Design and Development of Digital Twins: a Case Study in Supply Chains

• Published in: Mobile networks and applications Vol. 25; no. 6; pp. 2141 - 2160
• Main Author: Marmolejo-Saucedo, Jose Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business; Business machines; Case studies; Collaboration; Communications Engineering; Computer Communication Networks; Decision making; Digital twins; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; IT in Business; Networks; Simulators; Strategic planning; Supply chains; Supply chain; Digital twins; Simulation; Business intelligence; Analytics
• ISSN: 1383-469X; 1572-8153; 1572-8153
• DOI: 10.1007/s11036-020-01557-9

Digital twin technology consists of creating virtual replicas of objects or processes that simulate the behavior of their real counterparts. The objective is to analyze its effectiveness or behavior in certain cases to improve its effectiveness. Applied to products, machines and even complete business ecosystems, the digital twin model can reveal information from the past, optimize the present and even predict the future performance of the different areas analyzed. In the context of supply chains, digital twins are changing the way they do business, providing a range of options to facilitate collaborative environments and data-based decision making and making business processes more robust. This paper proposes the design and development of a digital twin for a case study of a pharmaceutical company. The technology used is based on simulators, solvers and data analytic tools that allow these functions to be connected in an integral interface for the company.