A Cross‐Sector DigiCircular Digital Twin Architecture for Collaborative and Sustainable Manufacturing

ABSTRACT

Collaborative intelligent manufacturing enables persistent data‐synchronised interaction among distributed industrial systems, creating new opportunities for coordinated and sustainable manufacturing. However, sustainability and circular economy objectives are still largely managed. This paper proposes DT ² (DigiCircular Twin‐Transition), a federated digital twin architecture for collaborative and sustainable manufacturing that integrates circular economy intelligence, life‐cycle sustainability assessment, and cross‐sector interoperability into an integrated decision‐making framework. DT ² integrates heterogeneous digital twins from agri‐food processing, textile manufacturing, logistics, and blockchain‐based traceability into a shared decision layer, allowing environmental and circularity indicators to operate as real‐time control variables. A unified sustainability efficiency index (SEI) supports cross‐sector comparability and multi‐objective optimisation of environmental performance, operational efficiency, and economic outcomes. Simulation‐based validation, including Pareto‐front analysis and Monte Carlo robustness testing ( N  = 10,000), demonstrated that, relative to the baseline nonfederated configuration, the evaluated DT ² simulation scenarios achieved reductions of up to 30% in environmental impacts, improvements of up to 25% in resource efficiency, extensions of product lifecycles of up to 20%, and improvements of up to 38% in long‐term return on investment. Interoperability and trust are ensured through standards aligned federated architecture (ISO 23247, IEC 62890) and blockchain‐backed performance verification. By transforming sustainability from reporting into predictive, collaborative control, DT ² advances the collaborative intelligent manufacturing metaverse towards scalable, auditable and policy‐ready industrial sustainability governance.