Is PIM a Digital Twin?

In 2002, Dr. Grieves proposed the digital twin as the conceptual model under product lifecycle management (PLM). NASA first used the name digital twin in a 2010 roadmap report.

Concept

Wikipedia's definition: "It is a digital replica of a living or non-living physical entity. By bridging the physical and the virtual world, data is transmitted seamlessly, allowing the virtual entity to exist simultaneously with the physical entity."

Two parts, then: the physical product and the digital or virtual product. The link between them is often called the digital thread. The concept started in industry.

Where a digital twin is used

In healthcare the idea began with predicting how a product or a piece of equipment would behave. It later became the virtual patient: a description of that person's current healthy state, not only the old records. Philips framed it as a digital version of yourself.

In automotive, the same idea is used to develop and update software in cars such as Tesla. Most maintenance issues can be handled remotely from the data the living side of the twin sends back. In building and construction, building information modeling (BIM) is the digital twin model.

The term has moved into product information management. A PIM is the single source of truth for the product. Richer data means more you can show the customer. The physical product has to be mirrored in the digital product, and that mirror has to stay accurate. Some PIM vendors call this a 360 view of the product. It is also being called a digital twin.

In a long-tail assortment the product may exist only in your virtual catalog. The physical item is drop-shipped from the manufacturer or wholesaler to the customer. You still have to show it from enough angles that someone can decide to buy. Digital information compensates for the missing object in the room, and it has to be consistent and available across the organization. That is what a PIM is for.

May we call a PIM a digital twin?

It depends on the definition. The literature mostly treats the digital twin as a way of doing PLM. A PIM is not a PLM system, though you can configure a PIM so it covers some PLM functions. In that setup the physical product is mirrored in the PIM. Calling the PIM itself a digital twin is, more than anything, a new label for attracting buyers.