Euromap signs co-operation agreement for Industry 4.0 protocols

Thorsten Kühmann (left), secretary general of Euromap, and Stefan Hoppe, vice president of OPC Foundation, at the signing.

Euromap, the European umbrella organisation of plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with OPC Foundation, which develops common standards for industrial process controls.

Euromap said it has been working for three years in the development of Industry 4.0-ready interfaces based on OPC Unified Architecture, which is a machine to machine communication protocol for industrial automation.

At K 2016 in October, the organisation released Euromap77, an interface between injection moulding machines and central computers/MES, based on OPC UA.

Further specifications for the networking of different machines are being developed with the assistance of the OPC Foundation, said Euromap.

As an expression of this cooperation, OPC Foundation vice president Stefan Hoppe and Euromap secretary general Thorsten Kühmann signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 1 February.

“This will form the basis for close cooperation on future projects too,” said Euromap. “Their common objective is to publish interface descriptions for plastics and rubber machinery as Companion Specifications. These uniform information models eliminate the cost associated with the adjustments that the networking of machinery previously required.

“Components from different manufacturers can be combined into installations more easily if each manufacturer provides its data in the same form. This is essential if Industry 4.0 is to be made a reality.”