by Gary Mintchell | Mar 18, 2026 | Interoperability, News, Process Control, Standards
I couldn’t make it to the February forum where the Open Process Automation Forum celebrated its 10th Anniversary. I remember meeting with Don Bartusiak, the instigator, along with Alan Johnston, Tom Burke, Dennis Brandl, and Dave Emerson to discuss standards and interoperability with the new initiative.
OPAF have come a long way. Ten years of developing consensus standards of standards, specification guides, certification testing.
Three engineers from The Wood Group talked with me yesterday bringing the update that I missed last month. Brad Mozisek, Patrick Sloan, and Alex Eaton told me that OPAS is not a science project but a real thing that users are implementing as we speak.
The organization never tried to engineer a new process automation system. They left that where it belonged—with the vendors. The goals included decoupling software and hardware, defining not only open but interoperable systems, and giving owner/operators flexibility to add best-in-class technologies without being locked into a single-vendor situation.
I missed seeing presentations by ExxonMobil, Shell, and Reliance on their projects.
Celebrating 10 years plus seeking to spread the message beyond the US, the organization has scheduled a World Tour. The first is will be March 25, 2026 at 06:00 AM (CDT) | 11:00 AM (GMT) | 16:30 PM (IST).
Speakers: Aneil Ali, The Open Group, Ravi Jagasia, R. Stahl Inc, Jacco Opmeer, Shell, Dominic de Kerf, Cargill, and Luciano Narcisi, ARC
Join us on March 25 for this webinar (hosted by The Open Group) and featuring Members of the Open Process Automation Forum. This webinar will feature European based end user organizations showcasing the business and technical milestones of their O-PAS adoption journeys.
Learn how these organizations are implementing the standard to drive innovation and eliminate vendor lock-in. Register here.
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by Gary Mintchell | Feb 9, 2026 | Automation, Process Control, Software, Standards
The Open Process Automation Forum has been building a standard of standards to promote open and interoperable technology for process automation. PLCOpen has been at the forefront of international standards promulgation as the organization behind IEC 61131. This latter organization has instituted a Working Group to create IEC61131 process automation standard and certifications for application engineers to efficiently deploy PLC, DCS, and open platform controls in process industry applications.
I’ve been following and promoting open and interoperability for decades. This should be a useful step forward.
Bill Lydon sent this explanation of the background and current status of programming standards.
The cost of programming process automation and control continues to grow and is a significant part of project costs. Each supplier having unique function blocks that do not follow a single worldwide standard increases training, application development costs, and project profit risk. PLCopen standardization and modular methodology lowers training time, project development costs, and lowers project cost overruns risk.
This further expands the base of PLCopen standards that enable No-Code/Low-Code industrial automation programming across vendor platforms including industrial computers. This will include incorporation of the function blocks defined in the O-PAS standard into a new PLCopen standard.
The new PLCopen Process Functions standards and certification make it easier for application engineers to deploy PLC, DCS, and open platform controls in process applications.
Working Group Goal
The PLCopen Process Industry Working Group goal is accelerating the convergence of discrete and process control & automation into harmonized PLC, DCS and open platform system architectures to achieve industrial business digitalization.
Today there are a diverse number of ways to program applications for process control and automation. The goal is to develop PLCopen function block standards for process control functions. Function Blocks are encapsulations of variables, parameters and their processing algorithms. Similar standardization has been done with PLCopen standards developed for motion control, safety, fluid power, XML Program Interchange, and OPC UA.
He notes process control applications being done using PLCs. I actually sold a PLC to a chemical plant engineer, who used it to control one of his processes. That was in 1995. So, while unusual, not unheard of.
Today many process control applications are being done using PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) since the capabilities of these devices is far beyond original 1970s relay replacement applications. The emerging use of industrial edge computers with IEC 611 31 runtime software engines is another segment that benefits from the results of the PLCopen Process Industry Working Group.
PLCopen Background
PLCopen has been successful defining IEC 61131 functions and certifications used widely throughout industry worldwide increasing engineering efficiency, quality and empowering a wider number of people in motion control, fluid power, safety, and other functions. The standards define common inputs outputs and behaviors with vendor certifying conformance to accomplish the functions or additional features.
PLCopen Standards
- Logic – The PLCopen basis is provided by the world wide standard IEC 61131, and especially Part 3 – Programming Languages.
- Motion Control – Creating reusable, hardware independent Motion Control applications via IEC 61131-3 and PLCopen Function Blocks including Fluid Power.
- Safety -PLCopen Safety integrates safety functionality into the IEC 61131-3 development environments. Meets IEC 61508 & related standards.
- Communication – PLCopen and OPC Foundation combine their technologies to a platform and manufacturer-independent information and communication architecture.
- XML Exchange – PLCopen added independent XML schemes to IEC 61131-3
Movements including Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things, The Open Process Automation Forum, and Smart Manufacturing are creating a drive for more standards. IEC 61131-3 along with PLCopen extensions and certifications are well established in discrete and hybrid applications and with the addition of OPC Function blocks is already part of the newer Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things offerings.
