The founding members of the new initiative envision up to 80% of the machines in a smart factory speaking the same language in the future. To achieve this, the companies have committed to using an "Open Industrie 4.0 Alliance Framework". The new company alliance aims to overcome proprietary isolated solutions and give a decisive boost to the digital transformation of European industry. This framework is to be based on existing standards such as I/O Link, OPC UA and RAMI.

The founding members are Beckhoff, Endress+Hauser, Hilscher, ifm, Kuka, Multivac and SAP. The alliance is open to any company; for example, Balluff, Gebhardt, Pepperl+ Fuchs, Schmidtsche Schack, Samson and Wika are already members of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance.

An open and interoperable solution

The open, standards-based offering from the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance consists of four building blocks - Device Connectivity, Edge, Operator Cloud and Cloud Central - plus an associated range of services. Device Connectivity establishes the connection to the machines and sensors. The Edge is the central node for all important and locally required functions in the factory. The Operator Cloud is the central node in the customer's company. This Operator Cloud also has an open layer and supports all company-centric functions and applications. Finally, Cloud Central enables the bidirectional exchange of data (especially master data, but also measurement data from a calibration) and information (e.g. technical documentation or repair instructions) across company boundaries.

The first proof-of-concepts were already completed in 2018, for example at Kuka with versatile and flexible matrix production. Further proof-of-concepts by members and their customers are planned for summer 2019. The founding members are preparing an initial showcase for the second half of 2019.

The background to the Alliance

Armin Pühringer: "Data sovereignty must lie with the system operator!"

© SAP

What are the motives behind the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance? And what role does SAP play in this? Armin Pühringer, Industry Advisor at SAP Germany, takes a stand.

Mr. Pühringer, the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance promotes an open ecosystem for the digital transformation of industrial production facilities - what exactly does that mean?

Armin Pühringer: The aim of the Alliance is to increase value creation for plant operators with Industry 4.0-based solutions and services. The strategy here is to implement the digitalization of processes in industry in a future-proof way. The working method for this is based on two pillars: On the one hand, the results of the Industry 4.0 platform such as the RAMI 4.0, the administration shell or the selection of corresponding standards such as OPC UA, eClass, AutomationML and other Industry 4.0 results that exist today are used in practice. On the other hand, a group of companies is forming here that implements these results in its own products and services and thus offers a networked range that is interoperable and facilitates the implementation of digitalization projects.

How does this initiative differ from the Mindsphere Group, for example, apart from the fact that the backbone of the solution is not the Siemens portfolio but the SAP portfolio?

Armin Pühringer: Our credo includes a commitment to open standards, the conviction that data sovereignty lies with the plant operator and that we are only trustees, and that vendor lock-in is a thing of the past and that the future will be shaped by meaningful and open cooperation.

What is SAP's motivation behind the initiative?

Armin Pühringer: SAP is supporting and shaping digitalization in manufacturing. This includes the transition from line production to flexible production processes. We are contributing our intelligent asset management system, which is a common place for all semantic asset models, to generate new business models. In order to guarantee the required openness and interoperability of the solution, SAP has disclosed the database as a central asset repository and used the asset administration shell to ensure that manufacturers can contribute their asset information openly, transparently and without vendor lock-in for customer projects in accordance with Industry 4.0 and also use it as part of their own digitalization strategy.

This provides the basis on which every provider can align their market offering at all levels of the architecture. With Design2Operate at the Hannover Messe 2019, SAP set the tone for what the intelligent production of the future will look like in a collaborative approach.

You are talking about a kit of modular, compatible and scalable solution and service components from the companies involved. But how can you guarantee compatibility in particular?

Armin Pühringer: Compatibility will be achieved through regular plug tests, in which the interoperability of components within solutions is achieved. Here we are also building on experience from industrial communication.

What legal form will the initiative take?

Armin Pühringer: The objectives of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance can be very well represented organizationally by a registered association. We are currently in the final preparations for its foundation. The association will then operate the provision of an Industry 4.0-relevant infrastructure for production, manufacturing and warehousing.