OPC UA - vdma.org

In an interview with the VDMA, Ricardo Aloysio e Silva reports on the state of digitalization and interoperability in Brazil

The digitalization of industry is facing a fundamental problem: while marketing brochures often talk about greenfield projects, a lot of all digitalization projects are actually brownfield modernizations of existing systems.

In today's industry, interoperability is a decisive factor that promotes efficiency, cost savings and competitiveness.

With the publication of the new OPC UA Companion Specification "OPC 40092-1", the VDMA has set an important milestone for the digitalization of the PUR foam industry.

The VDMA and Spanish company TRIMEK have been honored with the BAIDATA Excellence Award 2025 in the category "Excellence in the Deployment of Innovative Pilots and Use Cases."

In an interview with the VDMA, Mauricio Finotti from ABINC talks about the future.

Are you ready to shape the future of industrial data and digital transformation?

The Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH (BGE) is using a mobile demonstrator on a model scale to bring the advantages and functionality of OPC UA as a framework for industrial interoperability closer to its own operating personnel.

With the description of abstract types for components, systems and controllers, the Companion Specification OPC 40700 defines the basis of the OPC UA information models in the surface technology areas.

The 3. Interoperability Summit, sponsored by ECLASS, GS1 Germany, Prostep ivip, and VDMA Machine Information Interoperability, will take place on May, 7, 2026 at the Telekom Conference Center in Bonn.

The development of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is progressing rapidly, but the regulatory requirements and practical implementation are still unclear, especially for small and medium-sized companies.

Industrial production is under increasing competitive pressure. In this environment, interoperability - i.e. the ability of different systems to work together smoothly - is becoming a decisive success factor.

From May 28 to 31, 2025, the manufacturing world will gather in Istanbul for WIN EURASIA, one of the leading industrial trade fairs in the Eurasian region.

The production of modern batteries requires complex production lines and therefore presents companies with considerable challenges in production.

At the bauma trade fair in Munich, a groundbreaking demonstrator unveiled the future of mining operations through the integration of the OPC UA Companion Specifications: The OPC 40560 series provides standardized OPC UA information models for mining.

In this interview, Rene Hirschmugl reveals the importance of interoperability in the industry and why he sees OPC UA Companion Specifications as a great opportunity.

A consortium of organizations has published a groundbreaking specification for interoperable and efficient energy management in industrial automation and process automation.

The glass industry is undergoing a transformation: Digital connectivity, automation, and data-driven process optimization are no longer future concepts but key factors for competitiveness and efficiency.

VDMA and T-Systems, together with the umati initiative, are presenting the first global Manufacturing-X solution with open standards for machine data at this year's Hannover Messe.

The VDMA Mining & Minerals OPC UA demonstrator at bauma 2025 - a fascinating example of how modern communication technologies can shape the future of mining.

The United States is expanding its manufacturing capabilities by investing in a network of institutes, each specializing in a specific area, for example technology or workforce development.

At Hannover Messe (31 March to 4 April 2025), the umati initiative will once again be represented with its own stand in Hall 9, Stand F25.

Ensure safety and interoperability

Imparting technical knowledge – Experts advise you individually

With the aim of establishing an open standard for optical sorters, a kick-off meeting was held at VDMA Frankfurt on November 26, 2024.

Traditionally, simulations of transmission systems are based on idealized models that are based on nominal values.

The OPC UA standard has become an integral part of modern sheet metal production. The universal interface technology enables your machines to communicate securely and in a standardized way with connected IT systems.

With the Call for Papers, HANNOVER MESSE is addressing all exhibitors and partners who would like to enrich the content of the forum program at the world's most important industrial trade fair with their contributions.

The VDMA represents around 200 member companies in its Automation Solutions (AS) sector group, all component and/or system manufacturers in the field of assembly and handling technology.

A new version of the OPC UA for Machine Tools Companion Specification has recently become available. The Joint Working Group with the OPC Foundation, which is supported by the VDW, has developed a supplement that makes it possible to integrate existing inventory systems with immediate effect.

For the first time, bauma offered a five-part webinar series on the key themes of the fair in cooperation with the VDMA.

Digitization will also play a major role at the 12th Mechanical Engineering Summit in Berlin. How does digitalization affect mechanical engineering? What challenges do mechanical engineers have to deal with in the current times and what opportunities does digitalization offer?

New episode of the podcast by OPC Foundation about OPC UA for Machinery and why its the most critical and important base class of all VDMA information models. It will become critically important and mandatory not only for machines, but also for all services that access data.

State Association Day: OPC UA - Tackling and Implementing

The regional associations of the VDMA offer information events on OPC UA in June.

Description

In exactly one week, the time has come: METAV digital will be launched under the motto "Networking simply threefold". Almost 80 exhibitors from six countries will be there. It is the first exclusively digital event for the metalworking sector organised by the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), Frankfurt am Main.

VDMA Working Group Additive Manufacturing launches OPC UA activity

In July 2019, the Air Pollution Control department began developing a Companion Specification for "process air extraction and filtration systems". The aim is to develop a standardized interface for data exchange between process air extraction and filtration systems with each other, with upstream machines, with supporting systems or with higher-level production systems in a manufacturer- and platform-independent communication network.

The activities of the professional associations pump systems as well as compressors, compressed air and vacuum technology are now on their way as official working groups of the OPC Foundation.

Learn from each other, exchange industry-specific experiences, inform yourself about topics relevant to mechanical engineering: When and where? Here you will find all event dates at a glance.

40 VDMA working groups standardize the interfaces of machines and components in individual industries. All basic information models are brought together in the Companion Specification.

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were indications of cooling in the laser industry. According to figures issued by the VDMA Working Committee “Lasers and Laser Systems for Material Processing”, both production and incoming orders dropped by about 18 per cent in 2019. Yet even in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, there are opportunities to be taken, as demonstrated for instance by applications in the Industry 4.0 field. “As a result of the travel restrictions, digitised solutions are increasingly gaining in significance for a number of fields, including remote services, predictive maintenance, and links to manufacturing execution systems (MESs) in industry,” explained Dr. Christian Schmitz, Chief Executive Officer Laser Technology of TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG in Ditzingen and chairman of the Working Committee Laser in the VDMA. “And one key foundation is provided by the German laser industry’s work on OPC UA-based interface standards.”

The project "Interoperable Interfaces for Intelligent Production", II4IP for short, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), aims at the development of cross-industry OPC UA standards. You can find more about goals, measures and background information in the flyer of the same name.

Industrie 4.0 requires changes at all corporate levels and along the entire value-added chain. The focus is on the three fields of action interoperability, sovereignty and sustainability.

In the future, VDMA and VDW will jointly promote the use and dissemination of OPC UA standards for the entire mechanical engineering industry under the umati brand.

In the new episode of the OPC Foundation Podcast Andreas Faath explains the role of the VDMA in the development of OPC UA Companion Specifications. The head of OPC UA in VDMA gives an overview of the active working groups in VDMA and explains the process underlying the development of a Companion Specification.

After the kick-off in 2019, two meetings and several webcons of the working group on compressed air technology were held in 2020 - with the support of Prof. Müller and his team from the Technical University of Cologne.

An important basis for the successful introduction of Industry 4.0 is the manufacturer-independent exchange of data in production. The open interface standard OPC UA is increasingly established for this purpose. The VDMA guideline shows how companies can successfully introduce industry 4.0 communication with OPC UA.

VDMA, IG Metall and Federal Economics Minister Altmeier have committed themselves in the industry dialogue to using the economic opportunities arising from digitisation and artificial intelligence to secure the future of mechanical engineering.