Electronic Type Plate to become the first Application of the Asset Administration Shell

The Asset Administration Shell is the digital image of a production item - together they form an Industrie 4.0 component. Such units can be e.g. single sensors, but also whole machines. All information about the respective unit is stored digitally in the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). This includes, among other things, status, current activity or error messages. Electronic storage means that this data can be accessed from anywhere.

In November 2018, the ZVEI, in cooperation with the Industrie 4.0 platform, published for the first time a developer-friendly description of the AAS in UML, which serves as programming instructions for administration shells. The AAS can thus be used and implemented in companies.

At the same time, the ZVEI recommends an electronic nameplate. With conventional labels it becomes more and more difficult to accommodate the variety of information in the confined space. There is also the danger of contamination, so that it is no longer legible. With the digital type plate, all this data is stored electronically and can be called up on displays or with a reader (with RFID chips).

This is exactly what the first use case of the Asset Administration Shell is about: all the labels of a product are stored in it as an electronic type plate. This means that they can be viewed by any authorized person. The German automation companies are thus showing other companies and politicians how an entirely electronic technical documentation can work.

The operational implementation of the 3i strategy of the ZVEI Industrie 4.0 Leadership Group has thus also started.