Cross-company cooperation in the Industry 4.0 data space

More and more manufacturing companies are using data-based applications in their own production, for example to monitor the condition of machinery and equipment.

But for many data-based applications, such as determining the CO ₂ footprint of a product or sharing production capacities, cross-company data exchange is necessary. Often, the bilateral data exchange that many cooperating companies already engage in is not sufficient for such use cases. In order to enable secure and trustworthy data exchange, especially between several players in the value chain, work is currently being carried out on the implementation of an Industrie 4.0 data room in a large number of research projects in the context of the European lead project Gaia-X.

Insights into current research activities and results on the Industrie 4.0 data room and their application in industrial practice were provided to the participants of the webinar series "From Research to Practice" in July 2022. How many companies are currently engaged in regular data exchange with other players? Participants were asked this question at the beginning of the webinar. 29% of them answered in the affirmative. 46% state that they share data with other organizations in isolated cases. And 24% do not share any data so far. However, the majority of respondents agree that multilateral data sharing will be very important or important for their own organization in the future.

Target image for multilateral data sharing using the example of Collaborative Condition Monitoring

The first presentation will address the aspects of multilateral data sharing. Mr. Michael Jochem from Robert Bosch GmbH explains the target picture of the Industrie 4.0 platform for multilateral data sharing. To this end, the platform's CCM (Collaborative Condition Monitoring) project group has created the following working hypothesis: "Multilateral data sharing potentiates the possibilities for data-based B2B business models and the creation of added value for all stakeholders." The core question here is what economic, legal, and technical frameworks, as well as innovations, are needed to enable multilateral sharing of data by at least three participating actors and thereby enable data-based business models.

The importance of sharing data

Why is it important for companies to share data? For one thing, it's about improving existing processes and products. If supply chains are transparent, potential for cost savings can be revealed and exploited. This also applies to quality costs. If one has information about the manufacturing history of product components at one's disposal, this can be significantly reduced through data-driven defect analysis. Another reason is the further development of existing business models or the development of new ones. And the third motivation is a very compelling one. This is to meet current and future regulatory requirements. These include the Supply Chain Sourcing Obligations Act, CO ₂ reporting in the manufacturing phase, and consideration of environmental and social criteria.

A Shared Data Space Enables Exchange

But where are the barriers to implementing collaborative business models - the basis for multilateral data sharing in the industry? In short, there is still a lack of cooperation, a lack of scale, a lack of a business model to fairly distribute the profit generated, a lack of trust regarding the use of data, and finally a lack of a framework for digital sharing. Most models to date have been bilateral and do not grow with the number of participants. It quickly becomes clear that there must be defined framework conditions, taking into account the three design dimensions (economy, law and technology), that enable all participating companies to make even large amounts of data available for further use without worrying about losing their market-competitive knowledge. This is where a data room comes into play. It determines the concrete form of the three design dimensions. It can be said that a data room only scales if all three design dimensions scale, there is easy connectivity, and all participants are willing to connect.

Whoever is interested in the activities of the Industrie 4.0 on the topic of multilateral data sharing, the following freely available publications in German and English and a recorded webinar are available:

>> Plattform Industrie 4.0 - Multilateral data sharing in industry

>> Platform Industry 4.0 - Multilateral data sharing in industry

>> Platform Industry 4.0 - Webinar: Multilateral data sharing in industry

Distributed production: Gaia-X and the production of tomorrow

Mr. Keran Sivalingam from SmartFactory Kaiserslautern will then present the smartMA-X project. This is an implementation project of Gaia-X in an industrial context that focuses on sharing production resources. To replicate a real production network, a unique demonstrator facility was built at three different locations. People used here the experience of Gaia-X - a European initiative launched in 2019 that aims to implement data protection, data sovereignty, openness and transparency in the EU. The smartMA-X example will be used to evaluate what legal, economic and also ecological aspects mean in real production. Using the example of a truck made of nubbins, which can be configured in a wide variety of ways, it will be shown how production can be carried out at different locations by using a common data pool.

