Enabling flexible, automated and networked production systems – this is the focus of our new research project "HARMONIQ – Harmonising equipment behaviour representation enabling digital twins of production systems". The research project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under the WIPANO programme, commenced on 1 November 2025. 

Together with our project partners CAIQ GmbH, the Institute of Production Systems at TU Dortmund University and RIF Engineering & Consulting GmbH (consortium lead), we are working to contribute to a complete and standardised description of production facilities and their components, with particular focus on the behaviour and status information of a facility's assets. This forms the basis for comprehensive data capture in production systems, real-time control of production processes and their flexible adaptability. 

In addition to further developing and harmonising relevant standards such as the Equipment Behaviour Catalogue (EBC) or Asset Administration Shell (AAS), a central element of HARMONIQ will be the implementation of these standards in industrial practice. The focus is on capturing, prioritising and analysing industrial use cases to ensure that standardisation is consistently aligned with practical requirements.

A complementary project will be initiated as part of our Technical Programme – all members of the prostep ivip association are cordially invited to participate, contribute their own use cases, jointly advance interoperable standards for production, and exchange views on challenges in planning and operating digitalised production systems in a neutral, pre-competitive environment. 

We look forward to your valuable ideas and input!