Smart manufacturing where the production process is controlled by CPPS
Smart Manufacturing Standards, Developed with a Focus on IoT and IoS
Reference architecture needed to address interoperability


The core of the 4th industrial revolution is the implementation of smart manufacturing that aims for personalized production in response to rapidly changing market demands. As the non-face-to-face culture spreads due to COVID-19, this trend is expected to accelerate further in the post-COVID-19 era.

The world's major manufacturing powerhouses, including Germany, the United States, Japan, and China, are each promoting their own slogans such as 'Industry 4.0', 'Industrial Internet', and 'Manufacturing 2025' to build smart manufacturing systems and strengthen the competitiveness of their domestic manufacturing industries.

To develop a smart manufacturing system, various information and communication technologies (ICTs) must be integrated to suit the unique manufacturing environment of each country or company. To this end, securing interoperability between heterogeneous technologies, systems, and standards is becoming essential.

Choi Sang-soo, CEO of IGI Korea, contributed an article titled “Heterogeneous Technology-Based Smart Manufacturing System Standards and Interoperability Trends” to the 1954th issue of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) Weekly Technology Trends, explaining the relevant technology standards and reference architectures that Korean manufacturers need to be familiar with in order to develop smart manufacturing systems.


Technologies and standards related to smart manufacturing systems
CEO Choi Sang-soo first defined what a smart manufacturing system is. A smart manufacturing system means that all manufacturing enterprise functions, including raw material management, production, logistics, services, and products, are connected to the network as an integrated system, and production is controlled through a cyber-physical production system (CPPS).

CPPS consists of a virtual factory model connected to the actual production site that continuously exchanges information with enterprise software through distributed software services (Internet of Services; IoS) and distributed devices or equipment (Internet of Things; IoT). The analysis function of CPPS can generate dynamic plans to optimally control the entire production process.

CEO Choi gave an example, saying that many standards for smart manufacturing systems are being developed around IoT and IoS. First, in the IoT field, there is ISO/IEC 30141, which defines the IoT reference architecture proposed by China, and IEEE 802.24 is also a representative standard activity.

The 'IEC SG 8 Industry 4.0 - Smart Manufacturing' strategic group, which is centered around Europe and the United States, is promoting mutual cooperation with 'IEEE P2413 - Standard for an Architectural Framework for the Internet of Things', which is promoting international standardization activities for the IoT architecture framework.

oneM2M was formed to improve the reality of international product compatibility due to the inconsistent M2M standards by region. Standards such as OPC UA, MTConnect, PackML, and BatchML are utilized at the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) and device level.

Next, in the IoS area, he said that standard development is underway focusing on representative systems utilized in manufacturing companies. He also added that because the utilization rate is already high in manufacturing companies, the maturity of related standards is also high.

STEP 242 is a representative standard for PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), OAGIS and SCOR are representative for SCM (Supply Chain Management) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and ISA-95 is representative for MES (Manufacturing Execution System).

IEC 62264 is an international standard for enterprise control system integration and is based on ISA-95. IEC 62264 defines the activity model, functional model, and object model belonging to the Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) domain, and defines the key performance indicators (KPIs) used in ISO 22400 manufacturing management.


Smart Manufacturing System Reference Architecture - RAMI 4.0
Smart manufacturing is realized through the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), such as IoT, big data, cloud computing, AI, modeling & simulation, VR/AR, additive manufacturing, CNC machine tools, and collaborative robots.

“Securing interoperability is important for heterogeneous technologies to be fused and integrated,” said CEO Choi. “Recently, reference models and architectures have been developed to address integration and interoperability issues for smart manufacturing.”

The most representative reference architecture, RAMI 4.0, was developed by several industry-academia-research partners based in Germany. RAMI 4.0 addresses interoperability by proposing six levels of abstraction layers for the manufacturing industry.

The first layer, the 'Business Layer', consists of business models and information about business components such as services and products provided. The second layer, the 'Functional Layer', characterizes and details the functions of the architecture model and establishes their relationships.

