Digital Twins for the Circular Economy

Anna Preut, Jan-Philip Kopka and Uwe Clausen
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Anna Preut: Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
Jan-Philip Kopka: Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
Uwe Clausen: Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-15

Abstract: Accurate information plays an important role for the circulation of materials and products. It influences the economically and ecologically successful execution of processes such as reconditioning and the corresponding supply chain management. Digitization concepts, such as digital twins, enable the relevant information to be made available to the right actor at the right time in a decentralized manner. It is assumed that digital twins will play an important role in the future and can contribute, among other things, to the successful implementation of circular economy strategies. However, there is no uniform definition of the term digital twin yet and the exploration and use of digital twins in the context of circular economy products and supply chains is still in its infancy. This article presents potential contributions of digital twins to the circularity of products and the management of circular supply chains. To this end, the derivation and validation of a definition for the term digital twin is described. A stakeholder analysis with a special focus on the processes of the individual stakeholders results in an overview of potentials and information requirements of circular supply chains for a digital twin. The paper concludes that circular supply chains can benefit from digital twins, but that there is still a need for research and development, particularly regarding product and use case-specific implementations of the concept.

Keywords: digital twin; circular economy; circular supply chain management; product life cycle; information management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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