ISO has recently issued a series of standards (ISO 23247) that deals with a digital twin framework for manufacturing. It is a generic framework that can be specialized to enterprises engaged in different manufacturing processes, such as discrete, batch, or continuous. This paper presents an analysis of this series of standards with two main objectives: (1) to inform the manufacturing community at large and ( 2) to examine this series of standards for applications in emerging industry sectors (e.g., biomanufacturing) and with novel manufacturing technologies (e.g., additive manufacturing). It takes a bottom-up approach, dealing with key terms and concepts first and gradually building up the framework. It includes interpretations and analyses to guide an appreciation of what the ISO 23247 series standardizes and the space it opens up for further development and industrial application.
