ODVA has joined forces with Sercos International and the OPC Foundation to launch an initiative aimed at improving the integration of machinery with industrial manufacturing systems. They will develop an open interoperability framework that, they say, will help machine-builders to innovate, and end-users to boost productivity.

ODVA argues that users are increasingly relying on machine-builders to provide the functions needed to integrate their machines with production processes and the enterprise. It adds that research has identified four areas where an open interoperability framework can provide these functions. These include: machine optimisation (covering safety, energy consumption, motion and connectivity); information exchange; and device definition and configuration.

As a first step, ODVA has formed a task force to identify key milestones and to elicit the appropriate input from machine-builders. The initiative will include workshops to identify areas of cross-collaboration.

Craig Resnick, research director at ARC Advisory Group, predicts that the ODVA initiative will enable end-users to access data previously hidden in their machines “by eliminating technical barriers, then leveraging this data into actionable information that can be used to provide business value, such as overall equipment effectiveness and other key performance indicators.”