The European umbrella organisation of plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, Euromap, has for three years now been involved in the development of Industry 4.0-ready interfaces based on OPC UA (Unified Architecture). The first one, Euromap 77 (interface between injection moulding machines and central computers/MES) was published as a “Release Candidate” at the K trade fair in October 2016. Further specifications for the networking of different machines are being developed. The working groups are already being assisted by the OPC Foundation.
As an expression of this cooperation, OPC Foundation vice president Stefan Hoppe and Euromap secretary general Thorsten Kühmann signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on February 1, 2017. This will form the basis for close cooperation on future projects too. Their common objective is to publish interface descriptions for plastics and rubber machinery as Companion Specifications. These uniform information models eliminate the cost associated with the ajustments that the networking of machinery previously required. Components from different manufacturers can be combined into installations more easily if each manufacturer provides its data in the same form. This is essential if Industry 4.0 is to be made a reality.
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