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Presidential Welcome – September 2026

    OPC UA® as a Foundation for the Digitalization of Industrial Automation Across the Lifecycle

     

    Good morning, good afternoon, good evening – wherever you are in the world!

     

    Are you open and ready for a little self-test? Here we go: Have you noticed that the OPC Foundation® has changed the way we talk about OPC UA? We increasingly describe OPC UA as the “foundation for interoperable industrial digitalization” and as a “standard across the entire lifecycle”.

    No?

    Then either I have done a really poor marketing job over the last two years – or perhaps your own life has become so busy that you simply don’t have the time to read all our information, visit the OPC Foundation at industrial trade shows, or participate in our webinars. “I know enough about OPC UA already” might be your answer. And that would not be surprising. The technology has been available since 2006 – 20 years of stability without breaking backward compatibility, while five major updates have significantly expanded its scope.

     

    For many people, “OPC UA” still means an executable: a server, a client, or a publisher/subscriber application providing or consuming data.

    None of that is wrong – but it is far from the complete story.

     

    The New Free OPC UA Modelling Editor: OPC UA Scales Across the Lifecycle

    OPC UA does not necessarily mean running a client or server. In the age of AI, the description and meaning of information is becoming the real key. That is why the OPC Foundation Cloud Initiative has made a free modelling editor available on the OPC Foundation website. It allows you to model information, create instances of these models, and work with standardized semantic information independently of the communication mechanism.

    Read more about the OPC UA NodeSet Editor here.

     

    OPC UA across the lifecycle
    A great example of using OPC UA across the lifecycle is the Digital Battery Passport. We already reported that implementing the EU-mandated Battery Passport required just two half-days: one to transfer the required 130 parameters into an OPC UA information model, and another to implement the REST interface specified by CEN/CENELEC JTC 24. For every battery above the defined threshold, an instance can be created and persisted in a database. Information from the production process can be added to the passport and continuously updated throughout the battery lifecycle – for example, with information related to charging and usage.

    This is a very different way of thinking about OPC UA: from production data to lifecycle information, using one standardized meta-modelling language and in this case even one semantic model.

    Read more about the Digital Battery Passport here.


    What Else Has Happened Since Our June Newsletter?

    • Audit for the ITEI hosted OPC Foundation® Certification Lab in China
      The OPCF Certification Lab passed the audit for all capabilities and extended the capabilities of the lab to include Ethernet-APL testing. Read more here
    • OPC Foundation North America Webinar – September 11, 2026
      Congratulations to Mike Clark, Director OPC Foundation North America, for putting together an excellent webinar with speakers from across North America, including CISA, NEMA, and end users such as ExxonMobil.
      Access the conference material here and read Mike Clark’s North America report here.
    • IMTS Chicago – September 14–19, 2026
      The world is simply too big for me to attend every important event. But I always try to participate in one or two major events in each region to get my own impression – through direct conversations with people on site.
      By the time you receive this newsletter, I will already have spent two days at IMTS in Chicago, supporting the OPC Foundation booth, talking with customers, and answering questions.
      Read more here.

     

    Many of my discussions were about the growing number of initiatives and organizations competing for industry’s attention – and sometimes primarily promoting themselves.
    The most motivating feedback from these conversations was this: End users clearly understand the value of OPC UA technology.
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    “We don’t chase social-media attention or the next technology hype. We solve real industry challenges – with solutions that work and are adopted worldwide.”
    Stefan Hoppe, President, OPC Foundation

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    Scalability with OPC UA means easier integration and lower cost. And that is exactly why OPC UA is not “done.” The technology continues to evolve and scale further into IT and cloud environments.
    In the end, it is not about enthusiasm or technology for technology’s sake. Let’s be honest: ultimately, it is about reducing complexity, engineering effort, and cost.

     

    Call for Review

    You might think nothing happens during the vacation months of July and August? Think again!

    A huge thank you to our members and partners: 5 Calls for Review and an incredible 10 (!) specifications published!
    Calls for Review:

    • Aug 11: Review OPC 40001-5, UA for Machinery – Part 5: Common Components
    • July 13: Review OPC 30271, AAS Generic Mapping to OPC UA
    • July 9: Review OPC 40753-2, UA for Battery Production – Cell Finishing – Aging
    • July 9: Review OPC 40753-1, UA for Battery Production – Cell Finishing – Formation
    • July 8: Review OPC 30450-1 – UA for Digital Product Passport – Information Model

    Published specifications after being reviewed:

    • Aug 28: OPC 20018-1 Companion Specification – OPC UA Introduction – V 1.0.0
    • Aug 19: OPC 40563-4 Mining – TransportAndDumping – Conveying – V 1.0.0
    • Aug 12: OPC 20022 UA Specification Shapes – visio template and draw.io library – V 1.04
    • Aug 6: OPC 40082-4 PlasticsRubber – Peripheral devices – Dosing Systems – V 1.0.1
    • Aug 2: OPC 40082-6 PlasticsRubber – Peripheral devices – Granulate Drying Devices – V 1.0.0
    • July 27: OPC Unified Architecture Field eXchange (UAFX) – V 1.00.04
    • July 25: OPC 40092-1 PlasticsRubber – Flexible PUR Foam – Cutting – V 1.0.0
    • July 25: OPC 40701 Surface Technology – Cleaning Pretreatment Machinery – V 1.0.0
    • July 18: OPC 30210-1 Unattended Retail – Core Components – V 1.0.0
    • July 11: OPC 34100 Energy Consumption Management – V 1.0.1

    Please subscribe to OPC Foundation Technology News to receive immediate information about new standard releases, release candidates for review, and new working groups.

     

    Success Story: Imerys

    It’s my pleasure to announce our latest end-user success story – this time from Imerys and the mining industry.


    It’s about how do you connect hundreds of mining assets across more than 40 countries into one digital architecture? Discover how Imerys uses OPC UA to integrate legacy and modern equipment, enable semantic interoperability, and build the foundation for data-driven production, predictive maintenance, and Industrial AI.

    Read the Imerys success story here

    Do you have an exciting OPC UA-related success story?  We invite you to co-market your success

     

    Events

    During the final months of 2026, we will continue to actively participate in conferences and trade shows around the globe, many with our own OPC Foundation booth. We would be happy to meet you in-person at:

    See our complete OPC Foundation events calendar, including available sponsorship opportunities.

     

    Stay tuned and I hope to meet you in person at one of these events!

     

    Stefan Hoppe
    President, OPC Foundation
    stefan.hoppe[AT]opcfoundation.org

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