Case

Breaking information silos in manufacturing

Case

Breaking information silos in manufacturing

In the complex world of industrial value chains, B2B information sharing is crucial. DOME4.0 (the EU’s Digital Open Marketplace Ecosystem) addresses this need. We helped expand the DOME4.0 ecosystem by integrating MARKET4.0 – a marketplace for B2B collaboration in manufacturing – into the DOME 4.0 platform, influencing up to 20-30% of the manufacturing and materials industries.

»The integration of MARKET4.0 shows DOME 4.0’s potential to transform industrial data sharing, and we're proud to be part of this journey«

Raimund Broechler, Delivery Manager, Netcompany

The challenge

The manufacturing and materials value chain is mind-bogglingly complex. Modern smartphones, for instance, consist of thousands of physical parts, with raw material extraction, R&D, design, component manufacturing, assembly, and more spread across dozens of countries and continents.

For the chain to operate smoothly, efficient collaboration across all links is crucial. Data on materials or manufacturing equipment and services are often stored in varying formats on disparate platforms across the chain, ultimately blocking collaboration and increasing consumer prices.

Traditional e-commerce platforms have failed to facilitate the procurement of production equipment and services. Too high complexity combined with such platforms’ winner-takes-all logic has left the search for industrial data to pedestrian practices like browsing the Internet, attending trade shows, and talking with commercial and technical experts.

MARKET4.0 proved to be a step in the right direction. With MARKET4.0, all parts of the manufacturing value chain – from production equipment and service providers to original equipment manufacturers – can share data using secure IDS (International Data Spaces) technology.

However, one marketplace alone will not solve the problem. Despite overlapping value chains, OPTIMADE, a marketplace for the materials industry, has so far been disconnected from MARKET4.0.

The solution

The EU initiated The Digital Open Marketplace Ecosystem (DOME 4.0) to accommodate multiple data types, formats, and access mechanisms across marketplaces.

At the core of the solution are so-called ontologies – structured sets of common concepts and relationships that organise and label information. The result – true semantic interoperability – makes the different platforms speak the same language. As a result, searching for “copper” on DOME yields equipment supplier data, materials information, and more, all in one place.

We contributed to the project by creating connectors to integrate MARKET4.0 into the DOME 4.0 platform, allowing DOME to access MARKET4.0 datasets in standardised formats, combine them with other sources (e.g., OPTIMADE), and let data service providers build new services on top of these datasets.

The flexible DOME 4.0 architecture scales easily to handle large amounts of data, tools, and services as more marketplaces join.

What was needed was an open ecosystem of marketplaces to slash costs, boost collaboration, and drive the industrial sector into a more dynamic era.

Results

DOME 4.0 went live on the 1^st of December 2024 and is estimated to directly influence up to 20-30% of the current manufacturing and materials industries, particularly in sectors heavily reliant on data-driven decision-making and complex supply chains. The marketplace ecosystem already includes marketplaces for polymeric additives, industrial equipment trading, chemical data, structural adhesives, and more, and is expected to grow as new marketplaces join.

Seamless Interoperability: A DOME 4.0 IDS connector for MARKET4.0 enables any data provider using IDS principles to connect their datasets to the platform using existing infrastructure.
Enhanced Flexibility: The platform’s ability to host data from various data spaces ensures scalability and adaptability for future industrial applications.
Value-Driven Collaboration: By integrating diverse data streams, DOME 4.0 empowers service providers to unlock new opportunities for innovation.