A conceptual framework for Digital Twins in production scheduling and control

The interest in enhancing decision-making using Digital Twins in production systems is increasing in the recent years. However, most of the scientific contributions in the field lack of generality as they focus on specific problem instances, overburdening the search for a common thread. To help overcoming this issue, the authors propose a conceptual framework in order to analyze the role of Digital Twins in applications in different production environments, with specific concern on production scheduling and control. The analysis is achieved by responding to three main questions, which focus on the application, the integration, and the functionality of the Digital Twin. The framework is applied to describe six relevant use cases of Digital Twins within this research area.