SCHUNK sup­pli­ers should also use the new data inter­face

On way or the oth­er, the upcom­ing reg­u­la­tions will require joint net­work­ing. Sup­pli­ers will also ben­e­fit from the advan­tages.

Future leg­is­la­tion such as the Euro­pean Data Act or reg­u­la­tions on doc­u­ment­ing CO₂ foot­prints and sup­ply chains will require data net­work­ing and a will­ing­ness to par­tic­i­pate in mul­ti­lat­er­al data shar­ing. Manufacturing‑X is prepar­ing this data space for the indus­tri­al sec­tor. This ini­tia­tive is focus­ing on design­ing needs-based appli­ca­tion con­cepts for SMEs that are so sim­ple that any sup­pli­er can incor­po­rate them with very lit­tle effort.

Here’s why SCHUNK cus­tomers can ben­e­fit from Manufacturing‑X:

The advan­tages for cus­tomers are in the trans­paren­cy across the entire sup­ply chain, in the sim­pli­fied exchange for plan­ning and design, as well as in the con­stant avail­abil­i­ty of cur­rent prod­uct data and infor­ma­tion on updates.

In the future, every com­pa­ny will have to pro­vide infor­ma­tion on the CO₂ foot­prints for their prod­ucts. Manufacturing‑X will ensure that this infor­ma­tion is already col­lect­ed and exchanged through­out the sup­ply chain. This will also result in increased resilience, as dis­rup­tions can be addressed more quick­ly. Specif­i­cal­ly, Manufacturing‑X and SCHUNK are also work­ing on tools that can be used by plant man­u­fac­tur­ers to find opti­mal solu­tions more quick­ly. They will also be able to use a vari­ety of engi­neer­ing tools to plan fac­to­ry equip­ment or devel­op and imple­ment sys­tems and machines.

Today, these process­es are com­plex and only fea­si­ble with non-inter­op­er­a­ble tools and design tools. Manufacturing‑X will sim­pli­fy this process immense­ly by pro­vid­ing an eas­i­er exchange between com­pa­nies.

If SCHUNK cus­tomers want to install a grip­per in their sys­tems, they will be able to access SCHUNK prod­ucts direct­ly from their own plan­ning or design tool. The design and con­fig­u­ra­tion will still take place at SCHUNK, but the inter­ac­tion will occur through the plan­ning tool. Net­work­ing between com­pa­nies will ensure that the tech­ni­cal data is always cur­rent and that updates are auto­mat­ic – with­out any info­mails or noti­fi­ca­tions. This direct, dig­i­tal inter­ac­tion via end-to-end data net­work­ing will dra­mat­i­cal­ly sim­pli­fy and accel­er­ate prod­uct selec­tion and design.

That’s why com­pa­nies should join forces with Manufacturing‑X:

SMEs that get on board now will be help­ing to shape the indus­tri­al inter­face.

Manufacturing‑X offers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to dri­ve the dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion in com­pa­nies. The con­sor­tia for the Fed­er­al Gov­ern­men­t’s fund­ing ini­tia­tive are now being estab­lished with the aim of defin­ing the require­ments for effi­cient and demand-ori­ent­ed data exchange. It is not large cor­po­ra­tions that are being sought out here, but small and medi­um-sized enter­pris­es in par­tic­u­lar. Any com­pa­ny can join in and help shape the process. Either active­ly as a mem­ber of the con­sor­tia or by com­mu­ni­cat­ing with the ini­tia­tive regard­ing needs and require­ments for a data inter­face.

Those who are already work­ing on these issues with Manufacturing‑X have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to influ­ence the deci­sions, help shape them, and ben­e­fit from the direct exchange with part­ners and cus­tomers.

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About the ini­tia­tive

Manufacturing‑X is part of the Ger­man gov­ern­men­t’s dig­i­tal­iza­tion strat­e­gy. In the future, small and medi­um-sized enter­pris­es in par­tic­u­lar will be able to exchange their data more eas­i­ly as well as share it with third par­ties on an equal foot­ing. At the same time, the sov­er­eign­ty and secu­ri­ty of the data will be pre­served. Manufacturing‑X is build­ing on exist­ing stan­dards. It’s all about engag­ing as many stake­hold­ers as pos­si­ble and max­i­miz­ing inter­op­er­abil­i­ty, which is the abil­i­ty to con­nect dif­fer­ent sys­tems, devices, appli­ca­tions or prod­ucts in order to com­mu­ni­cate in a coor­di­nat­ed and secure way.

SCHUNK is a pio­neer and inno­va­tor of intel­li­gent automa­tion solu­tions, and as a com­pa­ny is active­ly com­mit­ted to mak­ing Manufacturing‑X tan­gi­ble for small and medi­um-sized busi­ness­es.