How SAS uses Unreal Engine from Epic Games to help manufacturers build digital twins, and extending the technology to healthcare and urban planning.
Are you familiar with the massively multiplayer online game Unreal Tournament from 25 years ago? If not, maybe you’re more familiar with the more recent game Fortnite. They all run on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, version 1 and version 4 respectively.
Today’s factories generate huge quantities of data from multiple systems and thousands of sensors. This data, if properly harnessed, can help optimize operations and achieve unprecedented efficiency, productivity and innovation.
SAS is poised to help transform critical processes in the manufacturing industry with enhanced digital twins that combine SAS’s AI and advanced analytics with Unreal Engine from Epic Games.
With these digital twins, manufacturers like Georgia-Pacific (GP) can experiment with new strategies in simulated digital worlds, then take the best approaches and implement them in the real world.
“As manufacturers hire the next generation of workers, they need to make the use of data and AI more engaging and appealing,” said Bryan Harris, CTO, SAS.
“Gaming technology – for a generation that grew up playing video games – is one important way to transform business decision making from charts and spreadsheets to immersive experiences with amazing visual fidelity. Gamifying business processes and tasks can make them less repetitive and more engaging, boosting productivity and bottom-line results.”
Digital twins at Georgia-Pacific
Sharing the stage with Epic Games at SAS Innovate 2025 in Orlando, Florida, GP – one of the world’s leading manufacturers of paper and wood-based building products – talked how it is piloting these enhanced digital twins at its Savannah River Mill, which manufactures napkins, paper towels and toilet tissue.
GP is leveraging SAS’s technology to optimize its use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and other processes.
“With the help of SAS and Unreal Engine (UE), we can create realistic simulations of factory operations. Imagine watching AGVs navigate through a bustling factory floor, reacting to proximity alerts, obstacles and rare adverse events in real time,” said Roshan Shah, Vice President of AI & Products, GP.
“The powerful analysis and photorealistic simulations delivered by SAS’s enhanced digital twins can enable decision making and boost output at Savannah River Mill. And they hold great promise for improving productivity, safety and efficiency at other GP facilities.”
SAS used RealityScan, a mobile app developed by Epic, to capture photorealistic renderings of GP’s Savannah plant and import them into UE. Combining SAS analytics and UE is helping GP fine-tune operations without disrupting actual production lines. The pilot is expected to deliver cost savings and higher-quality products.
