German machine tool manufacturers open a new chapter in the roll-out of Industry 4.0

The VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) will be firing up the next stage of umati – the universal machine technology interface – on 16 and 17 December. "This is solid proof that the open connection of machines is possible using such standards. Participants will be able to experience how data from different machines converges – live and at first hand," says Dr. Alexander Broos, umati project manager and Head of Research and Technology at the VDW.

"Even though we can only meet virtually this year, we are very excited about this opportunity to showcase umati to the world," Broos continues. What does this mean? Using a virtual event format, the VDW is offering five selected machine tool industry partners of the umati Core Group the first opportunity to present products that integrate functionalities of the OPC UA for machine tools (OPC UA 40501-1) and OPC UA for machines (OPC UA 40001-1) specifications.

Pioneers at this event are Grob-Werke (Mindelheim), Heller (Nürtingen), Liebherr-Verzahntechnik (Kempten), Trumpf (Ditzingen) and the United Grinding Group (Bern, Switzerland). The two-day programme includes "meet the expert" talks, live demonstrations and discussions.

"We are looking forward to showing in this web event just how crucial a part of our digital transformation strategy umati is. Worldwide standards help not only our customers, but all the partners involved. What Is more, they are an important prerequisite for coping with the complexities of today and tomorrow," says Christian Josi from the United Grinding Group.

The OPC UA specifications were published in September 2020. Based on OPC UA as the global language of production, they considerably simplify the connection of machine tools to production-related IT systems. umati is a community of the engineering industry and its customers for the promotion and introduction of open, standardised interfaces based on OPC UA. The interface facilitates data exchange between machines, components and systems and their integration into customer and user-specific IT ecosystems - simply, seamlessly and securely.

Source and photo: VDW