umati - universal machine technology interface 通用机械技术接口
umati – on its way to becoming the global language of production
The VDMA and VDW are joining forces to promote the use and dissemination of OPC UA standards throughout the mechanical engineering sector under the umati label. In a manufacturing company there is an individual mix of different machines and equipment, robots and systems. If all these technologies are located in a common ecosystem that creates plug-and-play solutions, this saves end users a lot of time and money.

The mechanical and plant engineering sector adopted OPC UA as the standard for data exchange from an early stage. The machine tool industry was also at the forefront of this process. An initiative to develop an open, standardised interface was presented back in 2017. Here, too, an early decision was taken in favour of OPC UA as the base technology. Just two years later, a showcase featuring 70 partners from ten countries demonstrated at EMO Hannover that it was possible to connect 110 machines to 28 software services distributed across the exhibition grounds in a system which functions to all intents and purposes on a “plug and play” basis. In addition, the VDW launched the umati – universal machine tool interface label back in 2018, a brand aimed primarily at customers all over the world.

In the meantime, numerous other OPC UA Companion Specifications have been developed by the VDMA and its partner organisations. In order to give these specifications greater visibility and to increase their usage levels, umati is now being extended to cover the entire mechanical and plant engineering industry as a community for the use and marketing of OPC UA Companion Specifications.

The new name umati – universal machine technology interface represents a performance promise of interoperable production. umati is a brand and label for a community that has come together to propagate the OPC UA standards within the mechanical and plant engineering sector. It provides a framework for joint marketing, public relations, demonstration of use cases and for end customer communication. It is based on the OPC UA interface standardisation in various branches of mechanical and plant engineering.

“That is why in the future we will always be referring to the latest version of the OPC UA Companion Specification for Machine Tools“, explains Wilfried Schäfer.

The next steps include further optimisation of the relevant Companion Specifications, dissemination of the respective standards, and the staging of showcases at trade fairs. The umati showcases highlight the cross-industry use of various OPC UA standards in a practical way, aimed at demonstrating the suitability of OPC UA standards for everyday use in production to the diverse range of customers.

“We expect to see the first concrete products based on the OPC UA Specification for Machine Tools providing connectivity to customers in the second half of this year,” said Schäfer. “For our partners it is therefore all the more important that the development of the umati community also adheres to this roadmap in providing clear visibility and raising awareness levels,” he continued.

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