Digital Twins based on integrated models: Supporting joint decisions on maintenance and production planning

Within Industry 4.0 (I4.0), technological advancement has brought manufacturing to the adoption of different Digital Twins (DTs) for the same physical system - or Physical Twin (PT) - in order to make different decisions. Nevertheless, independent decisions with DTs not integrated among each other and/or with their reference models can affect production efficiency. This paper focuses its attention on production planning control and maintenance and proposes an approach for models' integration that support those analyses in order to use them as the basis for the creation of a DT that can provide structured support through the whole system's lifecycle. With this aim, the paper proposes a model for DEVS simulation capable of integrating production planning with preventive and corrective maintenance to support joint decisions.