Why Should You Use Asset Administration Shell for Your Digital Twins?

Why Am I Writing This?

Over the past few years, working closely with Asset Administration Shell (AAS), I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “Why should we bother with AAS?” With so many ways to implement Digital Twins, it’s a fair question — why AAS specifically? So, I decided to tackle this question head-on and share my thoughts here.

Who Should Read This?

This article is for anyone who knows they need a Digital Twin solution to solve a particular problem in their company and is weighing the various approaches out there.

Quick note: If you’re new to Asset Administration Shell, I’d suggest checking out this introductory article first. It’ll give you a solid foundation before diving into this discussion.

Why I’m All About AAS?

You might be thinking, “Well, of course, you’re advocating for AAS — you’re the product manager for it in your company!” But honestly, my belief in AAS goes beyond my job title. Here’s why:

1. Easy to Start, Flexible to Grow

If there’s one thing common to all successful technologies, it’s that they start simple but can grow to handle complex challenges. That’s precisely what AAS offers.

Easy to Start

Let’s say you run a small manufacturing company, and you want to create a Digital Twin for your welding machine. You’ll want to include some basic master data:

Using AAS, you can easily represent this data in a standardized way.

See? It’s straightforward.

Easy to Extend

Now, let’s say you want to add more data — maybe some technical data, documentation, or operational information. With AAS, it’s as simple as adding new Submodels to your Digital Twin, like adding files to a folder.

Flexible to Grow

What if you want to model all your assets, processes, and products as Digital Twins and even build relationships between them?

AAS has got you covered there too. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty specification details here, but if you’re curious, feel free to reach out to me directly, and I’d be happy to explain.

I hope this gives you a sense of how AAS makes it easy to start and expand as needed.

2. Consolidate Data While Maintaining Business Context

To get the most out of your Digital Twin, you need data from various sources — ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), PLM (Product Lifecycle Management), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), MES (Manufacturing Execution System), you name it. The challenge isn’t just bringing all this data together but doing so without losing the business context.

Imagine you’re a truck manufacturer. The trucks you build are listed as products in your PLM system. But if you use one of those trucks internally to transport goods, it’s an asset in your ERP system. It’s the same truck but viewed from different perspectives.

AAS helps you bring these perspectives together using something called semantic IDs, which maintain the meaning and context of your data.

Semantic IDs at the Submodel Level

For instance, a standardized submodel called “Nameplate ” might have a specific semantic ID that dictates what fields need to be included. This ensures that whether you’re looking at data inside your company or across the industry, everything stays consistent and meaningful.

But it doesn’t stop there. Semantic IDs also operate at the submodel element level. This is where things get even more powerful.

Semantic IDs at the Submodel Element Level

Suppose you have a field called “Supplier” in your Digital Twin. This field might be labeled differently across your systems — maybe it’s called “Supplier” in your PLM, “My Supplier” in your CRM, and “Component Supplier” in your MES. Even though these fields have different names, they’re all referring to the same concept.

This is where semantic IDs come in. At the submodel element level, each of these fields would have a semantic ID that points to a definition in a standard dictionary, like ECLASS . This ID ensures that regardless of what you call it in different systems, the underlying meaning remains the same.

By using semantic IDs at the submodel element level, AAS allows you to create a unified vocabulary for your Digital Twin data. This consistency is crucial not just for current operations but also for future innovations, such as when you decide to leverage Generative AI to analyze your data.

3. It is an Industry Standard

So why did I save this point for last? Because for an industry standard to be valuable, it needs widespread adoption. If you’re the only one using it, it’s not really a standard, is it?

Before we dive deeper, let me give you a quick analogy on Industry Standard.

Think about USB — yes, the Universal Serial Bus that we all use to connect devices like smartphones, printers, and external drives to our computers. Before USB became a standard, connecting different devices was a headache. There were all sorts of different connectors, and nothing seemed to work together. USB changed that by creating a common interface that everyone could use, simplifying connections across a wide variety of devices.

AAS is doing something similar, but for business and enterprise data. It’s creating a unified interface for exchanging information across different systems and companies.

Now, back to why I mentioned this last. For any industry standard to be truly useful, it needs widespread adoption. If you’re the only one using it, it’s not much of a standard, right?

When it comes to AAS adoption, I often get asked, “How many companies are actually using it? Is it just a German thing?” The answer is promising, and while I won’t dive into all the specifics, I can say this: AAS is gaining traction, and I’m optimistic.

Here are the two main reasons for my optimism:

Manufacturing-X Initiative in Germany: Various Data Ecosystem initiatives under Manufacturing-X (Catena-X , Factory-X , Semiconductor-X etc) mandate AAS use, and since supply chains cross borders, companies worldwide will need to adopt AAS to stay competitive.

Regulatory Compliance in Europe: With new regulations like ESPR and EPR , companies are being forced to consolidate data. AAS offers a comprehensive, open-standard way to meet these requirements.

Once the ball starts rolling, I believe we’ll see adoption spread like wildfire.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) offers a compelling solution for implementing Digital Twins, especially if you’re looking for something that is easy to start with but has the flexibility to grow alongside your needs. It consolidates data from various sources while maintaining the essential business context. And as AAS continues to gain traction as an industry standard, its value will only increase, making it a solid choice for companies looking to future-proof their digital strategies.

Let’s Connect

I’m always open to discussions, feedback, or any questions you might have about Asset Administration Shell or Digital Twins in general. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to dive deeper into any of the topics covered in this article — or even if you just want to share your thoughts!

You can connect with me directly on LinkedIn or Medium