Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.
Issue link: https://pm.epubxp.com/i/144459
Standardized Communication met their unique requirements, but are now incompatible with other systems with which they need to share data. So patients or customers become annoyed, and important details may be lost in the transition. Manufacturing companies also need good information to continuously improve their processes, monitor the health of their CNC machines, maximize tool wear, adjust for thermal and other environmental changes, optimize material usage, maintain standards of quality and more. Formalized gathering and analysis of manufacturing data began in the 1920s when Bell Laboratories developed the basis for statistical process control. Since then, the ability to gather data from machine tools and peripherals has increased exponentially. However, while acquiring large amounts of data from a shopfoor device may enable manufacturers to improve a discrete process, the greater beneft lies in the ability to share that data with other production components and a central control system. :: This diagram shows how the e-Connect system interfaces with a machining center control to improve productivity and reduce material waste. A Solution for Manufacturing Fortunately, unlike other industries that must wrestle with data system incompatibilities, manufacturing has a unique advantage in MTConnect. Tis connectivity tool is, essentially, a common translator based on Internet standards that enables CNC and non-CNC machine tools and other shopfoor equipment to communicate with each other's software, along with that of a central production monitoring system. One company that embraces the concept of data sharing is Cincinnati-based LNS America, which produces bar feeders, chip and coolant management systems, vacuum unloaders, workholding devices and air fltration systems. As Software and Systems Control Manager Randy Lewis explains, "Our mission is to help machine tool customers get the most value from their CNC machines and to optimize the efciency of their manufacturing operations. To do this, we continuously improve the mechanics, electronics and other hardware technologies of our products. Several years ago, we recognized that by enabling our various products to communicate with the CNC machine tools they work with, we could improve the customer's productivity even more. And by interfacing :: The Parts Library function of the e-Connect system stores 500 parts programs, each of which has a unique identifying number. productionmachining.com :: 41