3 Questions to the new IDTA Board Member Hans-Peter Zobl

Hans-Peter Zobl, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at KUKA, was elected to the board of the Industrial Digital Twin Association e.V. (IDTA) at the 3rd ordinary general meeting on 23.03.2023. In a short interview, he gives an insight to the links of his work and the Digital Twin and how the development of the standard is a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

What is your professional background and how does it coincide with the Digital Twin?

As an automation engineer with 20 years of expertise in automotive, optimisation and simplification of individual processes and process chains is a key driver in the passion to develop mechatronic solutions. The Digital Twin gives us the opportunity to develop and validate solutions and scenarios in a highly efficient and customer-oriented approach and to achieve the best results in the shortest possible time. As CTO of KUKA Systems Augsburg, one of my central objectives is to ensure seamless data continuity in system engineering from the sales phase to operation on the customer’s shop floor and to make and keep the Digital Twin usable in a value-adding way throughout the entire system lifecycle.

What IDTA activities have you been involved in so far?

As a founding member, KUKA has driven the designing together with all colleagues of the IDTA and affiliated partners from the very beginning. Through the internal processes at KUKA, I first came into contact with the Asset Administration Shell and the activities of the IDTA 1.5 years ago and am now very excited to be actively involved in shaping it.

Why is an initiative at IDTA important?

For us as a company and also for me in my role, it is of great importance to participate in the development of (industry) standards and to actively shape them. In this way, experience from many years flows together across all members of the IDTA and can thus ensure that uniform industry standards are established. This enables a high level of interoperability both on a technical level by developing capabilities for mechanical engineering that facilitate the use of different components for us as system integrators, but also as an industry network for the transfer of know-how among the partners.