Modular Digital Twin–an approach for generating and exploiting product sustainability information towards service-oriented business models

Abstract

Companies receive numerous customer inquiries and regulatory requirements while attempting to offer new services to enhance sustainability, leading in total to an increase in the number of product-related requirements. Digital Twins serve as enablers for meeting these requirements, whereas new challenges arise for companies through the introduction of Digital Twins. Digital Twins represent an order-specific configuration and must be structured differently according to requirements and thus as modularly as possible. This paper aims to provide a systemic approach with a concept for a Modular Digital Twin for generating and exploiting Product Sustainability Information to leverage sustainability potentials towards Service-oriented Business Models. The approach is concretised by means of a selected use case regarding energy-efficient production control of an automated model factory. We can show with this use case that the systemic approach with the concept of a Modular Digital Twin is applicable for energy consumption of machinery motors' simulation and for the calculation of an optimised motor speed.