The Production Performance Management Protocol (PPMP) is an open industry standard that enables machines and production plants to provide sensor data. The protocol developed by Bosch in the Eclipse IoT Working Group supports Industry 4.0 scenarios. CONTACT Software has integrated the new M2M protocol into its Elements for IoT platform and now makes a Python implementation of PPMP available as open source software in the Eclipse Unide project.

CONTACT's Python API for PPMP supports the integration of IoT platforms and gateways as well as prototyping Industry 4.0 applications. The protocol provides a universal machine language for the diverse components of a production environment. Sensors from different manufacturers, gateways and controllers can transfer their data quickly and securely to IoT applications or to each other. At the same time, it will be much easier for plant operators to record and evaluate important process parameters in their plants, in order to continuously improve their production processes.

The Python version of PPMP also plays an important role in CONTACT's contribution to the Eclipse IoT Working Group's current Industry 4.0 testbed. In this project, a test environment for the "Production Performance Management" in the smart factory will be developed, which will be implemented with commercial and open source IT applications. The members of the working group plan to present first results at the IoT Day of EclipseCon Europe 2017 in Ludwigsburg in mid-October.

“Proprietary hardware and software solutions are a major obstacle for IoT-based business models that companies can overcome with open standards such as PPMP," says CONTACT´s head of development, Frank Patz-Brockmann. “We are a member of the Eclipse Foundation because the open source community has the know-how and impact to drive the digitalization of the industry”.