OPC-UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is the standard industrial protocol for communication between shop-floor equipment (PLCs, SCADA systems, CNC machines) and higher-level systems (MES, ERP, analytics platforms). It replaces predecessors (OPC Classic, OPC-DA) with better security, cross-platform support, richer information modelling, and pub-sub capability.
In modern Industry 4.0 implementations, OPC-UA is typically the layer that connects the physical world to the digital. A CNC machine exposes via OPC-UA its operational status, production counters, alarms, process parameters. An industrial gateway reads OPC-UA and forwards it to the MES, cloud or data warehouse. This standard enables real interoperability between equipment from different manufacturers — Siemens, Rockwell, Beckhoff, ABB, among others.
KORA Productivity supports OPC-UA as an integration layer with instrumented machines. For customers with a heterogeneous mix of equipment — frequent in factories with machines of several generations — OPC-UA solves the problem of data capture without requiring machine-by-machine integration projects. INFOS implements OPC-UA gateways in industrial digitalisation projects.