmann’s, stabilizing the viscosity variation in mayonnaise, reducing minor stoppages by up to 20% and cutting waste by nearly 30%.
In Gandhidham, India, a digital twin in the personal care business helped reduce quality defects by 30% over four years through real-time control recommendations.
In Cu Chi, Vietnam, for the production of liquid home care products such as OMO laundry detergent, an intelligent mixer enabled by an AI digital twin optimizes raw materials dosing to prevent overuse. This has so far delivered 1% to 2% savings in premium ingredients.
Adam Raeburn-James, global VP for digital business operations, said Unilever is scaling AI across its operations, not just as a technological shift, but as a commitment to strengthen its products, workforce operations and sustainability efforts.
