The rapid advance in the digitisation of the economy and society is transforming manufacturing and work in Germany. Industrie 4.0 solutions combine production methods with state-of-the-art information and communication technology and create smart value chains. Coordinating the digital transformation of industry: this is the basic concept of Plattform Industrie 4.0 – one of the world’s largest Industrie 4.0 networks. It brings companies, associations, the academic community, trade unions and policymakers together so that all the stakeholders can drive their mission at many levels:

Thinking ahead and showing the way forward

Plattform Industrie 4.0 has a number of working groups that develop practical solutions and recommendations for action in the areas of standards and standardisation (in German), technology and application scenarios (in German), security of networked systems (in German), legal frameworks (in German), work and training (in German), and business models (in German).

Two key results of the Plattform’s work are the Reference Architecture Model for Industrie 4.0 (RAMI4.0) and the administration shell. RAMI 4.0 (in German) merges the essential technological elements of Industrie 4.0 in one single model and provides orientation to stakeholders from a wide range of different areas as they develop new standards for Industrie 4.0. The administration shell (in German) is a uniform virtual image and communications interface, creating the conditions for the smart networking of machines, products and people in production. The platform is not only working on the concept of the administration shell, but is also helping it become implemented in industry.

Orientation for SMEs

The platform offers and coordinates information and networking services which make Industrie 4.0 solutions known to companies throughout the country. The platform’s online map presents more than 350 examples of where Industrie 4.0 innovations are already in use in Germany, as well as an overview of where test centres are located. In addition, Industrie 4.0 Compass (in German) provides an overview of support services that are available nationwide. It helps companies find the right services to support them as they take each step in implementing Industrie 4.0 solutions. The platform works with the chambers of industry and commerce and the electrical engineering, manufacturing and computer business associations (ZVEI, VDMA, Bitkom) to hold events at which smaller businesses in particular can be given help as they move into the Industrie 4.0 world. The platform has launched the Industrie 4.0@Mittelstand (in German) series with the chambers to provide SMEs with the results of the platform’s work and practical examples of Industrie 4.0.

Since its establishment, Plattform Industrie 4.0 has developed into one of the world’s largest networks for the digitalisation of industry. A number of the platform’s members – companies and associations – have launched the Labs Network Industrie 4.0 initiative and the Standardization Council Industrie 4.0 (in German) in order to speed up standardisation efforts in the area of practical Industrie 4.0 solutions. Labs Network Industrie 4.0 aims to help companies get started with Industrie 4.0 by providing them with the opportunity to test new technologies.

National and international cooperation

The platform has entered into a large number of partnerships with national and international alliances. An Industrie 4.0 transfer network has been set up at national level to support SMEs. Through cooperation at international level, Plattform Industrie 4.0 uses its globally unique pool of technical and specialist expertise to address transnational issues in the fields of standardisation, IT security and legal frameworks. It also initiates and leads discussion on the digital transformation in industry. The platform coordinates these activities, networks stakeholders and makes it possible to include many perspectives of very different interests. This makes the platform’s work internationally unique.

For the latest news on the activities undertaken by Plattform Industrie 4.0 click here.