Industrial Digital Twin Association and Digital Data Chain Consortium jointly drive Digital Twin for the process industry

• The partnership will build a global ecosystem for digital twins to share data easily and automatically 
• Cooperation partner integrates established standards and norms into the asset administration shell 

The Digital Data Chain Consortium (DDCC) and the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the ACHEMA trade fair in Frankfurt am Main on August 24, 2022. The goal of the collaboration is to jointly build a global ecosystem for interoperable digital twins for industry using the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). 
The partnership will drive the standardization and dissemination of the AAS to enable simple and automated data exchange in the future:

• Position AAS as the standard data carrier for the digital product passport according to the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) of the EU Commission.
• Position IEC 61406 as the mandatory minimum requirement for "object/product identification" for the digital product passport according to the EU Commission's ESPR.
• Adoption of VDI Guideline 2770 "Digital Manufacturer Information" and joint further development of the associated AAS submodel ("Handover Documentation", see https://industrialdigitaltwin.org/content-hub/teilmodelle) into an international standard (ISO/IEC).
• Marketing the use of IEC 61406 for automatic identification of physical objects as an anchor point for the AAS.
• Mandatory use of the AAS API, which ensures integrity and secure data access at the object level.

To this end, the regular exchange of experience and technical coordination with well-known companies from the electrical and process industries will be further expanded.

"In the cooperation with the DDCC, we see an ideal opportunity to establish the Asset Administration Shell as a basis for information exchange platforms. We can benefit from the expertise of the DDCC bodies in the industrial application of the standards for automatic identification and digital manufacturer information in interaction with the AAS. Together, we will ensure that asset information is compatible, providing seamless information access throughout the lifecycle of components and assets. We are looking forward to the joint process of implementation," says Meik Billmann, Managing Director at IDTA.

Christoph Attila Kun, Manager of the Digital Data Chain Consortium, affirms: "Through the concept of partial models, the AAS offers the possibility to adapt the digital twin of a product to the respective requirements in a very flexible, yet standardized way. By combining the competences of IDTA and DDCC, new sub-models and standards can be developed and the AAS can be disseminated as a cross-industry technical solution for the Digital Twin, with the common goal of establishing the AAS as the technical solution for the EU Digital Product Passport. We look forward to working with IDTA to further drive digitization in the industry."

The interoperable Digital Twin makes it possible to map all properties of an object from the individual component to the entire machine in a standardized form and to enable the exchange of information and data. The Asset Administration Shell is used in the implementation of the Digital Twin for Industry 4.0. With the help of this technology, the entire life cycle of products, devices, machines and plants can be mapped. 

About IDTA:
The Industrial Digital Twin Association e.V. (IDTA) was founded on the initiative of 23 organizations from the electrical industry, mechanical engineering, software industry, component manufacturers and end users in September 2020. As a coordinator around the topic of digital twins, IDTA offers users from all industrial sectors a platform to advance technology development based on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS). The goal is to establish the Digital Twin as an open source technology for the interoperability of components and to further develop it together with industry.

https://industrialdigitaltwin.org

About DDCC:
The Digital Data Chain Consortium GbR (DDCC) was founded in October 2021 as a merger of three bodies: DIN SPEC 91406 Consortium, VDI Technical Committee 2770 and the Digital Platforms Working Group. The more than 40 member companies are plant operators in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, manufacturers from the automation technology and mechanical and plant engineering sectors, and industrial service providers. 
The goal of the DDCC is to establish the complete digital data chain between manufacturers, plant operators and industrial service providers.

https://www.digitaldatachain.com

Press contacts:

IDTA
Sabine Schilling
PR and Communication Manager 
mailto: sabine.schilling@idtwin.org

DDCC
Christoph Attila Kun
Manager Digital Data Chain Consortium GbR
mailto: christoph-attila.kun@basf.com