Dr. Alexander Broos travelled to EMO 2019 with a great portion of enthusiasm. Dr. Broos is project manager of umati at the Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabrikanten (VDW, Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers) and quoted on the website of the VDW as follows: « With umati a quantum step in the implementation of industry 4.0 in production has been achieved». And: « The use of a standardized interface will catapult the benefits for machine tool users and their customers into new dimensions». Big words, but how did the umati showcase spread out at this year’s EMO from the point of view of a participating company?
«From our point of view umati presented itself very well at the EMO. We assume that umati was able to further and significantly increase its level of popularity», says Levin Burkhart, Product Manager IIoT at Agathon. «The showcase seemed to work perfectly throughout the fair and visitors were very well informed about the topic at the umati booth in Hall 9», according to Burkhart. The decisive question whether umati will be able to establish itself as the standard is still open for Burkhart. «I see good chances for this, » says Levin Burkhart, «but it’s still too early to make a serious assessment». The wide support is enormously valuable and confidence-building, especially from large machine manufacturers such as DMG Mori, Yamazaki Mazak or Trumpf and from leading suppliers of control systems such as Fanuc, Mitsubishi Electric or Siemens. «But let us wait until the first draft, which I’m very much looking forward to, is released», Burkhart pleads for patience. «Then we’ll probably see where the journey takes us to. In any case, we are happy and proud to be part of this project».
umati is an initiative of the VDW, which has set itself the goal of creating a common machine language. Within the framework of this initiative, a worldwide uniform interface is developed on the basis of the OPC-UA protocol, via which different machine tools and systems can be integrated safely, seamlessly and easily into customer- and user-specific IT ecosystems (MES, ERP, Cloud, etc.). The umati syntax is to be understood as the common denominator of different processes. Proprietary solutions, which collect and provide additional data within the individual technologies, retain their high benefit for the customer. For example, Agathon offers its customers its own OPC-UA-based interface, which provides the customer with a variety of production and machine-specific data for further evaluation.
Do you have questions about umati and the Agathon contribution to the success of this initiative? Or would you like to learn more about the Agathon industry 4.0 solutions? Contact us at info@agathon.ch
