The Digital Twin over the Product Life Cycle.

Although the digital twin is a key concept of the Industrial Internet of Things, many companies have not yet used it. The reasons for this reluctance are the lack of awareness of the possible uses and benefits as well as the lack of clarity about the concept and the implementation. A necessary basis to create understanding and facilitate implementation is an understandable definition and structure for the digital twin. For this purpose, a visualization of concept and structure was developed at the Fraunhofer IPT within the framework of the International Center for Networked and Adaptive Production, which outlines the most important components and steps required to create a Digital Twin. © Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG.