PLCopen and Process Control

As part of our ongoing efforts to drive standardization and interoperability in industrial automation, PLCopen will start a new workgroup exploring the incorporation of the function blocks developed for the O-PAS standard into a new PLCopen specification for process control.

The O-PAS (Open Process Automation Standard) is an open, interoperable, and vendor-neutral standard developed by the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) to enable flexible and modular process automation systems. It is designed to replace traditional, proprietary DCS’ with a standards-based, plug-and-play architecture, allowing components from different vendors to work seamlessly together. O-PAS is based on existing industry standards, such as (among others) IEC 61131 & IEC 61499.

Part 6.4 of the O-PAS defines a set of standard function blocks to ensure interoperability, consistency, and comparability across different process automation systems. These FBs provide a reference model with standardized inputs, outputs, and behaviors. By establishing a uniform function block framework, part 6.4 supports modular automation, making it easier to adopt open, vendor-independent control solutions.

We are starting a new work group to create a new PLCopen standard for the process automation. There will be a kick-off meeting on January 20-21, 2026 in Wernigerode, Germany.

News release from PLCopen, 25/11/2025

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