Administrative shell as a collection point for data

The idea is to store the accumulating data in a kind of product passport so that it can be accessed at any time. The decisive factor here is standardization, i.e. unification of the data formats. For this purpose, a so-called administration shell has been created in the SmartFactory. This is where all the information about the product to be produced is stored. In addition, it can also be used for order planning, the description of production and service. This quickly makes it clear what dimensions an administration shell can take on. If all actors involved in the product can access the data relevant to them via uniform interfaces, a reference architecture for an Industrie 4.0 production platform will be created.

Manufacturing on production islands

This is explained clearly using the example of the truck. This can be assembled from modules or assemblies at different production islands. Each of these islands, with varying degrees of automation, is capable of executing a specific manufacturing step. For example, one island can concentrate on milling individually manufactured containers, another on the predominantly manual production of the driver's cab. Important here: the exchange of data, also to ensure quality and offer the appropriate services. Example of this: AI-based image recognition can be used to determine whether the defined quality characteristics have been met.

Connectors connect the production of tomorrow

The data is exchanged via connectors to a standardized Gaia-X ecosystem. The advantage: if a production island fails, a possible replacement can be quickly integrated. The same applies to missing components, materials or parts to restore the supply chain. Thus, Gaia-X supports the creation of resilient future-oriented, sustainable production lines or supply chains. This provides a demonstration model of what the production of tomorrow may look like.

Determining the CO ₂ footprint in the Catena-X Automotive Network

From the perspective of an industrial company, Mr. Niels Angel, project manager of the sustainability use case in the Catena-X Automotive Network at the BMW Group, explains what happens across the supply chain in the area of CO2 footprint collection. This project is also about setting up a decentralized data ecosystem to connect the different stages of the supply chain. Supply chains in the automotive industry are very complex. The goal of the Catena-X Automotive Network is to make these supply chains more transparent and resilient. Whether it's semiconductors, wiring harnesses, or sustainability issues, securing such issues requires a better understanding of supply chains without having to share all information with everyone. Data sovereignty and data security must be ensured at all times. Everyone involved in the data ecosystem should be able to decide for themselves when and to whom they make their data available.

Decarbonization right from the start

Electromobility is picking up speed. Batteries in particular, but also lightweight materials, require a lot of energy to produce. When preparing its life cycle assessment, how can an automaker determine how many emissions were generated in which manufacturing step? On the one hand, he can access specific data from his supply chain. Or he can use average values from databases. But these only indicate which materials are more CO2-friendly, not how energy-efficiently they were actually produced. To do that, you would need information about the electricity mix that was used to produce those materials. So the idea is to gather information across the chain so that we can use it to influence processes and implement targeted measures to reduce emissions.

Controlled data sharing is decentralized

This is where the idea of the cascade comes into play. Each participant in the supply chain calculates the emissions of its own value creation, and requests the emissions of its sourced parts from its suppliers. In this way, one goes step by step along the supply chain, ideally back to the beginning of raw material extraction and production. The advantage of this is that only the authorized parties can see the relevant data without having to disclose the entire supply chain. The better the cascade query functions, the easier it is to implement measures based on it. The prerequisite for sharing data via the data ecosystem is that the same data models are used, that different applications can communicate with each other interoperably, and that calculations are compatible with each other. The task now is to create a set of rules that is binding for all players so that they can exchange data securely in the Catena-X data space. It is also important to the initiative that small and medium-sized companies can also integrate into the network easily and cost-effectively. On the one hand, this helps them to respond efficiently to requirements for reporting CO ₂ emissions, and on the other hand, it ensures a high level of supply chain coverage.

As a topic platform, we are also happy to support medium-sized companies in gaining suitable access to multilateral data exchange and the associated data rooms. Feel free to contact us if you are interested!

Contact details of speakers

Michael Jochem, Robert Bosch GmbH
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Keran Sivalingam, SmartFactory-KL
Contact by Mail

Niels Angel, Catena-X Automotive Network
Contact by Mail