Industry 4.0-compliant Digitalization of a Re-configurable and Flexible Laser Cutter Module within a Digital Factory

Following the requirements of the digital transfor-mation that is going on in different areas of the economy, e.g. industrial manufacturing and processes, transportation, logistics, energy infrastructure, etc., components and systems in the current industrial eco-systems are being migrated into an Industry 4.0-compliant digitalized and networked (Internet-!Ethernet-based) infrastructure, by transforming the traditional physical components and systems into cyber-physical systems (CPS). One essential foundational reference for supporting that dig-italization/migration process is given by the DIN Specification 91345 “Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), complemented by the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) technology. Positioned within this 3D-Cyber-Physical-System-Model, assets are possessing both physical, as well as cyber-parts that allow them (i) to be networked and exchange digitalized data and information using Service-oriented Architecture (SoA) principles, and (ii) negotiate business applications applying e.g. bidding approaches according to the norm VDI/VDE 2931. In this paper, the authors describe the major technical spec-ifications and the results of the prototype implementation of an Industry 4.0-compliant digitalization of a Laser Cutter Module that is part of a reconfigurable and flexible manufacturing infrastructure located in the Digital Factory of the Institute for Industrial Informatics, Automation and Robotics (I2AR) of the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, Germany.