Modular production has proven that it can work. The next challenge is making it scale. With the release of MTP 2.0 at the beginning of 2026, modular automation reached an important milestone. MTP had already created a common basis for integrating process modules into higher-level automation systems independently of individual suppliers. The new specification does not replace that vision. It shows how far the ecosystem around it has matured.
The distinction matters. Connecting one module to one orchestration system proves technical feasibility. Repeating that integration across different equipment manufacturers, engineering tools, production sites and industries requires something more: common rules that are interpreted consistently. This is where MTP 2.0 moves the conversation forward from whether modular production can work to whether it can scale.
The factory of tomorrow cannot be fully planned today
Manufacturers increasingly have to make investment decisions before future production requirements are clear. Traditional facilities, however, were designed for defined processes and predictable volumes. When products and technologies evolve faster than the systems supporting them, stability hardens into rigidity and ultimately becomes an economic risk.
In pharmaceuticals, product pipelines, batch sizes and regulatory requirements can change before capacitybecomes operational. Food and beverage producers face similar pressure as consumer preferences shift. One example is the growth of alcohol-free beverages. No- and low-alcohol volumes across ten key markets grew by 13 per cent in 2024, while the no-alcohol category is forecast to grow by seven per cent annually through 2028.
Growth in an emerging category does not simply require more capacity. It requires production systems that can introduce new variants and scale new processes without extensive redesign. Adaptability is therefore no longer simply a technical advantage. It is a way of managing uncertainty. But dividing production into physical modules solves only part of the problem.
A skid may be compact and mechanically easy to connect. If its integration into the control environment still requires custom interfaces, programming and visualization, much of the economic benefit is lost. The equipment is modular; the engineering is not.
This is where the Module Type Package provides the missing link. It describes a module’s functions and services in a vendor-independent, machine-readable format that can be imported by a Process Orchestration Layer (POL). Modules can therefore be added, exchanged and reused with more predictable engineering effort. That is the promise of MTP. MTP 2.0 is about making it more dependable at scale.
From proven applicants to scalable interoperability
Industrial applications have already demonstrated that MTP works. They have also revealed what becomes important when modular automation expands beyond individual projects. Differences in engineering workflows, operating concepts, or alarm management may be manageable in a pilot. However, when replicated across multiple modules, suppliers, and sites, they create additional work and limit reuse.
MTP 2.0 addresses this need through a more harmonized specification: More consistent models and concepts reduce room for vendor-specific interpretation, making integration more reliable and repeatable. Alarm management illustrates why this matters: Operators in a multi-vendor environment must be able to interpret events and alarms consistently. A harmonized approach creates a clearer operational view while reducing additional configuration, training and engineering. Interoperability, in other words, is not just about exchanging data. A mature ecosystem must also communicate meaning.
Practical applications already show MTP at work in different production environments. At Merck, MTP-enabled modules support a laboratory environment in which pumps, stirrers, dosing units and other equipment can be recombined for different experiments. Researchers can create new configurations without programming knowledge, while process values and execution data are captured digitally.
In downstream processing, Cytiva and COPA-DATA are collaborating to integrate MTP technology into Cytiva’s UNICORN control platform. The aim is to simplify connectivity between specialized bioprocess equipment and overarching control systems. The approach also extends beyond pharmaceutical production. Swiss start-up Memo3 has combined membrane technology with an MTP-based plug-and-produce concept for a modular dealcoholization skid.
Taken together, these examples show that an MTP ecosystem is already taking shape across different processes and industries. As more modules, suppliers and production environments become involved, however, interoperability must remain consistent without adding new engineering complexity. This is precisely where MTP 2.0 moves the ecosystem forward.
The ROI lies in avoiding the cost of inflexibility
The value of open, modular automation is not created by connecting one module successfully. It emerges when integration can be repeated across modules, production lines and sites. This reduces recurring engineering, makes equipment easier to reuse and gives manufacturers greater freedom to select technology according to process requirements rather than a proprietary automation architecture.
Most importantly, manufacturers no longer need to predict every future requirement before making the first investment. Capacity can be added gradually, processes can be transferred more efficiently and new technologies can be integrated without redesigning the entire production environment.
Therefore, the relevant question is not only what an open architecture costs, but how much rigidity and dependency will cost when the next product, process, or market shift occurs. MTP 2.0 is not the endpoint. A functioning ecosystem also requires available products, consistent engineering tools, conformity testing, practical expertise and cooperation across the industry. But it marks an important stage of maturity: MTP established the foundation for modular, vendor-independent production; MTP 2.0 strengthens the conditions needed to apply it repeatedly and at industrial scale.
It will not remove uncertainty from industrial production. It does something more valuable: it helps manufacturers build production systems that can respond to it. That is the real significance of MTP 2.0. It turns openness from a technical ambition into a more practical basis for industrial change.
A blog article by Bernhard Korten.
