Digital Twin Applications in Manufacturing Industry: A Case Study from a German Multi-National

Abstract

This article examines how digital twins have been used in a multi-national corporation, what technologies have been used, what benefits have been delivered, and the significance of people- and process-related issues in achieving successful implementation. A qualitative, inductive research method is used, based on interviews provided by key personnel involved in three digital twin projects. The article concludes that digital twin projects are likely to involve incremental rather than disruptive change, and that successful implementation is usually underpinned by ensuring technology, people, and process change factors are progressed in a balanced and integrated fashion. Building upon existing frameworks, three “properties” are identified as being of particular value in digital twin projects—workforce adaptability, technology manageability, and process agility—and a related set of steps and actions is put forward as a template and point of reference for future digital twin implementations. The combination of assessing digital properties and following a set of key actions represents a novel approach to digital twin project planning, and overall the findings are a contribution to the developing theory around digital twins and digitalization, in general, and are also of relevance to professionals embarking on DT projects.

Maritime Transformable Area Systems

“…Such increases in computing power will speed the onward progression of TAS projects. Even though digitalisation and digital twin technology are still in their infancy (Wynn & Irizar, 2023), this is expected to further increase the potential of TAS-based factories and applications. This is due to the increased transformability (e.g.…”