Purpose

The development of autonomous and smart network technologies is in full swing. The philosophy of the Smart Industry projects and their partners is to develop the use of Industry 4.0 ‘compliant’, autonomous and smart network technologies. What we mean by ‘Industry 4.0 compliant’ is the use of standards such as OPC UA for equipment interfacing, AAS for digital twin descriptions, IDS/Gaia-X for data exchanges via value chains, etc. Using these standards should lead to a kind of digital plug (a kind of operating system) to which all kinds of applications can be connected. 

The first step to achieve this is to conduct pilots in various realistic practical simulations. Then, a wider introduction in the manufacturing industry will follow by means of demos and training. Here, the biggest challenge lies in training current employees – who have often not acquired any digital skills at school – to use these digital resources as productively as possible. This training needs to be made available to all SME manufacturing companies and training institutes via the Smart Makers Academy. That will enable the NXTGEN HIGHTECH partners and stakeholders to disseminate knowledge and expertise as widely as possible.  

SAM XL is developing a robotics training module for the R-line for SME manufacturing companies. This development and sharing of knowledge will strengthen SAM XL’s ties with SMEs, cooperation partners and the manufacturing industry.