The global trend in manufacturing has shifted from a manufacturing-centric process toward a user-centric process. This has resulted in a shorter lifespan and a high product replacement rate of any consumer product. Germany has introduced the concept of Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) to convert manufacturing processes and mechanisms into cyber-physical systems (CPS). Digital factory, being the first step into CPS and IR4.0, is being targeted as the most important evolution of the manufacturing industry. This paper defines digital factories and their differences between other similar domains such as smart factories, CPS, and virtual factories. The requirements and goals of a digital factory are explained in detail to facilitate future digital factory tool developments. Furthermore, the current challenges faced in the implementation of the digital factory are proposed to be approached by adapting an interoperable virtual reality technology. This paper emphasizes the usage of virtual reality (VR) in simulating a digital factory that aids in the decision-making and efficient operation of a manufacturing facility. Furthermore, recommendations gathered from previous studies for developing VR-based digital factory tools are also explained in detail in this paper.

制造业的全球趋势已从以制造为中心的过程转变为以用户为中心的过程。这导致任何消费产品的寿命缩短和产品更换率提高。德国引入了工业革命4.0（IR 4.0）的概念，以将制造过程和机制转换为网络物理系统（CPS）。数字工厂是CPS和IR4.0的第一步，它已成为制造业最重要的发展目标。本文定义了数字工厂及其在其他类似领域（如智能工厂，CPS和虚拟工厂）之间的区别。详细解释了数字工厂的要求和目标，以促进未来数字工厂工具的开发。此外，提出通过采用可互操作的虚拟现实技术来应对数字工厂实施中当前面临的挑战。本文重点介绍了虚拟现实（VR）在模拟数字工厂中的使用，该数字工厂有助于制造工厂的决策和有效运营。此外，本文还详细解释了从以前的研究中收集的有关开发基于VR的数字工厂工具的建议。