Sustainable Product Lifecycle Management - Implementation of a Digital Twin of a Biologically Transformed Product-Ecosystem

Biological transformation is the transfer of principles of natural systems to technical materials, processes and systems. The essential concepts of biological transformation - inspiration (learning from the observation of nature for the adaptation of technology), integration (symbiosis of technical systems based on biological principles) and interaction (interweaving of nature with technology) - can be transferred to Industry 4.0 solutions. One of these solutions is the Digital Twin, which can be used to provide transparency of an individual product’s environmental impact and to positively influence it throughout all lifecycle phases. A Digital Twin can be seen a digital ecosystem that inherits various biological principles itself, but also serves as an enabler of biologically transformed products. The application of the principles of biological transformation to Industry 4.0 helps achieve sustainable value creation. Manufacturing and operating companies, leveraging operational data with the help of Digital Twins, are equipped to better understand a product ecosystem’s performance and identify constraining resources that determine its lifecycle sustainability. This paper demonstrates the concept development of a Digital Twin for a biologically transformed product-ecosystem with integrated sustainability assessment focused on the production phase and its corresponding user interface.