A device suddenly does not work. Numerous red lights come on. But where are the appropriate operating instructions? A large number of operating instructions are consulted in order to find out what the red lights mean – but even if their meaning is known, the question of what needs to be done to rectify the fault remains unanswered.

In the future, more and more new products will be supplied with a Digital Product Passport (DPP). Depending on the product group, the legislator requires different data to be provided. In any case, the digital type plate (which was previously often attached to the back or underside of devices, making it difficult to access), the CO₂ footprint and the digital documentation – including the operating instructions – must be stored in it. You can then simply scan a QR code with a cell phone and the desired information is immediately available – without any tedious searching.

© Siemens

The easiest way to use the Digital Product Passport: scan a QR code with your smartphone to access technical documentation – try it out!

That’s a start, but it’s still not amazing. Progressive companies already offer this today. It gets more interesting when the documentation is computer-readable and an artificial intelligence not only tells you what the red lights mean, but also how the fault can be rectified.

Or in the case of industrial machinery: here, the product passport can also make a digital twin of the machine available. Or, for recycling companies with special read authorization, display information on how the appliance can be dismantled and which hazardous materials it contains. With this information, recycling can be carried out much more efficiently and therefore more cost-effectively, thus achieving a higher recycling rate.

Standardized data exchange

In order to take advantage of the economic benefits of digitalization in industry, it is important that data can be exchanged between companies in such a way that it can be mutually understood and processed without translation. The Austrian Manufacturing Innovation Data Space (amids.at) project, led by TU Wien together with TU Graz and JKU Linz as well as Siemens and ten other Austrian industrial partners, is researching how this standardized data exchange via the Digital Product Passport can be used to make production in Europe more competitive. The aim is that the data does not have to be recorded manually, but is automatically added to the product passport from the production data.

With the Digital Product Passport, data can be passed on along the product life cycle.

TU Graz dissertant Martin Schellander

© TU Graz/Lunghammer

Martin Schellander, PhD student in this project at the Institute of Production Engineering at Graz University of Technology, explains enthusiastically: “If you use the so-called Asset Administration Shell as the basic technology in the Digital Product Passport, then data can be passed on from company to company along the product life cycle in a standardized way using the Digital Product Passport. And not just the data required by law, but also 3D design data, such as that required for digital twins, or data that can be used for safety certifications.” His boss, Institute Director and Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Franz Haas, is convinced “that the ongoing standardization of data exchange for the Digital Product Passport can lead to a paradigm shift in the mechanical engineering industry”.

The digital product passport is leading to a paradigm shift in the mechanical engineering industry.

Franz Haas, Institute Director and Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at TU Graz

© Furgler

Herbert Tanner, Head of the Siemens branches for Styria and Carinthia, sums it up: “Companies are well advised not only to deal with the legal requirements of the Digital Product Passport, but also to develop a strategy on how they can use the Digital Product Passport in their ecosystem to increase their competitiveness – we are happy to help with this.”

As a result of the legal obligation, an infrastructure for the digital product passport will be established over the next few years. This is a great opportunity for companies to use this to their advantage over and above their legal obligations.

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The digital product passport is to be introduced gradually – for batteries as early as 2027, followed by textiles, construction products and iron and steel.

Battery Passport already from 2027

The digital product passport is being introduced gradually. The EU law for the Digital Product Passport for batteries for all electric vehicles, light vehicles and industrial batteries (from 2 kWh) has been adopted and will come into force in February 2027. Textiles, iron and steel and construction products are to follow in the same year; other product groups will gradually follow.

A battery passport serves as a digital record for individual batteries, documenting their entire life cycle, from the procurement of raw materials to reprocessing and recycling. It contains information on the composition, manufacture, performance and environmental impact of the battery. The Battery Passport promotes the sustainable use and recycling of batteries.

© Siemens

The Battery Passport promotes the sustainable use and recycling of batteries.

Siemens offers a Battery Passport for battery manufacturers. As a leading supplier of automation components, Siemens can supply up to two thirds of the data relevant for the Battery Passport, which consists of more than 100 attributes, via the IT-OT portfolio. This also includes the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), which can be recorded via Siemens SIMATIC Energy Manager PRO and the PCF management platform from Siemens called SiGREEN.

The Siemens Battery Passport goes beyond compliance with legal regulations and supports stakeholders in implementing broad sustainable approaches.