Digital Transformation

Asset Administration Shell as a catalyst of Industry 4.0

“Country of poets and thinkers” or ” Country of ideas”: Germany is proud of its writers, scientists, researchers, and engineers. And of its meticulous bureaucracy, which aims for absolute precision in statements or indications. Combined, this often results in awkward word creation when naming technical terms. A current example of this is the “Verwaltungsschale” (literally: administration shell), whose innovative potential and central relevance for Industry 4.0 are not immediately apparent.

What is an Asset Administration Shell?

“Verwaltungsschale” is not a dusty administrative authority, but the very German translation of the English term “Asset Administration Shell” (AAS). The AAS is a standardized complete digital description of an asset. An asset is basically anything that can be connected as part of an Industrie 4.0 solution (for example, plants, machines, products as well as their individual components). It contains all information and enables the exchange and interaction between different assets, systems, and organizations in a networked industry. Therefore, it is pretty much the opposite of a sluggish authority and currently the buzzword in digital transformation.

As with many new topics, definitions of AAS vary and are quite broad. From very specific like the Asset Administration Shell as an implementation of the digital twin for Industry 4.0 to the loose description of AAS as a data plug or integration plug for digital ecosystems.

I prefer the representation of the AAS as a metamodel for self-describing an asset. With this metamodel, further models can be generated to provide collected information. Through the use of software, these models are then “brought to life” and are made available to others via interfaces.

Concept and usage of the Asset Administration Shell

As a digital representation of an asset, the AAS provides information or functions related to a specific context through its submodels. Examples include digital nameplates, technical documents, the component or asset structure, simulation models, time series data, or sustainability-relevant information such as the carbon footprint. The information is generated along the various phases of the lifecycle, and it depends on the specific value network which asset information is of importance. Thus, submodels are initially created in certain lifecycle phases, specified and elaborated in subsequent phases, and enriched or updated with information in the further process. Thereby, the AAS refers to either a very generic (type) or a very concrete (instance) representation of an asset.

As assets change over time (as-defined, as-designed, as-ordered, as-built, as-maintained), so does the Asset Administration Shell. Thus, multiple AASs can exist for the same asset over the lifecycle. In order to utilize the information in the AAS within its value network, it needs to be accessible. Access is usually given via the Internet or via the cloud (repository-deployed AAS). In intelligent systems, the management shell can also be part of the asset itself (asset-deployed AAS).

Information can be exchanged in various ways. Either via files, so-called AASX files (AAS type 1), via a server-client interaction such as RestAPI (AAS type 2) or via peer-to-peer interaction (AAS type 3), in which the AASs communicate independently using the so-called I4.0 language and perform tasks cooperatively.

While type 1 and 2 take a passive role in the value network and are more likely to be used with repository-held AAS, type 3 describes an active participation in the value network and is more likely to be used with asset-held AAS running smart products.

Common standards connect!

No matter what type of Asset Administration Shell you choose: Important is that the recipient and the provider speak the same language. To achieve this, the exchange of concrete information must be standardized. Considering the amount of different industries, scenarios, assets, and functions, this is an immense number of submodels that need to be standardized. Organizations and associations such as the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA), formed by research institutes, industrial companies, and software providers, are tackling this mammoth task. The rapidly growing number of members as well as the lively exchange at trade fairs and conferences among each other illustrate the potential for the industry. It is important not to leave SMEs behind, but to involve them in the standardization work in the best possible way.

Conclusion

The Asset Administration Shell is at the core of successful Industrie 4.0 scenarios. It enables manufacturer-independent interoperability and simplifies the integration of all types of assets into a collaborative value network. It increases efficiency within production processes by providing complete transparency of the real-time status of each asset. And it also offers a comprehensive security concept to protect the data. Within a very short time, the AAS has thus transformed from a theoretical construct to a real application in practice. Together with partners from research and industry, we are working within the ESCOM and Flex4Res research projects to make it usable on an industrial scale.

AAS in practice

In CONTACT Elements for IoT, you can create, manage and share asset administration shells. Our blog post ‘The asset administration shell in practice’ explains how companies benefit from this.

With the digitization roadmap to a truly digital company

The digitization of business processes has received remarkable attention in recent years. On the one hand, the Corona pandemic ruthlessly exposed digital gaps, and on the other hand, in view of the political, social and ecological changes, companies are being called upon more than ever to act in a more agile and sustainable way. Motivation is high enough and progress in digitization is becoming more and more visible. However, implementation is usually less based on a digitization roadmap that shows the milestones and waypoints to the goal, but rather on a salami tactic.

Digitalization in small bites poses risks

When I talk to representatives of medium-sized companies about digitization, the answer is often: Yes, we do it all the time! Examples include actions such as the creation of policies to increase the use of Office software features throughout the company, the introduction of a ticket system, or the use of a requirements management tool in product development.

