The European umbrella organisation for plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers EUROMAP has galvanised its cooperation with the OPC Foundation.
EUROMAP has been developing Industry 4.0 interfaces based on OPC UA for three years, the first of which being EUROMAP 77 (interface between injection moulding machines and central computers/MES), which was published as a Release Candidate at the K 2016.
Further specifications for the networking of different machines are being developed and working groups are already being assisted by the OPC Foundation.
To galvanise this cooperation, OPC Foundation Vice-President Stefan Hoppe and EUROMAP Secretary General Thorsten Kühmann signed a Memorandum of Understanding on February 1st 2017, forming the basis for close cooperation on future projects too.
Both parties wish to publish interface descriptions for plastics and rubber machinery as Companion Specifications. These uniform information models eliminate the cost associated with the adjustments 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.
An overview of the specifications currently under development can be found at www.euromap.org/i40.
Source : eppm
