Analyzing The Purpose And Technologies Of Digital Twins In Distributed Manufacturing: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Ever-changing requirements, conditions, and environments call for a change in manufacturing. Hence, research has increased on new forms of manufacturing, such as distributed manufacturing systems. However, distributed manufacturing systems require an IT architecture that covers real-time monitoring, management, and analysis of geographically distributed production sites. Digital twins allow for such a systematic data control and shopfloor management. They enable complex distributed manufacturing systems to be more autonomous and to be connected, adding value to the production system. Even though there have been research activities and publications on this topic, a systematic review of the current state of specific technologies used for distributed manufacturing is yet missing. This paper reviews and categorizes publications to identify relevant technologies for building digital twins supporting the distributed manufacturing paradigm and objectives of digital twins for distributed manufacturing.