Development of a Maturity Assessment Model for Digital Twins in Battery Cell Industry

Abstract

Due to the increasing demand for batteries, fueled by the transition to sustainable energy sources and electric vehicles, battery factories are currently being built all around the world. To meet the resulting challenges, digital technologies are a key component in the context of competitive battery cell manufacturing. For a requirements-oriented implementation of an appropriate Industry 4.0 environment, three Digital Twins are implemented to meet the digital needs in the battery cell manufacturing environment: The Product Twin, the Plant Twin, and the Building Twin. Addressing the challenges of battery cell manufacturing requires holistic Digital Twins that encompass the entire lifecycle. Existing Maturity Models do not provide a sufficient basis for a systematic assessment and holistic development of the Product-, the Plant-, and the Building Twin in battery cell manufacturing. Therefore, a novel Maturity Model considering the specific requirements has been developed. The Maturity Model is developed using an action model based on the Design Science Research methodology. The content components are carried out with qualitative empiricism - literature review, expert workshops, expert interviews - within five iterations. This is followed by expert evaluation of the model using a case study. The result of the empiricism is a holistic Maturity Assessment Model for Digital Twins in Battery Cell Industry. The Maturity Model includes five maturity levels, twelve maturity dimensions, 50 maturity sub-dimensions and 250 maturity indicators. Fuzzy Logic is used to perform the quantitative maturity assessments of the Digital Twins by means of the maturity indicators. The evaluation results show that the model can offer consistent and reproducible maturity assessments. Once the model has been tested and verified with further case studies it is plausible that the Maturity Model can be applied to a wide range of Digital Twins in the manufacturing industry.