Abstract

Digital Twins offer new solutions within the developments of digitalization that enable a wide range of opportunities. The usage of Digital Twins allows the implementation of innovative business models that have the potential of creating value added not only for the respective company itself but for all actors along the life cycle of the product. Hence, it is essential to have a well founded understanding of the design and the resulting potentials of Digital Twins. In this paper we propose an extension of the “Digital Twin 8-dimension model” introduced by Stark et al. (2019): In addition to Digital Master models, Digital Shadow data needs to be available in adequate quality and granularity. Furthermore, a semantic model is required for the application and evaluation of the models and data. Also, cooperation for data collecting may enhance the functionalities of a Digital Twin. In order to be able to extract the full potential of a Digital Twin a precise description of the target design is required at the beginning of the development process and should be pursued throughout. In this paper a matrix to analyze the maturity levels of different aspects of Digital Twins is described. This concept can be used by companies during the design phase of Digital Twins and the implementation of cost benefit analyses. It is essential to note that a higher degree of maturity does not necessarily imply an enhancement of the Digital Twin. Rather, when defining the maturity levels of the target design, cost benefit analyses should be performed while taking the individual use case into consideration. Additionally, we highlight the potential of Digital Twins to generate value added for all actors involved with the product throughout its life cycle. Digital Twins can be used as the foundation of value creation networks. In this paper the interplay of service streams, data streams, and payment flows between the individual actors of such a value creation network is considered. References: Stark, R., Fresemann, C., & Lindow, K. (2019). Development and operation of Digital Twins for technical systems and services. CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 68, 129-132.