Cost estimation approach of a digital twin implementation in industry

In the context of Industry 4.0, the concept of the digital twin provides an approach, which supports companies by finding solutions for complex problems. Due to the novelty of the technology, companies face certain issues regarding the implementation, like the uncertainty of the arising costs. By introducing a methodology in this publication, an estimation approach for the costs of a digital twin implementation is expounded. Through the assessment of the actual digitization level of a company previous relevant achievements are considered in the cost estimation. Furthermore, the methodology is implemented in an Excel tool and validated within an industry use-case.