Manufacturing companies are increasingly making substantial investments towards digital twins to enable the continuous optimization of their production processes. To maximize the value of these investments, a structured development process can facilitate faster development, enhance resource planning, and reduce overall costs while simultaneously increasing the probability of successful digital twin developments for production systems. 

Existing literature principally addresses specific steps and challenges within the development process, leaving a need for deeper holistic exploration into how digital twins can be developed in industrial manufacturing settings. This gap represents a significant challenge for manufacturing companies, as the incorrect execution of this process could result in a considerable loss of valuable time and resources.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the development process of digital twins for production systems. This thesis studies the development process of digital twins within a global manufacturing by adopting real-time longitudinal case study methodology. By focusing on the development process aspects, this licentiate thesis seeks to generate new insights that will be useful to those responsible for or involved in the digital twin development process. 

This thesis provides three main contributions. Firstly, it identifies key requirements when developing digital twins for production systems, highlighting the need to focus on not only technical requirements, but also requirements related to people and processes. Secondly, based on physical, virtual, and process complexity, it identifies the sources of complexity when developing digital twins for production systems. Thirdly, it provides insights into the development activities within digital twin development processes , offering significant guidelines for researchers and practitioners.

This thesis presents a framework that offers a practical contribution to support practitioners in the process of developing digital twins for production systems. It outlines a structured approach to assist practitioners in mitigating the complexities of digital twin development process. The approach outlines key stages and considerations to facilitate the holistic perspective of the process, providing a practical tool for manufacturing companies to enhance their efforts and increase the potential for success in digital twin developments for production systems.