Manufacturing simulation is taking on a broader role as industrial companies look beyond factory design toward digital twins capable of supporting increasingly sophisticated automation and physical AI applications.
Visual Components is advancing that shift with the launch of FactoryLens, a new viewport that brings NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and OpenUSD directly into its 3D manufacturing simulation platform. The integration is designed to allow manufacturers to take factory and warehouse layouts already created for simulation and extend them into more visually realistic digital-twin environments without rebuilding those models in separate visualization software.
The launch builds on Visual Components’ existing collaboration with NVIDIA and points to a wider change in industrial simulation. As manufacturers explore virtual commissioning, synthetic data and AI-driven robotics, simulation environments are increasingly being asked to do more than validate factory layouts. They are becoming part of the infrastructure used to model, test and eventually train intelligent systems before those systems interact with physical operations.
From Factory Simulation to Digital Twins
Visual Components is best known for 3D manufacturing simulation and robot offline programming. Its platform includes a library of more than 4,000 components covering industrial robots, machinery, conveyors, autonomous mobile robots, forklifts and other production equipment.
FactoryLens adds NVIDIA RTX-powered visualization to those environments while NVIDIA PhysX continues to support the underlying physics simulation.
Users can visualize large-scale factory and warehouse layouts in real time, adjust materials and appearance, record video and export factory configurations using OpenUSD, an increasingly important framework for exchanging and composing complex 3D data.
The significance goes beyond producing more realistic factory images. By bringing visualization and interoperability closer to the simulation environment, Visual Components is attempting to reduce the separation between engineering models used for planning and the richer digital environments needed for emerging digital-twin workflows.
“We believe the future of manufacturing is built on connected digital twins, not isolated applications,” said Mika Anttila, Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder at Visual Components. “FactoryLens is our first step in bringing NVIDIA Omniverse libraries into Visual Components, so manufacturers can see how their factories will really look and behave before they build them, while keeping the productivity and ease of use our customers already know.”
OpenUSD Adds an Interoperability Dimension
OpenUSD is an important part of that strategy.
Industrial digital twins often depend on information originating in multiple engineering, simulation and operational systems. The ability to exchange and compose 3D environments therefore becomes increasingly important as manufacturers attempt to connect different stages of design, validation and operation.
Visual Components says FactoryLens will allow configurations to be exported through OpenUSD for use in compatible external environments. The company sees this as groundwork for broader capabilities around data exchange, collaboration, version control and multi-user workflows across the OpenUSD ecosystem.
That interoperability question is likely to become more significant as digital twins expand beyond individual applications. A factory model that remains confined to one engineering tool has limited value as manufacturers try to connect simulation with robotics, AI development and other operational technologies.
Physical AI Expands the Role of Simulation
Perhaps the more strategic part of the announcement is what Visual Components sees coming next.
The company is positioning FactoryLens as a foundation for future applications including vision-based virtual commissioning, synthetic-data generation, and model and policy training and evaluation.
These use cases sit within the emerging field of physical AI, where AI systems need to perceive and interact with physical environments rather than operate exclusively on digital information.
For manufacturers, realistic simulation could play an important role in that transition. Testing AI-driven machines or autonomous systems directly in production environments can be expensive, disruptive and difficult to scale. Simulated factories potentially provide a controlled environment in which systems can be tested and trained before deployment on the factory floor.
“Integrating NVIDIA technologies into Visual Components brings increased physical accuracy and fidelity to simulated worlds, and is a natural fit for the rise of physical AI and the value simulation brings to that domain,” said Mustafa Kamal, Business Development Director at Visual Components.
NVIDIA is similarly positioning simulation as an enabling layer for industrial AI.
“Manufacturers are increasingly using simulation to design, test, and optimise complex production environments and physical AI systems before making changes on the factory floor,” said Vikram Natarajan, General Manager for Omniverse at NVIDIA.
He pointed to synthetic data generation for model training and fleet-scale validation as examples of the workflows that more advanced simulation environments could support.
Digital Twins Are Becoming More Operational
Digital twins have been part of the manufacturing technology conversation for years, but their role is evolving.
Historically, much of the value proposition centered on creating digital representations of physical assets and environments for design, planning and monitoring. The rise of industrial AI is adding another requirement: those virtual environments may increasingly need to provide realistic spaces in which intelligent systems can learn, be validated and interact with representations of the physical world.
That changes the role of simulation software as well. Visual fidelity becomes more than a presentation feature when computer vision systems are involved, while accurate physics becomes increasingly important when models are expected to predict how machines, robots and materials will behave.
At the same time, interoperability standards such as OpenUSD could make it easier for these environments to connect with a broader industrial technology stack rather than remain isolated within individual engineering applications.
Why This Matters for Manufacturing Technology
FactoryLens arrives as manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to connect digital twins, robotics, simulation and AI into more coherent development environments.
The immediate capability is an enhanced visualization layer within Visual Components. The longer-term story, however, is the convergence taking place underneath it.
Simulation is moving closer to AI development. Digital twins are becoming more connected. And the virtual models originally created to design factories may increasingly become environments for testing the autonomous systems that will eventually operate within them.
Visual Components’ deeper integration with NVIDIA Omniverse and OpenUSD reflects that transition. As physical AI moves from an emerging concept toward industrial experimentation, the quality, interoperability and physical accuracy of the simulated environments behind it could become just as important as the AI models themselves.
ERP News Editorial Team
The ERPNews Editorial Team covers global developments in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), enterprise software, cloud platforms, AI, automation, and digital transformation, providing independent news and editorial analysis for senior business and technology leaders. Our reporting focuses on market signals, strategic shifts, and enterprise impact across the ERP and enterprise technology ecosystem.
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