Company News Mar 15, 2016 5:06 PM
Industrial Data Space: Connecting industry
“A key element of Industry 4.0 is the exchange of data between industrial companies,” said Dr. Reinhold Achatz at the opening of the CeBIT expo in Hanover on Monday. The Chief Technology Officer of thyssenkrupp AG is chairman of Industrial Data Space e.V., an association presenting itself to the public for the first time at the booth of the Fraunhofer Society.
Founded in January, the association brings together 16 industrial enterprises, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association ZVEI and the Fraunhofer Society. Their joint aim is to create a secure data space in which companies can connect safely with each other, maintain full control over their data and exchange information easily and quickly via standardized interfaces.
The benefit: Competitive advantages through new business models, smart products and services. For example when retailers, suppliers and logistics providers form a digital ecosystem in which everyone is continuously informed about the location, condition and demand for goods to ensure customers are always supplied with everything they need.
Fraunhofer-President Professor Reimund Neugebauer: „Industrial Data Space is prerequisite for intelligent services, innovative business models and processes. Transport goods can be continuously controlled, production plants can be used jointly or sensitive medical can be integrated in networks.”
Fraunhofer Society is developing the architecture for the data space with funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research. Industrial Data Space e.V. pools the interests of industry, defines standards and requirements and provides practical applications. For example, thyssenkrupp is planning to put truck loading and unloading in its Materials Services and Steel Europe business areas on a new basis by working together with the logistics companies via the Industrial Data Space.
Dr. Reinhold Achatz: “Industrial Data Space sets an internationally recognized standard for the secure exchange of data between companies. The first steps have already been taken at national level, now we will take the platform to European and international level.”
More about Industrial Data Space: http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/research/lighthouse-projects-fraunhofer-initiatives/industrial-data-space.html