Working Group
As part of our ongoing efforts to drive standardization and interoperability in industrial automation PLCopen will start a new workgroup exploring the incorporation of the function blocks we have developed for the O-PAS standard into a new PLCopen standard.
The O-PAS (Open Process Automation Standard) is an open, interoperable, and vendor-neutral standard developed by the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) to enable flexible and modular process automation systems. It is designed to replace traditional, proprietary DCS’ with a standards-based, plug-and-play architecture, allowing components from different vendors to work seamlessly together. O-PAS is based on existing industry standards, such as (among others) IEC 61131 & IEC 61499.
Part 6.4 of the O-PAS defines a set of standard function blocks to ensure interoperability, consistency, and comparability across different process automation systems. These FBs provide a reference model with standardized inputs, outputs, and behaviors. By establishing a uniform function block framework, part 6.4 supports modular automation, making it easier to adopt open, vendor-independent control solutions. PLCopen helped creating several pre-defined function blocks for part 6.4 of the O-PAS standard.
In order to standardizing these function blocks within PLCopen we are starting a new workgroup to create a new PLCopen standard for the process automation.
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by Gary Mintchell | Jan 28, 2026 | Design, Productivity, Standards
I appreciate press releases about AI that include definite use cases rather than just the usual vague “we’ve got AI.” InfinitForm is a company new to me. It uses the popular Co-Pilot form of AI for its Generative Engineering Platform.
InfinitForm launched its Generative Engineering Platform, the next stage in the evolution of Design for Manufacturing (DFM). The Generative Engineering Platform is powered by the InfinitForm AI Co-Pilot to automate DFM analysis while optimizing for manufacturing processes, freeing engineers to focus on innovation rather than design iterations and reducing design cycles by 60-80%.
Speaking from past harsh experience as a manager of product development, anything reducing engineering and design time getting us into manufacturing more quickly is a win.
The Generative Engineering Platform is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that integrates with computer-aided design (CAD) workflows and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize design for manufacturability. The Platform fosters a manufacturing-first approach that extends generative design beyond additive-only optimization, providing engineers and designers with automated analysis and intelligence tools to bridge the gap between design and production.
Much of the PLM, CAD, and similar technologies on the cutting edge have moved into a variety of cloud-enabled applications. This fits the trend.
The Generative Engineering Platform automates design while optimizing for manufacturing processes, including CNC (computer numeric control) machining, die casting, injection molding, extrusion, additive, and hybrid manufacturing. Automated analysis accounts for multiple manufacturability variables, including wall thickness, draft angles, tool accessibility, tolerance stack-up, assembly complexity, and tooling feasibility. The Platform also analyzes the cost of manufacture and provides first-pass yield predictions.
The InfinitForm AI Co-Pilot amplifies rather than replaces engineering expertise to accelerate decision-making, freeing design engineers to focus on innovation rather than manufacturability trade-offs. Using AI, the Generative Engineering Platform enables design engineers to explore more concepts with confidence that the results will be manufacturable.
The Platform also reduces the time required for handoffs to manufacturing engineers from weeks to days. Manufacturing engineers gain early visibility into design decisions that could affect manufacturing, eliminating surprises and reducing time-to-production. Using AI to ensure manufacturability also delivers a higher first-pass manufacturing yield.
The Generative Engineering Platform also features a Privacy-First Architecture to protect intellectual property. Customer designs are never used to train Platform algorithms, so proprietary data is always protected.
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by Gary Mintchell | Nov 25, 2025 | Automation, Embedded Control, Standards
The comment brought memories from many years ago when I first heard about a new programming language/operating system. Java. I rushed to the local bookstore to purchase a book. It was huge. I downloaded the Java Development Kit. Eventually, I downloaded eclipse, an IDE for writing Java.
The key marketing message for Java? Write once, run everywhere. You just had to have a target to download the code to a runtime instance.
The comment that brought back ancient memories occurred during a briefing at the Rockwell Automation Automation Fair event in November.
Executives from Rockwell were discussing how their latest control platforms were amenable to software defined automation. A colleague asked about their support for IEC 61131 programming languages, especially about the part where they hope to have “write once/run anywhere” programmable controller code. That is, write a control program in the void, then download to any target be it Rockwell Automation, Siemens, ABB, or name your favorite.
The executives returned a blank stare. The inquisitor said that he supposed that that was a “no.”
I had long forgotten that nirvana of PLC Open. Discussions often grew heated in the early part of the century on this topic. Personally, I don’t see how it can happen. To bring that hope of PLCOpen to fruition, all controller manufacturers would have to agree to commoditize their hardware. Some users may think that driving control to commodity to reduce the cost would be good. But that would disincentivize innovation.
That’s not going to happen.
In fact, looking at software-defined and model-based programming with AI assistance, I wonder how long IEC61131 will be necessary.
