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Digital twin has the potential to be an important technology for achieving smart manufacturing. However, there remains a lot of confusion about the concept and how it can be implemented in real manufacturing systems, especially among small-to-medium enterprises. This paper synthesizes the different perspectives that have been reported on the digital twin to identify the key characteristics that must be understood when developing a digital twin for a specific use case. Example applications are provided and the need for a standardized framework, such as the one under development as ISO 23247 (Digital Twin Manufacturing Framework) is motivated. This framework can enable context-dependent implementations and promote composability and reusability of digital twin components.