2016 SmartFactory Demonstrator to include ODVA’s Machine Data Model

October 23, 2015 — In a keynote speech given by Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of SmartFactory, at ODVA’s 2015 Industry Conference & 17th Annual Meeting of Members held October 13-15, 2015 in Frisco, Texas, it was announced that the 2016 SmartFactory Demonstrator will include a proof of concept implementation of ODVA’s machine data model.  The proof of concept will be supported by ODVA principal member Bosch Rexroth, which is also an executive member of SmartFactory.

ODVA’s machine data model is a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration (OMI) which was first announced in 2011 in cooperation with Sercos International and the OPC Foundation.  The OMI initiative is focused on techniques to optimize the integration of manufacturing machinery with the industrial ecosystem. One of the key machine integration problems that OMI seeks to solve is the streamlining and standardization of heterogeneous communication interfaces, such as CIP and Sercos, in order to enable standard reporting methods and tools across machines and thus aid in the management of machines and the monitoring of their states. To investigate and develop standards in this area, ODVA established a Special Interest Group for Machinery Information (SIG) with participants from ODVA principal members Bosch Rexroth, Rockwell Automation and Schneider Electric along with invited experts from OPC Foundation and Sercos International. The SIG has now completed its first phase of work to define a standard approach to machine data models which will then be mapped to the structures in CIP, OPC-UA and Sercos.  The 2016 SmartFactory production cell sponsored by Bosch Rexroth will illustrate the benefits of this approach.

“The concepts and standards being developed as a result of ODVA’s initiative for the Optimization of Machine Integration are well aligned with the goals of the SmartFactory,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing Detlef Zühlke, executive chairman of the Technology-Initiative SmartFactory  e.V. “The concepts for ODVA’s machine data model will be a welcome addition to the SmartFactory demonstrator in 2016.”

“Certain types of data are typical to machine-to-supervisory communication. This data can be placed into logical groupings such as base machine context, conditioning monitoring, energy, safety, machine diagnostics, machine states, production recipes and product information,” stated Dr. Ludwig Leurs, co-chair of ODVA’s SIG for Machinery Information and engineering manager of Ethernet convergence for Bosch Rexroth. “The SmartFactory demonstrator will allow the SIG participants to prove out the concepts in ODVA’s machine data model before completing final specification for the model and its mapping to the protocol standards.”

“The concept of ODVA’s machine data model is groundbreaking because it applies the concept of “Things” as conceived in the Industrial Internet of Things to the machine itself,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director.  “The alignment of SmartFactory with the Industrie 4.0 initiative, and thus the Industrial Internet of Things, makes the 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator an ideal venue to illustrate the benefits of ODVA’s concept of the machine.”

ODVA’s machine data model will be integrated into the Bosch Rexroth production cell for 2016 SmartFactory demonstrator that will premiere at Hannover Fair 2016 on April 25, 2016.  

About SmartFactory
The Technology Initiative SmartFactory  e.V. was founded in 2005 as a non-profit association to establish a network of industrial and research partners which initiate and implement together research and development projects ranging from base technologies to the development of marketable products.
Today SmartFactory is a manufacturer-independent demonstration and research platform and unique in Europe. Within the SmartFactory community, innovative information and communications technologies and their application are tested and developed in a realistic, industrial production environment. SmartFactory aims to integrate sophisticated information technologies into factory automation, thereby preparing the ground for more flexible and efficient production concepts. From the beginning, SmartFactory has been cooperating intensively with the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) to guarantee the access to leading German research in the field of innovative software technologies. The SmartFactory initiative is supported by the active participation of its members and the financial and material contributions of its supporters and sponsors. The members, supporters and sponsors create a lively partnership to realize the vision of the factory of the future with modern and innovative ideas.

About ODVA
Founded in 1995, ODVA is a global association whose members comprise the world’s leading automation companies. ODVA’s mission is to advance open, interoperable information and communication technologies in industrial automation. ODVA recognizes its media independent network protocol, the Common Industrial Protocol or “CIP” – and the network adaptations of CIP – EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet and ControlNet – as its core technology and the primary common interest of its membership. ODVA’s vision is to contribute to the sustainability and prosperity of the global community by transforming the model for information and communication technology in the industrial ecosystem. For future interoperability of production systems and the integration of the production systems with other systems, ODVA embraces the adoption of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and standard, unmodified Internet and Ethernet technologies as a guiding principle wherever possible. This principle is exemplified by EtherNet/IP – the world’s number one industrial Ethernet network.