I’m quoting Ed Sheeran and just “Thinking Out Loud.” Where will all this go? What impact will the ubiquitous AI have on this entire discussion—if any? What will machine control look like in 10 years?
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by Gary Mintchell | Nov 11, 2025 | Automation, Robots, Standards
I’m betting that you know where you are in terms of physical location. They once asked on TV ads, “Do you know where your kids are?” Now the questions are, “Do you know where your machines are?” and “Do your machines know where they are?”
OPC Foundation continues its quest to link to everything possible. Its list of “companion specs” is long. This new concerns a partnership regarding spatial understanding—by networked industrial systems of machines, robots, and mobile systems understanding one another by physical location. Sounds useful for things moving around the factory.
This partnership includes AIM-D, omlox, and the OPC Foundation creating a new OPC UA specification.
Industrial automation is facing a paradigm shift: machines, robots, and mobile systems are learning to “understand” space. With the new OPC UA Companion Specification for Identification and Locating, AIM-D e.V., PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI) with the open locating standard omlox, and the OPC Foundation are establishing the foundation for a common language of “spatial intelligence.”
Physical AI – that is, AI that actively perceives physical space and acts contextually – requires a unified understanding of positions, movements, and identities in space. This is precisely where the new Companion Specification comes in: it harmonizes the spatial data model for absolute positions within the OPC Foundation and allows for a unified global positioning of assets in the physical and digital world.
This enables a seamless integration of spatial data into industrial IT and OT systems – a prerequisite for autonomous mobile robots, intelligent assistance systems, and self-organizing production environments.
The new specification is now freely available on the OPC Foundation’s website and is considered a milestone for the next evolutionary stage of industrial intelligence.
The collaboration between AIM-D, omlox / PI, and the OPC Foundation brings together the disciplines of identification, locating, and communication in a common spatial context. This creates a decisive foundation to equip robots, vehicles, and machines with a shared spatial understanding – the key to Physical AI, resilient supply chains, and autonomous industrial ecosystems.
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by Gary Mintchell | Oct 1, 2025 | News, Organizations, Standards, Technology
My last post discussed how the market has changed enough that consolidation of technology and business associations has become inevitable. And there are benefits. This news shows some of the benefits of previously competing organizations working together.
In brief:
Updated FDI technology specification paves the way for single device integration for process and factory automation device management.
FieldComm Group’s Strategic Integration Committee (SIC), composed of leading automation industry suppliers and Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), has announced the official timeline for releasing the updated Field Device Integration (FDI) Specification. This milestone marks a critical step toward unifying device integration across process, hybrid, and factory automation.
Following the transfer of FDT/DTM assets to FieldComm Group in 2024, the organization has significantly accelerated its efforts toward unified device integration. The resulting roadmap is a product of coordinated work by the SIC and specialized working groups. Comprised of board-level companies from FieldComm Group along with key leaders from OPC Foundation, ODVA, and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International (PI), the SIC has led the harmonization of FDI and FDT technologies. This collaboration aims to deliver a unified, intuitive, and scalable device integration standard that addresses the evolving needs of modern manufacturing, helping both end users and vendors.
Key enhancements in the updated FDI Specification:
- Compliance, incorporating the requirements of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)
- Unified device integration standard for process and factory automation
- Support for legacy systems, enabling modernization without infrastructure replacement
- Real-time OT/IT connectivity through a common information model (PA-DIM)
- Support for modern platforms and development tools
- Empowering intelligent device and lifecycle management with protocol tunneling support, also known as nested communications
FDI specification timeline for migration:
- End of 2026: Release of the updated FDI Specification
- End of 2027: Deployment of the updated FDI Developer Toolkit
- 2029: Market availability of registered FDI-enabled systems and devices
Following are statements of leaders of participating organizations:
“Today’s industrial systems are more complex than ever, yet this complexity must not compromise interoperability,” said Steve Biegacki, Chair of the Strategic Integration Committee and former Managing Director of the FDT Group. “Our goal is to deliver a unified device integration solution that enhances data interoperability with OT/IT systems while supporting innovative features for modern manufacturing. This approach also provides a practical migration path, safeguarding existing investments and preparing the industry for future advancements.”
“As a co-owner of the FDI specification, the OPC Foundation is committed to robust and interoperable device integration for OPC UA users and fully supports the harmonization of FDI and FDT technologies to achieve this goal,” said Stefan Hoppe, President of the OPC Foundation.
“ODVA is pleased to support the harmonization of FDI and FDT technologies to enable enhanced device integration interoperability for users of EtherNet/IP,” said Al Beydoun, President and Executive Director of ODVA.
“PI appreciates that the FieldComm Group initiated the valuable discussions to determine the need for merging FDI and FDT, taking into account the needs of interested companies, as well as the technologies of the four participating standards development associations,” said Dietmar Bohn, Executive Director of PI.
Final statement of benefits:
This update will enable manufacturers to transition toward more intelligent, responsive operations, unlocking the full value of industrial data and modern automation architectures.
