CADENAS develops intelligent 4D models for the Asset Administration Shell

CADENAS, Bausch+Ströbel, Bosch Rexroth, Festo, HARTING, SICK, Siemens, Phoenix Contact, and WAGO jointly have demonstrated how the Asset Administration Shell standard can be implemented in practice.

The companies have exchanged digital twin data according to the AAS standard and evaluated the added value based on a specific application with machinery manufacturer Bausch+Ströbel. In doing so, the nine partners thus made the interoperable digital twin based on an Asset Administration Shell from the component manufacturer to the customer possible for the first time. 

Driven by the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA), the AAS standard is industry-neutral and independent of manufacturers, enabling all of the information and functionality of a given asset to be documented, described and, most importantly, shared.

In the area of Industry 4.0, it facilitates the digital representation, for example, of a product or a machine, based on a uniform “data language” and standard data access. This is crucial for the efficient exchange of digital twin data between companies where the use of proprietary formats within heterogeneous systems and IT landscapes is prevalent. For customers, this means speeding up and simplifying the engineering process as asset data becomes more open, more readily exchanged and can serve as the link between the physical and digital world.

The partners are joining together at Hannover Messe to demonstrate how this can work, using a labeling machine from Bausch+Ströbel as an example. By providing component data in accordance with the Asset Administration Shell standard, the component manufacturers and software developers involved enabled Bausch+Ströbel to create a digital twin of the machine faster and more efficiently, saving a great deal of engineering time and thus saving money.

“There is no longer any need to modify, search for, and complete the data, so we can begin our value-creating activities directly,” says Erich Bauer, Vice President of Research & Development at Bausch+Ströbel. “Thanks to the Asset Administration Shell standard, the data is also of higher quality because, for example, we no longer have to reformat them.”

CADENAS is responsible for the intelligent 4D models, the so-called digital twins, within the Asset Administration Shell. The technology for this is based on the software eCATALOGsolutions.

"In the age of digital product transformation, the Asset Administration Shell is an absolute must for component manufacturers. Currently, it contains the relevant information of the digital twin of a component. In the future, it will evolve with the advancing state of the art," Jürgen Heimbach, CEO CADENAS, is certain.

By collaborating in an open ecosystem, the nine partners are driving Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation in a crucial way. Other companies can join the working group.