The third layer, the 'Information Layer', controls and manages the data and information used in the architecture. The fourth layer, the 'Communication Layer', ensures that communication between layers, systems, and all running components can be interoperable at the same time.

The fifth layer, the 'Integration Layer', connects all the layers and physical components of this architecture. It also deals with network and software integration. The sixth layer, the 'Asset Layer', includes physical objects such as people and facilities that exist in the real world.

The RAMI 4.0 model was developed by studying existing approaches and integrating them into the interoperability stack. The interoperability stack was designed and built by leveraging existing standards such as OPC-UA, AutomationML, and ProSTEP. In addition, the architecture integrated IEC 62890 capabilities for lifecycle improvement and value stream mapping.


Other Reference Architectures - IBM, National Institute of Standards and Technology, IVI
Choi additionally introduced Industry 4.0 architecture based on a reference model created by IBM consisting of two layers with distributed functions. The Edge layer is responsible for connecting legacy systems and devices and integrating them with the protocols they follow.

The plant and enterprise layers perform data-driven analytics for overall decision-making as a hybrid cloud or platform. IBM’s architecture incorporates the OPC-UA communication standard and is designed with ISA-95 specifications in mind, Choi explained.

Next, the case of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States was introduced, which proposed a service-oriented architecture that aims for smart manufacturing by connecting OT and IT. This architecture also provides BI (Business Intelligence) services so that all stakeholders can contact each other.

IT domain services consist of all IT operational elements from the system level to the enterprise level. OT domain services handle processes and tasks specified at the physical level, which is a component of the work site. The virtual domain of the digital factory area, which performs modeling and simulation services, is also included in the architecture.

In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has also developed a reference model for smart factory design and analysis, such as Factory Design and Improvement (FDI) for Smart Manufacturing. FDI was developed based on global manufacturing company processes related to factory, manufacturing line, process, and equipment design and operation. It consists of four activities and 28 tasks. FDI was modeled with IDEF0 and then developed as a data model in XML and JSON formats.

Connected through MES, IIOT platforms and web services, it visualizes key performance indicators (KPIs) and data in realistic 3D based on digital twins, and performs real-time analysis by connecting with big data analysis, AI, and modeling & simulation solutions.

Finally, CEO Choi introduced the case of Japan.

Japan has launched the Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI) to support the development of business scenarios and use cases for connected manufacturing across a wide range of industries, and to provide and maintain a repository of loosely defined standards that can be continually updated in the future.

IVI aims to connect technologies through a bottom-up approach based on the needs of the manufacturing industry. Choi explained that the industrial value chain reference architecture they created is about two creative concepts.

One is the Smart Manufacturing Unit (SMU), which presents an autonomous unit of smart manufacturing. SMU is a system that increases productivity and efficiency through the communication and linkage of autonomous units of manufacturing organizations in response to the diversity and individuality of industrial demands. Each SMU consists of three axes: assets, activities, and management.

Another one is a general function block that is used to model the entire smart manufacturing based on engineering flow, demand and supply flow, and organizational hierarchy level, Choi explained.


We need to develop advanced smart manufacturing technologies that fit the Korean situation.
To implement smart manufacturing, various cutting-edge technologies must be flexibly connected and integrated to suit the environment and purpose of use of various manufacturing industries. To this end, utilizing existing international standards based on reference architectures has become essential rather than optional.

Korea is currently actively participating in international standardization of smart manufacturing, such as ISO TC 184 (Industrial Data) and IEC TC 65 (Industrial Process Measurement, Control and Automation), and is also contributing to the development of ICT standards related to manufacturing, such as IoT, big data, cloud computing, security, and CPS, such as ISO/IEC JTC 1, IEEE, OCF (Open Connectivity Foundation), and IIC (Industrial Internet Consortium). In addition, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is promoting the development of domestic standards.

CEO Choi said, “Currently, smart manufacturing technology companies from Germany and the U.S. are dominating the manufacturing ecosystem,” and advised, “Korea should develop advanced smart manufacturing technologies that fit the Korean situation through close cooperation between academia, industry, and research based on its already solid manufacturing base and excellent ICT infrastructure.”