The drivers and barriers of adopting digital twins, shadows, and models

Keywords

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Issue Date

2023-09-21

Language

en

Document type

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Title

ISSN

Volume

Issue

Startpage

Endpage

DOI

Abstract

This explorative mini-case study investigates the barriers and drivers of adopting digital representations (DRs), namely digital twins (DTs), digital shadows (DSs) and digital models (DMs). As an integral part of Industry 4.0, the consequences of greater connectivity between devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) are under increased attention. Digital representations make use of this connectivity to varying degrees, with digital twins being the most interconnected with physical objects, therefore being the most promising. Using DRs facilitate the optimisation of processes, such as monitoring, planning and maintenance. DRs can take a central role in organisations, making adoption challenging. This study contributes to adoption research by identifying four drivers, and two barriers for adopting digital representations. Drivers are identified to be a positive managerial attitude towards digitalisation, co-operation between those involved with digitalisation, conforming to external innovative leadership and open-source projects, and having an autonomous and well-supported development team. Barriers are system- and vendor lock-in, and work floor resistance to digitalisation. Practical implications for managers that are interested in adopting digital representations are to seek out the identified driving factors, and to mitigate the effects of barriers.

Description

Citation

Supervisor

Faculty

Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen