Digital twin technology in the Industry 4.0 context

The thesis object concerns the study of a new technological paradigm, with deep influence over the industry sector, the Digital Twin. In particular will be put under analysis the impact which the latter have with regard to the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises). The evolution of the concept of Industry 4.0 has led to the born of new technology able to re-design the traditional processes and approaches in the firm management. For such a reason, a broad investigation of literature about Industry 4.0 is offered with reference to Digital Twin. It has been conducted a market research, during the internship at Istituto Mario Boella, with the aim to acquire an insight with respect to actual state of knowledge and adoption of the proposed technological paradigm, through the constitution of an ad-hoc questionnaire. Thereafter, the survey has been proposed to selected sample of SME of the Piemonte region, with focus on the manufacturing industry, carrying out de-visu interviews in order to elicit unbiased answers and deeper feeling about tacit perception from the subjects. Among these selected firms are emerged some which offer a considered acceptable level of technological innovation satisfying the literature about Industry 4.0 and the Digital Twin. These, are analyzed by presenting the fit between the key aspects of the new innovative technologies and the economic and managerial advantages generated.