Interoperabilität

Interoperable Data Access in Automotive Body Manufacturing

Interoperable Data Access in Automotive Body Manufacturing

Deterministic integration of structured target parameters into tact-time production
Tim Richter ORCID Icon, Robert Weidner ORCID Icon
AI has long been capable of analyzing production processes, yet why is it still so difficult to bring its insights back into production without intermediate steps? In automotive body-in-white mass production, the challenge is less a lack of data than the absence of holistic integration concepts that extend all the way to the machines. This paper demonstrates why bidirectionally communicative information systems are critical to addressing this challenge and identifies the design principles required to effectively integrate AI-generated results into production processes in the future.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 42 | 2026 | Edition 5 | Pages 34-42 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.26.5.4
Open Source as Enabler for Smart Data Ecosystems

Open Source as Enabler for Smart Data Ecosystems

How collaboration shapes sovereignty and interoperability across industrial applications
Anna Maria Schleimer ORCID Icon, Julia Pampus ORCID Icon
From automotive supply chains to smart factories, data ecosystems promise seamless collaboration across company boundaries. But how can industries build the necessary infrastructure without creating new dependencies? This article explores how open-source software can serve as a foundation and impactful tool for sovereign, interoperable technologies and standards. Yet, open-source software is not a silver bullet; rather, it poses challenges for digital sovereignty in burgeoning data ecosystems.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 42 | 2026 | Edition 4 | Pages 6-13 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.26.4.1
A Competition Law Perspective on Interoperability

A Competition Law Perspective on Interoperability

Definition, potential, and challenges
Tim Becker
The networking meetings of the research funding program “Dynamics of Digitally Networked Value Creation Systems (DynaVer)” have shown that different disciplines disagree on what interoperability is and whether it is ultimately desirable. This article aims to shed light on the difficulties involved in developing a universally applicable and, at the same time, legally sound definition of interoperability. Furthermore, drawing on insights from competition economics, the article assesses whether and under what circumstances interoperability is a desirable outcome of regulation.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 42 | 2026 | Edition 4 | Pages 92-97 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.26.4.10
Developing Data Standards in Battery Cell Manufacturing

Developing Data Standards in Battery Cell Manufacturing

From requirements analysis to standard development procedure
David Roth, Tom Hülsmann, Felix Tidde
The growing demand for battery cells offers significant potential for the use of digital solutions in their manufacture, which in turn creates opportunities for added value through adaptive and flexible production systems. A key enabler is interoperable data exchange based on formalized data descriptions. Existing ontologies and information models remain too abstract for direct implementation. This paper presents a requirements analysis of data standards in battery cell manufacturing. A procedure for developing domain-specific standards based on OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is derived from the results.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 41 | 2025 | Edition 4 | Pages 96-103
Enabler for the Digital Twin

Enabler for the Digital Twin

Requirements for Technical Documentation 4.0
Christian Koch, Lukas Schulte, René Wöstmann, Jochen Deuse ORCID Icon
The increasing heterogeneity and complexity of industrial plant components from different manufacturers make it difficult to handle technical documentation consistently. In addition, the flexibility required for system changes challenges the long-term usability and legally compliant design of this documentation throughout the entire life cycle of cyber-physical production systems. This article contributes to the discussion on Technical Documentation 4.0 by systematically analyzing existing specifications and approaches and by proposing a concept for a holistic documentation framework.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 41 | 2025 | Edition 4 | Pages 76-85
Digital Twins in Logistics

Digital Twins in Logistics

Opportunities and barriers during implementation
Benjamin Gorgas ORCID Icon, Jan Kliewer ORCID Icon, Tobias Marc Wringe, Maximilian Bähring ORCID Icon, Frank Straube, Rüdiger Zarnekow
Digital Twins offer great potential for increasing efficiency in logistics. Digital supply chain twins (DSCT) enable data-driven decisions and optimize processes at location and network level. A study conducted during an expert workshop shows that companies are interested in DSCT, but challenges such as data quality, cross-actor data exchange and interoperability are hindering their widespread implementation. While pilot projects exist, market penetration remains low. Successful implementation requires standardized interfaces and contractual frameworks for data exchange. As a result, DSCT can make logistics networks more resilient and sustainable in the long term.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 41 | Edition 3 | Pages 34-40 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.25.3.34
Federated Service Engineering

Federated Service Engineering

A development methodology for the realization of mobility applications in the Gaia-X decentralized data ecosystem
Christoph Heinbach, Michael Pahl, Oliver Thomas
The decentralized data ecosystem Gaia-X, which is currently under development, supports the future viability of the digital data economy in Europe. But how can relevant use cases be realized in Gaia-X from a service-oriented perspective? To answer this question, this article presents a methodology that describes a structured and interdisciplinary approach to service development in the ongoing Gaia-X 4 ROMS consortium research project [1]. In this project, federated services are realized in five processing steps on the basis of use cases. IT experts, software developers and industry users can leverage the model to efficiently coordinate the joint realization of use cases with Gaia-X and the goal of sovereign data exchange.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 40 | 2024 | Edition 2 | Pages 40-47
Sustainable Food Supply Chains through Artificial Intelligence

Sustainable Food Supply Chains through Artificial Intelligence

A conceptual visualization to promote animal welfare and food quality
Corinna Köters ORCID Icon, Maik Schürmeyer, Alexander Prange ORCID Icon
For the transition to a sustainable economy to succeed in its entirety, logistics must be considered in addition to raw materials and manufactu­ring. Artificial intelligence will play a central role in improving the exchan­ge of data between the individual links in the supply chain and in regula­ting processes and costs at the various stages of production. The meat industry, with its hygienic and increasing ethical requirements for animal welfare, is set to greatly benefit from the digital revolution.
Industry 4.0 Science | Volume 40 | 2024 | Edition 1 | Pages 70-75 | DOI 10.30844/I4SE.24.1.70
The Digital Twin Theory – A New View on a Buzzword

The Digital Twin Theory - A New View on a Buzzword

Andreas Deuter, Florian Pethig
The digital twin is supposed to be a major tool for increasing productivity in the age of industrial digitalization. However, there are many heterogeneous definitions about the digital twin. This situation hardly supports the practical digital twin implementation. For this reason, the article introduces a new concept, called the Digital Twin Theory which is a theoretical framework containing several hypotheses about digital twins. The aim of the framework is a better understanding about the digital twin management in practice.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 35 | 2019 | Edition 1 | Pages 27-30 | DOI 10.30844/I40M_19-1_S27-30
Open innovative Ecosystems for IoT

Open innovative Ecosystems for IoT

An Evolution towards a Connected World of Smart Objects
Klaus-Dieter Thoben ORCID Icon, Karl Hribernik, Robert Hellbach, Kary Främling
Whilst bIoTope should be understood as a highly flexible and dynamic ecosystem capable of seamlessly integrating arbitrary proprietary IoT platforms, it nevertheless builds upon several core components, which provide essential functionality. Those functionalities referenced in this article, are agnostic to other ecosystem-external systems. Inside of the ecosystem, a micro-service-architecture MSA approach is applied. Using O-MI for technical Interoperability and O-DF for syntactic and semantic interoperability are foundation pillars of the ecosystem.
Industrie 4.0 Management | Volume 34 | 2018 | Edition 3 | Pages 17-20
1 2