New year, same challenges. As in the previous year, in 2024 enterprises are aiming for transparency within their business operations and supply chains, to cope with the impacts of the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world and global crises. Knowing the location of assets, equipment, goods, or staff is more important than ever before to save costs, resources, and to meet sustainability targets.
This need has led to a steady growth of the omlox technology group in the past year. omlox is now addressing multiple verticals: discrete manufacturing, automotive, logistics, semi-conductor, aerospace, healthcare, and retail. Technology-wise, omlox has much more depth today, providing an even better support for locating use-cases and integrating more locating technologies, like vision-based systems, more wireless-technologies, and even ultrasound-based locating technologies, that can locate in the mm range.
omlox Test Lab
The essence of any standardization initiative is interoperability and PI is known for its high quality certification procedures. In 2023, omlox also managed to build up its own certification procedures and test tools, to allow for a certification of ultrawide-band based locating-hardware in the omlox core zone, the locating-middleware omlox-hub, the integration of complementary locating-hardware, and business applications that can consume and process location-data, like MES, WMS or ERP systems. A first test lab at Fraunhofer IOSB-INA is ready to certify omlox-based products.
AAS Submodel
In the past year, omlox additionally managed to extend its influence on other standardization initiatives, to allow for a streamlined handling of location data – from its collaboration with other technologies, to further processing omlox data in larger IT-systems, setting omlox in a more holistic context. One example is the cooperation between PI and the Industrial Digital Twin Association, with the purpose of integrating location data as element of Digital Twins, enabling location-aware product traceability – along the lifecycle of a given product. Founded by InterOpera, a first Sub Model Asset-Location has been defined. Read the PDF here (German language).
omlox Event in China
While locating assets, products, or machines represents a global use-case, the omlox community is also global, having supporters and adopters around the world. Among these, one of the biggest local communities is in China. At an on-site event in Shenzhen in December last year, for example, local companies came together to showcase a multi-vendor demo in an IoT production site, combining multiple location-tracking technologies for a holistic tracking of goods – in-bound, in production, and outbound.
2023 has been a very successful year for omlox. The foundation for accelerated growth and adoption has been laid, and the omlox community is looking forward to showcasing the possibilities of interoperable location tracking solutions at LogiMAT / Stuttgart in March and Hannover Fair in April.
Dr. Matthias Jöst