Resilient manufacturing operations and supply chains with AAS-powered matchmaking

For more than two years here at M4ESTRO, we've been excited to be working on the development of a digital platform, based on the Manufacturing as a Service (MaaS) approach, to contribute to a powerful transformation which will have a profound effect on the manufacturing sector.

This platform will secure the efficient and resilient operation of supply chain should unexpected events occur, such as the recent geopolitical tensions, pandemics or other kind of disruption, when compared to traditional manufacturing techniques.

From this perspective, our experts at F-IOSB and AIMEN have built a new standards-compliant infrastructure that allows manufacturers to describe their production capacity. To provide this service, the infrastructure uses Asset Administration Shells (AAS) based on the IDTA Capability Submodel 02020. Once the manufacturer's production capacity is in place, this information flows into a Supplier Knowledge Base developed by F-IOSB, where an intelligent match between customer inquiries and suitable suppliers is conducted with unprecedented efficiency. But the technology does not stop here, a company that needs a particular component can upload the concrete product requirements into the system and find the most suitable suppliers. With this capability-matching mechanism, which uses a Digital Twin Type-3 compatible infrastructure, the most suitable customers and suppliers become quickly connected.

For the manufacturing sector, M4ESTRO is among the first to use AAS-powered matchmaking solutions between buyers and sellers. It aspires to make an important contribution to improving supply chain resilience and help the industrial system respond in a faster, more efficient way to demand fluctuations, reducing the risk of recessions and shocks from unexpected disruptions.