Digital Twins for Improving Proactive Maintenance Management

Proactive maintenance is a policy aimed at identifying the root cause of failure and correcting it before it causes other problems and leads to machinery failure and breakdown. Implementing this policy can enhance reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) at low cost. A digital twin (DT) is a digital copy of a physical object and its applications will play a leading role in the future of smart manufacturing. DT concept is increasingly appearing in industrial applications including proactive maintenance, enabling accurate identification of equipment condition, proactive prediction of faults, and enhanced reliability. This review paper focuses on the performance and applications of different aspects of DTs in proactive maintenance polices. The review of literature focused on the applications of DT in maintenance management for improving equipment RAMS. The literature review shows that the application of DT techniques in proactive maintenance remains very important for managing the maintenance of critical equipment and production systems. Several DT frameworks for proactive maintenance have been discussed. Furthermore, this study provides a comprehensive roadmap for future research initiatives aiming to fully utilize the capabilities of technology design teams. Finally, the results of this study will be of value to professionals who want and aspire to implement technological design to achieve maintenance excellence.