This reflects a common practice of carrying out digitization projects on a divisional or departmental basis, in relation to individual tasks or sub-processes. At first glance, it often seems attractive to plan and implement projects from a departmental or site perspective, because the coordination effort is lower and department-specific solutions can supposedly be implemented quickly.

In principle, implementing demanding projects in manageable steps is a sensible approach. So does generating benefits quickly and making digitization progress continuously visible. However, the fragmented approach also carries risks: This is when the target image of digitization is unclear and the path to achieving it is not adequately described. Here, there is a realistic risk of not achieving essential goals of digitization projects. For example, not exploiting the potential of new, digital business models and thus not driving forward the digital transformation of the company. Or not using the company-wide and cross-company data treasures if the focus is only on local optimization.

The benefits of a digitization roadmap

To put it up front: With a digitization roadmap, companies can minimize the above-mentioned risks with little effort. It provides a reliable, medium-term guideline for all digitization activities in the company, aligned with a clear target image. With its different perspectives on the topic of digitization, it addresses the specialist departments, IT and management. The digitization roadmap should contain some essential information:

What is the company’s level of digitization?
The basis of the digitization roadmap is an inventory of the current level of digitization in the company. For this purpose, the existing target images, requirements, and activities in the various corporate divisions and hierarchies are reviewed. Common maturity models help to assess the company’s level of digitization.
What is the target scenario?
Once the status quo has been established, a clear, coordinated target scenario for digitization can be drawn up. The target scenario contains an overview of the future digitally end-to-end business processes as well as the future application architecture and the necessary information services.
Which sub steps are necessary?
Once the goal is clear, the next step is to define and describe the necessary subprojects. In order to prioritize the subprojects in a meaningful way, the required internal and external resources and the possible project risks are estimated. The information previously obtained from the inventory is also used to extrapolate the benefit and business potential of the individual digitization subprojects. This makes it possible to calculate business cases for the planned projects.
The project team and management are thus able to decide on the subprojects and their prioritization according to objective cost/benefit criteria, resource availability and other company-specific parameters. In this way, today’s digitization bites become defined, evaluated subprojects within an overarching context.
What is the business case?
The high degree of concretization of digitization activities, especially of the relevant business case, is an essential basis for reliable financing of digitization projects. For example, special IT project financiers offer flexible top-up leasing that adjusts the leasing rates to the expected increase in benefits. Or even the financing of internal personnel resources. With such financing models, digitization then even succeeds without any restrictions on liquidity.

Conclusion

In the past, only individual projects were often launched. Currently, however, more and more of our customers are taking advantage of strategic planning with digitization roadmaps. With little effort, they offer a reliable orientation for the digital transformation with a clear target picture, concrete business case and alternative financing options.

Successful IoT business: just a question of standards?

There are days the little things in life make me happy. When my microwave broke last week and even a repair couldn’t save it, it took me less than five minutes to solve the problem: simply selected a new model on the manufacturer’s site using my smartphone, ordered it and paid via PayPal. Three days later it was unpacked, plugged in and running. The ease of this process illustrates two things:

digitization makes it incredibly easy for us to handle even extensive processes quickly.
I didn’t ask myself whether the microwave would also fit into my power socket and whether it would meet the usual standards for radio interference suppression, hazardous substances, etc.

Anyone who has ever traveled abroad knows that this lack of concern is not a matter of course. In the case of power sockets, the right time was simply missed to ensure global standards. In the meantime, the implementation of a standard would cause so much cost and electrical waste that it is no longer practicable.

Unimaginable that something like this could happen again to our highly developed society… or could it?

Digitization is opening up new business potential. The focus is shifting from the exchange of physical goods to the exchange of information. When I buy my microwave, it’s not just the manufacturer who earns money, but also the online payment service PayPal. And that is solely through the exchange of information. Digitization is also creating the basis for new business models in industrial companies. This is shown by a recent study by Sopra Steria and the F.A.Z. Institute. More and more machines and systems are being networked via IoT platforms in the industrial Internet of Things in order to determine performance data or offer product-related services. This is a development that has taken hold around the globe and is thus giving rise to many solutions with different data models and integration options. This allows us to draw a worrying parallel to the connector mess mentioned above. Companies that want to drive their digital business forward quickly lose their orientation here when choosing an IoT solution that is suitable for them. After all, how future-proof it is depends largely on how well it can be connected to other systems and data sources.

Global standards for sustainable digitization

Serious initiatives here give hope for an international standard in the industrial Internet of Things. The Plattform Industrie 4.0, for example, has developed the concept of the management shell, which is to be understood as the digital representation of a device. It makes it possible to address machines with all the necessary information and functions. For example, I could develop an app for my microwave, interact with it, display the instructions for use, and set the power intensity or duration via smartphone. If the manufacturer of my washing machine also provides the information and functions of this device according to the management shell concept, it is no effort for app developers to integrate other devices into their application. This manufacturer- and system-independent interoperability paves the way for the future of Industry 4.0.