Who is VDMA?
With 3,600 members, the VDMA is the largest network organization and an important voice for the machinery and equipment manufacturing industry in Germany and Europe. The association represents the common economic, technical and scientific interests of this unique and diverse industry.
Originally Published by VDMA
CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute, funded by the Department of Energy, is working to accelerate the democratization and adoption of Smart Manufacturing. CESMII is transforming the industry by funding projects, and by fostering pre-competitive collaboration between manufacturers, academia, technology providers, and standards organizations.
While manufacturing operations generate vast amounts of data, much of it is wasted simply because it’s either not collected, or not well contextualized. Standardized information models improve data collection and contextualization, thus increasing the utility of this generated data. CESMII aims to promote Smart Manufacturing adoption by combining standardized models with technology interoperability to enable a seamless flow of information. To enhance technology interoperability, CESMII focuses on three key areas: edge, core, and application. For example, information flows from a PLC (or other operations data sources) through other OT components, to a platform core, and finally to an application that provides insights. At each intersection, that (proprietary) context is lost and is recreated for the next system. This is where SM Profiles come in. These standardized data contracts ensure interoperability by defining common naming conventions, mapping protocols, and providing a data abstraction for applications. SM Profiles are used by software from the edge to application to provide semantic interoperability for machines and processes. See the figure below to understand how SM Profiles work in CESMII’s manufacturing software reference architecture.
It was important to choose the best (existing) standard for the SM profile information modeling language to ensure broad compatibility, easy adoption and long-term sustainability. CESMII chose OPC UA Part 5: its documentation, adoption, existing models, and community of expert contributors make it an excellent language choice. OPC UA Part 5 provides the necessary structure to define the complexity of structures in manufacturing information, while enabling their use in production with or without an OPC UA server. For example, an OEM’s equipment SM Profile would describe the characteristics of the equipment, identification, and the run-time data. This data can be used by platforms and applications via API independent of the operational protocols. The VDMA has been an excellent leader in the creation of SM Profiles (also referred to as Companion Specifications), contributing over 90 of these companion specifications, and driving adoption within machine builders. This library of manufacturing information models is key to achieving CESMII’s goal of promoting interoperability, reducing implementation costs, and fostering wider participation in the Smart Manufacturing ecosystem. Thanks to the VDMA’s foundational work, CESMII is positioned to accelerate Smart Manufacturing adoption and drive further industry-wide collaboration.
SM profiles are only as good as the information systems that use them, but for these systems to be effective, they need supporting technology. Professionals need tools to use, improve and create SM profiles. CESMII noticed a gap in the OPC UA specification: there was no mechanism for storing and accessing OPC UA information models. This led to the creation of a joint CESMII and OPC Foundation working group (Cloud Library) to create an open standard for storing, searching and accessing information models. Implementations of the specification by the OPCF and CESMII quickly followed, providing a REST interface for uploading, downloading and querying SM profiles. CESMII also developed a tool called Profile Designer, a client for viewing, editing, creating and publishing SM profiles to and from the CloudLibrary. This first-of-its-kind tool streamlines the creation of SM profiles with a simple user interface, so no specialized knowledge of information modeling or OPC UA is required. As mentioned earlier, SM focuses on increasing the value of data. To this end, CESMII has developed an SM Marketplace that provides a centralized place for manufacturers to find SM profiles, applications and solutions. With these tools, CESMII bridges the gap between complex technology and practical implementation, enabling manufacturers to realize the full potential of smart manufacturing and drive efficiency and innovation across the industry.
Interoperability was (and remains) a central strategy in our shared goal to reduce the cost and time to implement Smart Manufacturing solutions, and we’ve been fortunate to be able to align our project funding to engage a national community to build the necessary capabilities, see them implemented, refine them, and make them available to the market. This has enabled us to create an exemplar (reference architecture) for what a modern, smart manufacturing architecture can look like and then work to see these concepts broadly adopted and deployed.
The next step on our journey to true application interoperability is to address the need for a market-driven, open API for manufacturing systems. This initiative recommends the creation of a common API, consisting of a base set of server primitives that a wide array of platforms can implement to commoditize this access to data. Such a common API does not prevent platform vendors from differentiating on their capabilities, but it will encourage a proliferation of portable apps to help spur adoption of such platforms and create a vibrant marketplace of apps bringing value to end-users. The analogies in other industries should be obvious: Apple and Android users benefit from common APIs for access to device and platform capabilities exposed to app developers that have led to App Stores full of creative, useful, and enjoyable app experiences. Those platform vendors have benefited, but more importantly, the user has benefited. A Joint Working Group, following W3C Best Practices for standards-development, was established in late 2024. The authors of this specification seek your feedback on how to move toward common interfaces for common industrial information functionality. In this public stage, this document is offered RFC-style, not as a prescription, but as an invitation: please review the RFC, consider how you might use or implement it in the tools that you are familiar with, and provide us feedback on how we can improve it — within the scope it defines. You can learn more here.
CESMII and the VDMA share common goals of manufacturing technology interoperability and industry collaboration. We have joined forces on international industry initiatives including Joint Working Groups, technology implementations, and look forward to participating in their US Roadshow this fall. We’re grateful for our partnership with the VDMA, and for the tremendous work being done to both create these standardized information models, to drive adoption, and to facilitate the creation of significant new value for manufacturers around the world.