Concept of hybrid-modelled digital twins for energy optimisation and flexible manufacturing systems for SMEs

Digital twins (DTs) are virtual representations that reproduce the behaviour and characteristics of real manufacturing systems dynamically and in detail by combining information from different data sources. The behaviour is usually represented and digitally mapped by several models at different manufacturing levels, e.g. factory, machine, or process level. Both data-driven and physics-based digital modelling approaches can be used to monitor, analyse, and predict aspects of the corresponding manufacturing system in real time to interact with them and control them optimally. This paper presents a concept for hybrid DTs by intertwining different DT models for energy optimisation and improving the flexibility of manufacturing systems. The approach is based on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) standard to create Industry 4.0-compliant DTs tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The concept is applied to a real-world use case in the electronics industry that mainly consists of automated Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Printed-Circuit Boards (PCB) assembly lines.