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Additive Fertigungsverfahren ermöglichen die Herstellung von sowohl gleichen als auch unterschiedlichen Komponenten in einem Bauvorgang. Um insbesondere für die additive Serienfertigung eine gleichbleibende Bauteilqualität zu gewährleisten, kann der Einsatz eines digitalen Zwillings sinnvoll sein. Dieser stellt hohe Anforderungen an die Datenbasis in Bezug auf Strukturierung, Rechenleistung und Datensicherheit und muss auf die relevanten Funktionen des Einsatzbereichs zugeschnitten sein. Additive manufacturing enables the production of both several identical and different components in a single printing process. To ensure consistent component quality, especially for additive series production, the application of a digital twin can be useful. This places high demands on the data basis in terms of structuring, computing power and data security and must be tailored to the relevant functions of the respective application.

In the context of Industry 4.0, digital technologies and concepts are becoming more and more important in companies, as they can provide solutions to current challenges. The digital twin in particular can be used in various fields of application and thus create added value. However, the variety of different application possibilities as well as the difficult evaluation of the added value of the digital twin poses great challenges for companies. This publication therefore presents a method that offers companies a structured approach to identifying and subsequently evaluating possible uses of the digital twin based on their digital maturity. First, the digital maturity of a company is determined by means of a point-based questionnaire and a suitable identification method is proposed based on the result of the digital maturity. If a field of application could be identified with the proposed method, it is evaluated by a self-developed "Digital Twin Canvas" and, depending on the field of application, by a suitable simulation. By applying the method in various companies from different sectors, the method's functionality has been validated.

The use of digital concepts, such as the digital twin, increases the competitiveness of industrial companies. Various possible applications of a digital twin are described in the literature. However, in order to drive their implementation, it is necessary to quantify the resulting benefits for companies. Therefore, an approach is presented in this publication that allows the estimation of the economic and ecological benefits of using a digital twin for a company. First, possible applications are identified based on the product life cycle and then their use potentials for the company are analyzed. The use potentials are categorized according to direct, indirect, and strategic benefits. After the categorization, models are set up to quantify the direct and indirect benefits. Thus, the presented approach enables an evaluation of the benefit of using a digital twin for a company. Through a use case in additive manufacturing the function of the method was validated.