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EuroMAP, UMATI, TMC, UA Robotics and PackML with PLC Engine Collect Login

Overview: What it is. Goal. Who does it make. How does it work. Application scenarios. Diagnostics, Machine operations

What are EuroMAP, UMATI, TMC, UA Robotik, PackML and MachineVision

EuroMAP is a standard in the focus for the plastics and rubber industry. Corresponding machines and plants are common, an example is the tire industry.
Current versions are basing on OPC UA.
There are different specifications that all complement each other.
In 2019 EuroMAP 77, 82 and 83 are current.

Logo Euromap
UMATI stands for Universal Machine Tool Interface.
The idea did come from VDW (Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken [Association of German Machine Tool Factories]), a German industrial organization.
A neutral interface to current IT systems is provided.
Logo UMATI
PackML is a standard for the packaging industry. It is a neutral interface for packaging machines solid.
The organization OMAC (Organization for Machine Automation and Control) supervises the standard.
The standard also defines OEE functions.
Logo Pack ML
TMC stands for Tobacco Machine Communication.
Contributors are
  • Japan Tobacco International
  • British American Tobacco
  • Imperial Tobacco Group
  • Philip Morris International
(no logo)
BACnet for the buidding automation with alarms, events and complex elements as trends including the trend history.
The main contributor is AsShare.
Logo BACnet
UA Robotics defines neutral interfaces to industrial robots in production environments.
It comes from a working group of VDMA and the OPC Foundation.
(no logo)
MachineVision merges the image and pattern recognition for machines.
Behind this there are several associations:
  • AIA (Automated Imaging Association) organization and manufacturer Cognex
  • The German industry association VDMA with VDMA MV (Machine Vision)
  • EMVA (European Machine Vision Association)
  • CMVU (China Machine Vision Union)
  • JIIA (Japan Industrial Imaging Association)
(no logo)

In this article all these things are called "UA industry standard". Within the framework of Industry 4.0, such neutral interfaces are important.

The objectives of these UA industry standards

Maschine Information Model

The main objective is a standardized handling of all requirements from the point of view of communication and configuration for the machines. In the context of industry 4.0 it is particularly important to have common interfaces. This concerns the connection to superimposed systems such as production planning. It also covers machine operation.
These things are offered:

With these interfaces it is easy and well standardized to set up operating panels, for example. The connection to superimposed production planning systems such as MES and ERP becomes easier, ideally it is always the same.
The SCADA manufacturers are also on board. In the market, however, it is evident that rather newer - often web-based - systems are open for these standards. More and more SCADA manufacturers offer standard operating pages that are quickly adapted to a machine.
Mobile operating devices play out their strengths with it, they only use the web browser. Individual app developments are no longer necessary.
It is also important that the learning effort for operating the machines is reduced. The same operation for machines with similar tasks achieves this.

Who is behind these standards

These are all well-known manufacturers and users of machines. The industry association VDMA implements this together with the suppliers of machines, IT companies and system integrators. In addition, the OPC Foundation is involved and all standards are also available there. There are efforts to coordinate the standards with suppliers from other regions of the world.

How it works

Many - if not all - machines have very similar tasks in common. In plastics machines there are often heating zones, pressing zones, cooling zones. A heating zone has one or more temperature curves. Of course, there can be several heating zones. This also applies to all other data and structures offered. EuroMAP knows such a model for a heating zone. This model is used several times for several heating zones - the technician says "derived" or "instanced". The basic data of a heating zone with all details is described in EuroMAP. Of course not all these elements have to be used, this is determined during the setup at the machine builder. Different conditions occur during the running time of the machine. For all these conditions there are reporting elements (events), status elements and also error elements. With this exact definition, a simple and standardized data transfer between the machine parts and the rest of the system is much easier than before.

Overview Machine Information Model

It is also possible to simply transfer many production jobs to one machine. These are then processed one after the other. Job management is a function of most UA industry standards. For example, night shifts without personnel are relatively easy to implement.

How it works with PLC Engine Collect

With the Tani PLC Engine Collect, you can easily and cost-effectively bring these UA industry standards into your machine. The OPC page shows the complete industry standard. On the machine side, the normal and previously available things are used. The Tani PLC Engine Collect takes over the functions required by the UA industry standard.

Variables, functions and events used via OPC can be used in several ways:

Even large tasks can be easily realized in this way. An intervention in the control program is rarely or never necessary.

Application Scenarios

The UA industry standard can in principle be programmed directly into the machine. However, it is often easier to select standard controls and machine elements. In the machine, these are standard variable speed drives and standard controls and marketable sensors. The Tani solution is designed precisely for this. The PLC Engine Collect product with logic tables, which has been on the market for some time, converts the structures and functions available in the OPC UA Server to the machine\'s controls and sensors. Since PLC Engine Collect directly supports all commercially available controllers, existing and older systems can also be extended without any problems. This consistently brings the industry standard to the plant.

Diagnostics for commissioning

Tani attaches great importance to diagnostics in order to simplify the commissioning of the machine. This simplifies troubleshooting even when the machine is at a standstill.
A quick way is to display all elements of the affected machine part. The descriptive names of the elements make it easier to quickly view the correct elements. In addition, for each element it is indicated when the value was last changed. For events, the last occurrence is also displayed.
For effects that only occur at runtime, PLC Engine provides Collect Logger. This means that all sequences can optionally be written. For better limitation, only certain program parts can be logged. There is also a logger output command in the logic tables that only comes when called.

Machine Operations

This is a core goal of UMATI. The other UA industry standards, however, also contain precise interfaces that simplify neutral operation. Modern SCADA and visualization systems support OPC UA. The Tani OPC UA Tunnel converts older OPC DA programs to OPC UA free of charge. This means that SCADA systems that have existed for a long time can continue to be used.