Outcomes, Insights and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds: Smart Factory Web Testbed
Figure 2: Phases of the Smart Factory Web Testbed
its information model as interfaces. That
asset must then be integrated into the
information flow of a factory, the Smart
Factory Web, and potentially cloud
platforms such as Microsoft Azure. The
testbed’s core challenge lies in the software
engineering processes, in an effort to make
a factory adaptable. Other considerations
include the electrical and mechanical
interchangeability of a new device.
There are three primary technologies
involved in the testbed. The first is the OPC
UA, used to implement data communication
between factories in the Smart Factory Web.
Second, the standard AutomationML is used
to describe the necessary information
models—the semantics of the data transport
from the factory to the Smart Factory Web.
The other fundamental technology is the
Smart Factory Web portal, a web-based
information management system and
application development environment
which provides full support for access rights,
work flows and ontology-based information
models.
The testbed is deployed in model factories
located in Karlsruhe and Lemgo, Germany
and Ansan and Pangyo, South Korea. The
model factories in Germany are operated by
Fraunhofer IOSB and those in South Korea by
the Korea Electronics Technology Institute
(KETI). The two factories in Karlsruhe and
Pangyo deal with handling, filling and
transport. Both factories involve filling small
bottles with either pellets or fluid,
transporting these bottles with a small
conveyor belt, and emptying the bottles—
The primary experimentation for the testbed
is working out an effective way of describing
assets and capabilities and developing very
efficient ways of achieving the overall
software engineering where a new asset can
be introduced. An asset can be described in
terms of its capabilities but also in terms of
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March 2019