Identifying industrial needs for real-time simulation and digital twins

Abstract

This chapter identifies and analyzes the industrial needs for real-time simulation and digital twinning throughout a product’s lifecycle, i.e., from inception; through engineering design, sourcing, and manufacturing; to operation, maintenance, service, and disposal of a manufactured product. It presents what was learned from a series of semi-structured interviews with nine manufacturing companies that are developing their digital approaches, simulation models, and toolsets for different phases of their product lifecycle. Thus, this study provides novel insights into research on product lifecycle management. The results of the study reveal that industrial needs for simulation models or digital twins still focus mainly on the product development and maintenance phases of the product lifecycle, but that virtual models to cover the entire lifecycle are still rare. Co-development, extending traditional products to the digital product-service-systems, and the increasing involvement of multiple stakeholders throughout product lifecycles all imply that there is a need to reformulate customer and innovation processes and build relevant corporate capabilities.