Business Case for Digital Twin of a Process Plant

The development of new offerings (products or services) belongs to a value-creation process. Such a process requires conceptual design and practical implementation. Hereby, the focus relies on how to create value for the customer. An accordingly defined business model is the key point. It describes the interdependencies between the product/service and its development. For that purpose, the multiple value dimensions of the product or service are explored as the constituents of the business planning. The concept of the digital twin provides various benefits for customers. Especially for stakeholders in plant industries, that deal with complex assets, a digital twin providing 3D and spatial information respectively is of value. The impact of this concept could not be exploited so far since the costs for the generation of such digital twins are enormous, especially for brownfield plants. For that reason, a digital twin has only been generated for projects with an according return on investment. In that sense, the potential of digital twins is limited to a few business cases in the process industry. An automated generation of digital twins or at least a semi-automation reduces the costs to a reasonable level. Digital twins can be kept up-to-date with reasonable effort and cost this way. That enables stakeholders to exploit digital twins also for business cases with a lower return on investment such as maintenance activities. According to the concept of an automated generation of digital twins with spatial information, current offerings in the market have been analyzed and reflected by applying the buyer utility map methodology. Further, the new offering and its advantages and benefits have been added to differentiate between them. To shape a suitable business model according to the new offering, the approach of the business canvas has been exploited. The various fields to consider by developing the service solution, requirements from the target groups, the value proposition, and further have been defined that way. Finally, the customer’s view of the concept of digital twin and use cases of the concept of digital twin including spatial information is presented and underlines the need for the mentioned service solution.