ekipa - Open Innovation Platform

What is TRUMPF looking for?

TRUMPF laser systems play a critical role in highly automated production lines, such as in battery cell or e-mobility manufacturing. While the machines achieve high availability, ensuring consistent product quality across the entire line remains challenging.

TRUMPF already provides integrated quality monitoring tools. However, data from upstream and downstream processes — clamping, joining, inspection — is often siloed, vendor-specific, or inaccessible.

TRUMPF is therefore seeking a software-based partner solution that can integrate, harmonize, and analyze distributed quality data across production lines.

The goal: a scalable platform offered alongside TRUMPF equipment to create real customer value and strengthen TRUMPF’s competitive edge - potentially as part of a digital twin for quality.

Core Question

How can we develop a scalable and user-friendly software solution that:

Accesses and integrates fragmented, vendor-specific production data
Harmonizes various data formats (e.g., images, sensor logs, machine parameters)
Analyzes this data to identify quality issues and generate process insights
Delivers these insights through a simple, intuitive interface usable by production staff without data science expertise.

Goals & Criteria

The solution should be able to:

Access and integrate existing quality data from multiple sources and vendors (e.g. sensor data, image data, machine metadata)
Harmonize structured and unstructured data into a centralized, analyzable model
Analyze: Sensor and process values (e.g. energy use, tolerance deviations) Image data (e.g. visual defect detection, part alignment, clamping status) Contextual metadata (e.g. part IDs, batch numbers, material types)
Provide insights into: Part quality Process deviations Traceability across quality-relevant steps (spanning, joining, inspection, etc.)
Be flexibly integrable into production lines where TRUMPF lasers are part of the process
Offer a simple, intuitive interface for use by production personnel
Be internationally deployable, with English as primary language

In Scope:

Software product, not hardware development
Rely on existing data; no new data collection required
Focus strictly on quality assurance, not production control or logistics
Comply with leading standards such as OPC UA or OTCP

Out of scope:

Development of new hardware
Manufacturing execution or logistics control systems

What should your application communicate?

You don’t need to submit a fully finished product – but your submission should clearly outline:

What your current solution can already do (platform, prototype, features)
Which data types and interfaces you can support
How a PoC pilot could be structured, including a timeline and resource estimate
How your solution could evolve into a commercial partnership, such as White-label or embedded offering with TRUMPF systems or joint development and business model

We value structured, realistic proposals — even if your solution is not yet complete. Show us how you think, how your technology works, and how it can deliver value for TRUMPF.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for innovation partners who:

Offer a scalable product or adaptable platform that could be white-labeled or extended for TRUMPF use cases (no pure custom development services)
Are open to co-developing and evolving the solution alongside TRUMPF

Knowledge Base

TRUMPF & Laser Data Integration

TRUMPF Quality Data Storage – Overview of how TRUMPF currently records and synchronizes process data from lasers, optics, and sensors
TRUMPF Monitoring & Analysis Solutions – Insights on current TRUMPF tools

Industrial Data Integration & Standards

OPC UA Standard for Secure Interoperability – Industry-standard protocol

TRUMPF Case Studies & News

TRUMPF IoT Smart Factory Case Study
OPC UA in TRUMPF Medical Production – Highlights use of OPC UA interfaces for quality communication in specialized manufacturing lines