At the heart of manufacturers’ digital transformation efforts are a combination of cloud- and edge-based technologies, including high-performance computing, IoT, and advanced analytics. These technologies enable firms to digitally connect and model physical assets or products – creating “digital twins” that replicate the physical world and enable sophisticated analysis and advanced simulation.

New technologies, such as low-cost connectivity, mixed reality, and artificial intelligence, are used to build digital twins for individual products that enhance equipment capabilities. These Product Digital Twins are helping manufacturers improve performance throughout the equipment lifecycle.

The Process Digital Twin is the next level of digital transformation, compounding Product Digital Twin benefits throughout the factory and supply chain. This paper highlights some advanced manufacturing scenarios that Product Digital Twins do not support and proposes the Process Digital Twin as a method of enabling them on a machine, factory, and supply chain level. It closes by highlighting companies that are partnering with Microsoft to pilot Process Digital Twins and provides Microsoft’s vision for supporting their implementation.