Called the International Manufacturing-X Council, the body’s members include:
• Germany (Plattform Industrie 4.0);
• Austria (Plattform Industrie 4.0 Österreich);
• France (Alliance Industrie du Futur);
• Australia (CSIRO's Data61);
• Canada (Offensive de Transformation Numérique);
• South Korea (KOSMO);
• Japan (RRI);
• Italy (Confindustria);
• the Netherlands (Smart Industry); and
• the US (CESMII, the Smart Manufacturing Institute).

More members are expected to join soon.

IM-X hopes to facilitate open, international R&D, partnerships, cooperation, standardisation and deployment of manufacturing technology, based on the creation of a federated, decentralised and collaborative data ecosystem for smart manufacturing. The aim is to enable open, global and cross-industry operation of cost-effective data networks.

This will be achieved through three sets of strategic initiatives:
• connecting value chains and manufacturing data networks across supply chains, industries and countries;
• implementing global foundations for data-driven resilient, sovereign and climate-neutral production, covering the full lifecycles of production and products; and
• enabling innovative value creation in an interoperable and sovereign data ecosystem.

Thomas Hahn, Siemens’ chief software expert, explains that “with International Manufacturing-X, we want to expand international cooperation in order to engage in an even stronger exchange, start joint projects and develop uniform standards as a necessary component for scaling”.

Henning Banthien, secretary general of Germany’s Plattform Industrie 4.0, adds that “the data-based economy is changing the forms of cooperation between companies. For this transformation to be a success, trust between all actors is needed.”

According to CESMII CEO, John Dyck: “The future of smart manufacturing lies in open, interoperable systems, sustainable and energy-efficient operations, and secure and resilient architectures.”

International Manufacturing-X Council:  LinkedIn