Identification of influence of digital twin technologies on production systems: a return on investment-based approach

Abstract

The object of this study is the impact of different digital twin solutions on the performance of job-shop manufacturing systems, while economic aspects are also taken into consideration. This paper proposes an approach to analyze the impact of different identification systems on the efficiency and ROI of digital twin deployment in production systems. In order to achieve this aim, let’s analyze the investment and operation cost of different Internet of Things technologies. The next phase of the research work was the definition of performance parameters, which makes it possible to analyze the impact of different digital twin solutions on the productivity of the job-shop manufacturing system. It is possible to choose four financial indicators to analyze the economic impact of digital twin solution on job-shop manufacturing: return on investment, compound annual growth rate, internal rate of return and net present value. Our approach is based on a novel agent-based simulation model using AnyLogic simulation tool. From the results of this productivity analyses, the model computes the financial indicators, which describe the expected financial impact of the investment and operation cost. It is compared the impact of barcodes and radiofrequency identification technologies on the financial and technological impact of the job-shop manufacturing environment. The numerical analysis of a job-shop manufacturing system shows, that the radiofrequency identification-based digital twin solution has 9.2 % higher return on investment, 53 % higher net present value and 1.6 % higher compound annual growth rate. The model can be easily converted to analyze other types of manufacturing systems, which can lead to increased efficiency of digital twin solutions