Experts from the machinery and plant engineering sectors recently met for the second time for a umati hackathon. The aim of the umati initiative is to further advance connectivity and digitalisation in machine tools. The focus of this year’s hackathon was on expanding the connectivity of older generations of existing machines using umati. The experts met at the cylindrical grinding machine specialist, Fritz Studer AG, a company of the United Grinding Group.
A umati hackathon is when around thirty digitalisation experts from the machine and plant engineering sectors of different industries meet and network machines together, implement standardised data models, and generate and test code for two days. After 2022, it is the second such event, this year, it took place in May in Steffisburg, Switzerland.
“As the host of this event, we enable a creative platform that brings developers from different companies together – not for their own purpose, but always with a focus on specific customer benefits,” says Christian Josi, Head of Digital Engineering at the United Grinding Group. We are big proponents of umati and have supported the initiative since day one.
umati stands for “Universal Machine Technology Interface” and aims to introduce a universal manufacturer-independent data interface for machines based on OPC UA. Thanks to this interface, machines on the shop floor can communicate with each other and with their production environment in a uniform language. The VDW and VDMA are the initiators and sponsers of this initiative.
“Standardisation of communication and interfaces is enormously important for machine tools and the industry of the future,” says Dr Alexander Broos, Head of Research and Technology at VDW and project manager of umati. “Without this standardisation, there will be no digital transformation in production. A uniform language is an essential requirement for machines from different manufacturers to be able to exchange data.”
This uniform language can only be developed in cooperation with the various machine manufacturers. Around 310 partners from all over the world are now involved in umati. All of them share the goal of making their customers’ work lives easier and increasing productivity in production by harnessing the potential of digitalisation. This is achieved with umati through the implementation of the OPC UA communication and interface standard, which can now be used for a wide range of machine tool applications through numerous sub-specifications, so-called companion specifications.
