The OPC UA Companion Specification 40530 and the VDMA Standard Sheet of the same name have been revised following a public consultation as a release candidate with the feedback collected and the Joint Working Group has unanimously confirmed the final document. The final document is now available for download on the homepages of the VDMA and the OPC Foundation.

OPC 40430 specifies an OPC UA information model for laser systems. Such a system is regarded as a self-contained unit that includes the laser source and all necessary subsystems, such as the control of the laser source, optics, cooling units and others. One or more laser systems can be a sub-component of a larger machine. The additional specification is an internationally accepted standardised and extensible interface for the integration of laser systems into an OPC UA environment. This interface is intended to provide laser system operators with simple and robust access to information on the basis of which they can optimise their individual processes and achieve additional added value. One example would be enabling fast and targeted maintenance measures or needs-based stock management of service life parts. This is primarily achieved by providing data on the laser system type, identity and past and current statuses.

The document was created by a joint international working group of the OPC Foundation and the VDMA and was accepted and published by the OPC Foundation and the Mechanical Engineering Standards Committee of DIN (NAM) following a public review process.

The document is available on the VDMA website (https://umati.org/ua4laser) and will be published in the DIN-Anzeiger at the beginning of February.

Members of the OPC Foundation can download the relevant documents from the website (https://opcfoundation.org/documents/40530/).

Further implementation documents, such as the NodeSet, are available for download on the OPC Foundation website or as an XML file on GitHub.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr Sven Breitung, VDMA Laser and Laser Systems for Material Processing Division (+49 69 75 60 81 22 or [email protected]).