Digital twins in supply chain management: Technical components, functionalities, and impact areas

Digital twins lack a common understanding in the literature, and their impact on operations and supply chain management should be further explored to realise the technology’s potential value. Conducting a multi-round Delphi survey with additional expert interviews, we identify the underlying technical components, functionalities, and adoption barriers. Subsequently, we derive a detailed framework that provides an overview of the digital twin characteristics at the product, process, or system level. We examine multiple impact areas of digital twins related to operational excellence, risk management, communication, and innovation. Our Delphi ranking shows that digital twins could affect production process reliability, setup, and testing of machinery and maintenance procedures. We also employ the CIMO logic to inform our discussion of the potential underlying mechanisms. Our study works towards a shared holistic understanding of digital twins. We also derive a set of recommendations for managers and outline opportunities for future research.