Implementing digital twins to enhance digitally extended product-service systems

Abstract

The role played by digital twins in the development of information-based services and digitally extended product-service systems can be based on real-time simulation and the Internet of Things (IoT), where the management system is Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). However, these areas are typically handled separately, because real-time simulation and PLM are owned by Research and Development, and IoT-based services are owned by Services. Companies collect sensor data from their installed base and use analytics to offer, e.g., monitoring services. This collective insight, the digital twin, is typically not used to develop product-service solutions based on IoT-collected information and real-time simulation models. The study reported here was carried out to better understand the current situation for the case companies in these different areas and to collect evidence of existing digital-twin-based services that are information intensive. Learning how the subject companies use this insight to build better real-time simulation models that can be applied to services was a second area of interest. The work is based on semi-structured interviews with eight manufacturing companies to examine information-based services, simulation models, and IoT strategies.