The IPC-2551 standard is part of the IPC Factory of the Future standards establishing the IPC Digital Twin, which is comprised of the Digital Twin Product, Digital Twin Manufacturing and Digital Twin Lifecycle frameworks. Within the Digital Twin Architecture, the IPC-2551 standard stipulates and defines Digital Twin properties, types, complexities and readiness levels. The IPC Digital Twin includes historical information about a product, including the history of design in terms of revision and engineering changes, and manufacturing information, that many refer to as the Digital Thread.

Using the IPC-2551 standard, any manufacturer, design organization or solution provider can initiate application interoperability to create smart value chains, as well as the mechanism to assess their current IPC Digital Twin readiness level.