VDW PRESS RELEASE: umati live in Thailand

Frankfurt am Main, 26 November 2019. – From 20 to 23 November this year, 48 top German companies from the machine tool and metalworking industries were guests at Metalex in Bangkok. It is the largest metalworking trade fair in the Asean region and this year, for the first time, Germany has been named a partner country. The German presentation focused on an industry exhibition and a joint stand.

"The VDW is taking advantage of our industry's strong profile to present the umati universal machine tool interface for the communication of machines and IT for the first time live in Asia", said Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), at the Metalex opening ceremony on 20 November in Bangkok.

In a similar demonstration to the one given eight weeks earlier at EMO Hannover, German manufacturers will be showing how simple and easy umati is to use. The umati@METALEX special show will feature three machines from DMG Mori, Heller and Trumpf which will be connected for live production at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre Bitec. Further umati partners' machines outside the exhibition grounds will also be connected. They will exchange their data via a T-Systems data hub in Europe, which was also used to support the showcase at EMO Hannover. Data is retrieved from various applications via the data hub. The aim of the demonstration is to highlight the potential added value. The VDW will be showing how the data converges at the umati booth via its own demo dashboard, the www.umati.app. The machines, data hub and software applications communicate using the OPC UA client-server model via VPN tunnelling.

"The use of OPC UA guarantees that umati can be used anywhere in the world, including Thailand," explains Dr. Alexander Broos, Head of Research and Technology at VDW and head of the Umati Project. "We want to show the Thai customers the advantages which umati has to offer. All they have to do is ask about the interface," Broos continues.

The Metalex showcase demonstrates once again how umati can link up a variety of machines and software under the very special conditions of a live demonstration at a trade fair. "There is no need at all for direct communication between the connected partners," reports Broos. The showcase therefore provides proof not only of the function and capacity of the interface, but also of the fact that plug-and-play is now possible in the complex world of machine tools and production systems.

SAP uses umti for customer-specific data analysis

There is also a further umati@METALEX world premiere: SAP, the world leader in end-to-end enterprise application software, database management, analytics, intelligent technologies and experience management, shows how to transform umati-accessible production data into value added. "Many SAP customers operate factories and facilities. They demand compatibility and interoperability not only in their manufacturing, but above all in their production control, plant logistics and maintenance," explains SAP IoT expert Rüdiger Fritz. "As a result we regard being part of the umati initiative as a great benefit and we are looking forward to working with this community."

Also Thai customers see the great advantages of umati

umati was also very well received by the Thai audience. "Discussions with numerous media in the past two weeks have shown again and again that people are very curious about umati.” Teratarn Theeratharathorn, Marketing Director of Reed Tradex Thailand, organizer of Metalex, also knows why. "Thailand is just discovering its need to work on Industry 4.0, so this exciting presentation came at just the right time. umati shows new possibilities and benefits.” Especially because German machine tools are becoming more and more popular in Thailand, the attention is very high.

Trade visitors at the umati booth clearly saw the advantages for the Thai industry, but were also sure that there is still a lot to be done before the companies could really use the data. "It was very important for us to get a practical impression of how emerging markets see umati's development," says Alexander Broos, summarising his experience. "If we continue on the right path with our international working group, these countries will probably be able to follow - especially if the technology is as easy to use as umati.

Picture:
Dr. Alexander Broos, presented at the German joint stand in Bangkok, umati@metalex.
Source Reed Tradex

Background

Metalex 2019 in Bangkok with Germany as partner country and a German industry exhibition
The German presentation at Metalex was initiated by the VDW. Under the motto "German High Tech in Metal Working", the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) and the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) hosted the German participation. Machine tool manufacturers and metalworking companies presented their products and solutions to the Asian trade visitors on an area of around 1,200 square metres. The German appearance was accompanied politically by the Parliamentary State Secretary from the BMWi, Thomas Bareiß.

Thailand is one of the top locations for the international automotive industry. The demand for production technology is correspondingly high. With a volume of 979 million euros, the market occupies 13th place in the ranking of the largest consumers of machine tools. With expected growth of 7.2 percent in 2019, Thailand is positioned internationally among the top 5 markets, whose consumption is still rising. Demand is met exclusively by imports.

German machine tool industry
The German machine tool industry ranks among the five largest specialist groupings in the mechanical engineering sector. It provides production technology for metalworking applications in all branches of industry, and makes a crucial contribution towards innovation and enhanced productivity in the industrial sector as a whole. Due to its absolutely key role for industrial production, its development is an important indicator for the economic dynamism of the industrial sector as such. In 2018, with around 73,500 employees (annual average in 2018, companies with more than 50 employees), the sector produced machines and services worth 17.1 billion euros

You will also find graphics and pictures online under www.vdw.de in the Press section. You can also visit the VDW on our social media channels
www.de.industryarena.com/vdw
www.youtube.com/metaltradefair
www.twitter.com/VDWonline