At the national IT summit on 16 and 17 November, Plattform Industrie 4.0 announced new developments in standardization: "In addition to the recommendations for action, we have made great progress in the area of standardization. For example, we have incorporated the RAMI 4.0 reference architecture model developed by Plattform Industrie 4.0 into the DIN specification. This means that the three key dimensions of IT, lifecycle and automation hierarchy can now be combined in one model for the first time," says Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm, who is stepping down as chair of the steering committee after two years (see image).

According to the platform, a major step has been taken towards international standardization efforts. RAMI 4.0 has also recently been discussed in the international standardization organizations International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

As part of the IT summit, the platform also published an interaction model for the administration shell. This is a set of rules that defines individual vocabulary for the language between machines, sensors and products, similar to a dictionary and lexicon.

New support for Industry 4.0

The Industrie 4.0 platform has also expanded its range of support services: the Industrie 4.0 Compass is intended to provide SMEs in particular with an overview of more than 40 existing non-commercial services. The online library of the Industrie 4.0 platform has also grown: a total of nine additional publications published for the IT summit can be found in the library, as can the publications of the platform's partner organizations.

The new publications include, for example, the recommendations for action on operational qualification, considerations for an administrative shell for network communication, the updated research agenda, the IT security user guide and the recommendations for action on legal framework conditions.

Cooperation with France, Japan, USA and China

In recent months, Plattform Industrie 4.0 has intensified its exchange with several international alliances: Joint work plans with partners from France (Alliance Industrie du Futur), Japan (Robot Revolution Initiative), the USA (Industrial Internet Consortium) and China include close cooperation in the area of standardization. Experts from Plattform Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet Consortium are developing ideas on how to jointly design international test fields for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The practical experience gained from the tests will be systematically used to further develop and link the already established reference architecture models RAMI 4.0 and IIRA. The platform also engages in intensive discussions with the European Commission on the implementation of Industry 4.0.