Semantic integration by means of a graphical OPC Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) information model designer for Manufacturing Execution Systems

Today, normally MES (Manufacturing execution systems) are isolated applications. Tomorrow, they have to be linked to each other. The prototypical engineeringframework based on OPC-UA (OLE for Process controlUnified architecture) processes data in the standardized XML-based format CAEX (Computer Aided Engineering Exchange) describing production plants. It configures MES and generates corresponding process visualization. OPC-UA is a standard which accomplishes to support process communication in a structured way with an underlying user-defined information model. In this contribution, a graphical OPC-UA information model editor is presented which supports CAEX import and OPC-UA export, both in XML. Thus, MES can take advantage of the skills of OPC-UA servers and CAEX data can be managed online. The mentioned concepts were tested with an application example.