Digital shadow and digital twin infrastructure used as catalyst for production virtualization and resiliencies in the textile industry

Abstract

Traditional and technological ineffectiveness results in poor product quality, inadequate performances, and problems with inclusive development. Developing nations, including Africa, like Ethiopia, are weak, traditional, fragmented, and poor in technological capability, with weak and deprived improvement strategies. The goal of this study is to look into what happens when digital shadow and digital twin infrastructure is used to speed up production virtualization and make the textile industry more resilient. The impacts of digital twin and digital shadow infrastructure on supply chain visibility and production performances using both qualitative and quantitative analysis were employed. SPSS, AHP, and the mind map analysis were also employed in this study. The result indicates that an integrated and innovative digital twin infrastructure has great impacts on the production visualization, process innovation, supply chain optimization, and industrial resilience in the textile industries. Particularly, the digital twin strategies have the highest positive impacts on raw material visibility, process design flexibility, product optimization, and supply chain agility in the textile industry. Both digital shadow and digital twins have positive impacts on agility and industrial resilience (37.88%), real-time monitoring and analysis (27.73%), supply chain optimization (17.43%), and production visualization (16.96%) from the highest to the lowest, respectively. Likewise, the two strategies provide improved performances on production sustainability and agility and are vital for inclusive development in the manufacturing industry in general and the textile industry in particular. Also, digital twin infrastructure is used as a catalyst for supply chain agility and distribution performances of the textile industries. Further investigations shows that digital strategies have the potential ability to connect and collaborate with individuals (76%), engineering design (71%), production capability (65%), and raw material utilization in a virtual and visible manner (63%), respectively, from the highest to the lowest. This study provides significant insights for researchers, experts, and professionals, helping them gain a more inclusive understanding of digital twins. The findings also demonstrate the significant impact that DT implementations and stimulating sustainable and virtual textile production practices have.

Keywords: Digital Twin, Digital Shadow, Textile Industry, Production Virtualization, Textile Innovation