Together with CESMII, the OPC Foundation is launching the "OPC UA Cloud Library" working group (JWG). The aim of the JWG is to define how OPC UA information models of machines, SCADA and manufacturing execution systems are stored in a cloud-based database and accessed from there. Such a database should enable manufacturers to draw from a wide range of OPC UA information models and profiles for use in their pre-built store floor and business digitization applications.

"The OPC UA Cloud Library Joint Working Group between the OPC Foundation and the Smart Manufacturing Institute closes a gap in the OPC UA promise "from sensor to cloud". Only when all OPC UA data models are publicly accessible on the Internet without having to extract them from physical machines or on-prem systems can this promise be fully realized. OPC UA will then not only be the de facto international standard for interoperable machine intelligence, manufacturing MES and SCADA systems, but also for dashboards, digital twins and cloud analytics solutions," says Erich Barnstedt, Head of Azure Industrial IoT, Microsoft and Chairman of the JWG.

Stefan Hoppe: "The OPC UA specifications are now a cornerstone of Industry 4.0 and practically every other national Industrial IoT initiative."

© OPC Foundation

Stefan Hoppe, President and Executive Director of the OPC Foundation, added, "It is exciting to see the extent to which CESMII is willing to go to drive digital transformation among U.S. manufacturers with an open standard like OPC UA. The Smart Manufacturing Institute's decision to standardize on OPC UA for key parts of its initiative will enable U.S. manufacturers to more quickly and easily integrate their own machines at home and abroad, with OPC UA being the de facto standard for industrial IoT data interoperability."
CESMII is the US National Institute for Smart Manufacturing. Established in 2016 in partnership with the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), it is the third institute funded by EERE's Advanced Manufacturing Office. The Institute accelerates the adoption of Smart Manufacturing (SM) by integrating advanced sensors, data, platforms, and controls to impact manufacturing performance through measurable improvements in areas such as quality, throughput, cost/profitability, safety, equipment reliability, and energy productivity. The program and administration of CESMII are based at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).