The Enterprise-Control System Integration of the operational applications is described in IEC-62264 and also referred to as the automation pyramid. This integration model is built on the MRP-II model developed in the 1980s. This model was groundbreaking for its time and still forms the basis of operational IT systems today. According to this concept, operational applications are run through hierarchically-sequentially (waterfall principle), which results in disadvantages such as: many interfaces, time delays, data loss, inconsistencies, etc. This sequential model neither meets the current requirements nor the informational and technical possibilities of Industry 4.0. It can be replaced by the concept of the digital control twin, which has corresponding effects on the automation pyramid.
