New study on digital twins in the manufacturing industry

Digital Twin Readiness Assessment shows: companies are on average still in the conception phase

• New maturity model for evaluating the implementation of digital twins – a special feature in the study landscape
• Industry leaders involved: 60 percent of the companies surveyed have more than 50,000 employees

The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK and msg
systems ag have examined digital twins in the manufacturing industry in a joint study.
The aim of the study was to gain insights into the specific added value of digital twins
and to transparently assess the companies’ position regarding the deployment stage of
digital twins.

To this end, a total of 26 companies in the DACH region were surveyed and a new
method, the Digital Twin Readiness Assessment, was developed. This method allows to
assess a company’s degree of maturity regarding the implementation of the digital
twin. The evaluation of all interviews showed that there is a broad understanding of
digital twins, but their potential is far from being fully exploited.

85 percent of the companies surveyed have already developed concepts for a digital
twin. However, only 54 percent have an end-to-end strategy for digital twins.

Consolidated overall maturity is only 51 percent

The introduction of digital twins can only succeed, if companies have reached a high
level of maturity in all areas, from understanding to concept development to implementation measures. The consolidated overall maturity of all companies is currently only 51 percent.

»The full potential of the approach only unfolds through cross-company collaboration
and interconnectivity of digital twins,« says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stark, head of the
Virtual Product Creation division at Fraunhofer IPK and one of the editors of the study.
»This requires platforms and communication interfaces to be standardized,« adds
Stark.

»If European companies want to be competitive and sustainable with their digital
twins, companies have to break their internal data silos, but also allow the flow of
information between users and suppliers,« says co-editor Markus Samarajiwa, Lead
Business Consultant at msg.

David Salamon, Senior Business Consultant at msg, adds: »The information relevant for
a digital twin must be made available throughout the entire product life cycle.«

In future, the Digital Twin Readiness Assessment will also be made available to
companies that were unable to take part in the study. The current study is available online free of charge.

Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Theresa Riedelsheimer | Phone: +49 30 39006-219 | theresa.riedelsheimer@ipk.fraunhofer.de

Originalpublikation:
http://www.ipk.fraunhofer.de/readiness

Weitere Informationen:
http://www.ipk.fraunhofer.de