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OPC UA Standard#

Overview#

The OPC UA Standard is the reusable machine-integration contract delivered with the Industrial Equipment Template. A physical machine is represented by a Critical Manufacturing MES Resource and exchanges operations, recipes, process data, and state through Connect IoT.

This documentation covers the complete implementation lifecycle: modeling, setup, machine-interface implementation, runtime behavior and commissioning considerations.

Documentation Map#

flowchart LR
    M("1. Model<br/>MES Resource Hierarchy") -->
    S("2. Set Up<br/>MES and Connect IoT") -->
    C("3. Configure<br/>Settings and Features") -->
    I("4. Implement<br/>Machine OPC UA Nodes") -->
    V("5. Validate<br/>Commission the Integration") -->
    O("6. Operate<br/>Monitor and Troubleshoot")

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    class M,S,C,I,V,O standard;

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Area Use it to
Modeling and Design Understand the architecture, responsibilities, MES Resource model, ISA-95-aligned identity, OPC UA address space, end-to-end process, and integration patterns
Setup and Configuration Prepare MES and Connect IoT, configure OPC UA connection profiles, Resource and Parameter settings, feature contexts, and state mappings
Features Implement each operation, Recipe, Data Collection, and State feature step by step, and consult the node contract
Commissioning and Support Validate production readiness, troubleshoot connection and runtime behavior, and identify the relevant project artifacts

Ready-to-use example

The Sample Master Data includes an OPC UA Standard Integration Example that models this integration for the MAIN BOARD Resource, so the standard can be explored without building the master data from scratch.

Supported Capabilities#

Capability Business result OPC UA area
Track In Starts Material processing at a Resource Operation.TrackIn
Recipe Download Sends the resolved MES recipe values to the machine Recipe
Data Collection Stores process readings in an MES Data Collection Instance DataCollection
Track Out Completes Material processing at a Resource Operation.TrackOut
Abort Terminates processing exceptionally Operation.Abort
State Synchronization Aligns the MES Resource state with the machine state State

Initiation Modes#

  • Machine initiated: Machine → Connect IoT → MES operation → standard result handshake.
  • Operator initiated: Operator → MES UI → MES operation → standard result handshake.
  • Hybrid: either initiation path is accepted, with duplicate-operation protection.

Both paths execute the MES operation within its transaction and then enter the same result handshake. Connect IoT writes MESOperationPerformed, the machine acknowledges with MachineOperationConfirmed, and MES commits the transaction only after that confirmation. If the confirmation is not received within MachineReplyTimeout, the operation fails and the transaction rolls back.

Scope

The standard defines the MES integration boundary. It does not replace PLC sequencing, safety logic, motion control, machine interlocks, or the machine supplier's internal recipe implementation.

Design Foundation#

The Resource base node follows the relevant ISA-95 equipment hierarchy. Below that Resource, the Critical Manufacturing MES Common Data Model (CDM) organizes MES process information into Operation, Recipe, DataCollection, and State. The Boolean handshake nodes are added as implementation control nodes.