Neoception Community Days 2026: The hardest part of rolling out the Asset Administration Shell is not the technology
22–23 September 2026
Mannheim, Germany
Around ten leads from eight manufacturing companies
On 22 and 23 September 2026, the first Neoception Community Days took place in Mannheim. Around ten digital twin and interoperability leads from eight manufacturing companies discussed what really makes the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) hard as a strategic undertaking. The result was clear: the technology works. The obstacle lies in the data and in the organisation.
- The step from pilot to company-wide rollout is held back not by technology, but by data ownership, data maintenance and systems that have never been reconciled.
- These questions only surface in practice. Starting with the Asset Administration Shell is what sets the real work in motion.
- The participants want to continue the exchange on a permanent basis, and the next Community Days are in preparation.
Eight companies, one shared question
Taking part were Pepperl+Fuchs SE, ifm electronic gmbh, ZIEHL-ABEGG SE, WAGO GmbH & Co. KG, WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG, HOPPECKE Batterien GmbH & Co. KG, Endress+Hauser AG and Lenze SE. All of them already run Asset Administration Shell projects with Neoception. What brought them to Mannheim was the wish to talk about everything that lies beyond technology and tooling.
IDTA outlook: internationalisation and measurable savings
The exchange was framed by several expert talks. Christian Mosch of the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA), the association behind the Asset Administration Shell specification, shared where the association is heading, with internationalisation high on the agenda.
What stayed with the room most were the IDTA’s industry-tested surveys of the savings achieved in the first real end-to-end use cases based on the AAS. Examples include Product Change Notification (PCN), the standardised notification of product changes, and engineering processes that run end to end instead of stopping at every system boundary. We are happy to share the specific figures on request.
![Christian Mosch of the IDTA presenting at Neoception Community Days 2026]](https://www.neoception.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/IMG_2445-scaled.jpeg)
From pilot to rollout: the real obstacle is organisational
The central workshop put one question on the table: what stands between a working pilot and a rollout across the whole company?
The answer was strikingly consistent across all eight companies, and it was not a technical one. The difficulty lies in the data. Who owns it, who keeps it current, which data does a use case actually need, and how much of it sits in systems that have never been reconciled? Those are organisational questions long before they become software questions.
The technology works. The difficulty lies in the data.
Hearing that from seven other companies in the same room changes something. What feels like a home-grown shortcoming turns out to be the shared starting position of an entire industry. And once that is on the table, people stop describing problems and start exchanging solutions.
![Workshop on the Asset Administration Shell at Neoception Community Days 2026]](https://www.neoception.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/IMG_2466-scaled.jpeg)
The first domino: why starting with the Asset Administration Shell pays off
A second insight followed: nobody would have come across these questions without having started to introduce the Asset Administration Shell. Looking back together with our customers, one thing is clear: no one regrets the early decision for Neoception AXON. It is seen as the first domino that set the real work on the topic in motion, because only practice shows where the challenges actually lie.
The discussion did not stop at problems. Again and again, participants spontaneously and visibly proud showed what is already running in their own organisation and how they got there. These moments shaped the atmosphere of both days.
What comes with the software: a community of practitioners
This is the part of AXON that appears on no feature list. Companies that choose Neoception join a group of practitioners who work on the same questions and are willing to share what they have already learned.
All participants recognised this added value and unanimously asked to continue the exchange on a permanent basis. Naturally, we use the Asset Administration Shell as the shared medium for it. The next Community Days are already in preparation.
Join the community
The circle remains deliberately exclusive: the Community Days are open to users of Neoception AXON. If you are advancing the Asset Administration Shell in your organisation and want to be part of this exchange, talk to us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Neoception Community Days?
An exchange format for users of Neoception AXON. The first Community Days took place on 22 and 23 September 2026 in Mannheim.
What is the biggest obstacle to rolling out the Asset Administration Shell?
According to the participating companies, it is organisational: data ownership, keeping data current, the specific data each use case needs, and systems that have never been reconciled.
What is the Asset Administration Shell (AAS)?
The Asset Administration Shell is the standardised digital twin of an industrial asset, internationally standardised in IEC 63278. It describes products in submodels with consistent semantics, so data becomes usable across system and company boundaries.
Who can take part in the Community Days?
Users of Neoception AXON. Date of the next edition: to be announced.
More from practice
Digital twins rarely emerge on the drawing board. They emerge in concrete projects. More examples of how industrial companies turn their existing product data into standardised digital twins.
Neoception Community Days 2026: The hardest part of rolling out the Asset Administration Shell is not the technology
Neoception AXON at VALVE WORLD EXPO 2026 on the Pepperl+Fuchs stand
