Publication of the first version of an interface specification for the wire harness industry
Short News
The first version of the “Specification for Wire Harness Manufacturing OPC 40570” for the wire harness industry has been published. It is based on the OPC UA industry standard and aims to guarantee a secure, reliable and platform-independent exchange of information between machines and software systems. Various experts from the Komax Group are involved in the establishment and further development of the interface specification.
To enable further automation within the wire harness industry, manufacturers must create standardized interface specifications for their wire processing machines. Only this way will it be possible to connect software systems such as SCADA or MES, which are indispensable nowadays due to required quality and safety standards, without considerable additional effort. A VDMA (“Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau” - German Engineering Federation) working group has been pursuing the goal of developing an industry standard for the integration of machines and software systems for over two years. The committee consists of wire harness manufacturers such as Leoni and Krombert & Schubert, as well as experts from the Komax Group - from Komax, Schleuniger and DiIT - and the PROSTEP VEC Group.
The VDMA has now published the first official version of the “Specification for Wire Harness Manufacturing OPC 40570”. It is based on the OPC Unified Architecture, short OPC UA, an interoperability standard that guarantees a secure, reliable and platform-independent exchange of information and is therefore one of the most important technologies for networking machines in Industry 4.0. The content of the “Specification for Wire Harness Manufacturing OPC 40570” includes standards for the specification of machines, such as a digital nameplate. It contains important information about machines and supports electronic communication and integration into industrial networks and systems. In its first version, the specification also includes elements such as the machine and module status or job management for important manufacturing processes such as cut, strip, crimp or the insertion of seals.
In future, the specification will be expanded to include further definitions and production processes and will be continuously developed until the connection of software systems and thus the transfer of data and information is possible without any problems.