We are an industrial company based in Switzerland and are looking for a machine data acquisition (MDE) system for our machine park. Our “mechanical processing” and “aluminum locksmithing” departments use machines that we would like to monitor in terms of availability and efficiency. The number of identical components is very low, while the variety of variants is quite high.
Machine data acquisition is to be installed on the following machines:
CNC machines:
Welding robots:
Portal welding robots:
Requirements
For CNC machines and welding robots:
The main objective is to record downtimes and thus the availability of the machines. In combination with the reasons for downtime, this should increase the overall equipment effectiveness.
The recording of the system status (program cycle, malfunction, etc.) must be carried out automatically as far as possible via the system control. If the machine is not running, the operator must record the reason for the downtime (e.g., waiting for material, staff shortage, setup, malfunction, etc.). This can be done either by pressing a button or using a barcode scanner.
It should be recorded which operator is at the machine (e.g., via a badge system) and which component is being processed for which order (if necessary, based on the program name or parameters in the CNC code; an interface to an ERP system is not currently available).
On the one hand, a software cockpit is to be provided that displays the current machine statuses, daily key data, and historical trends over selectable time periods to the production manager in real time. On the other hand, the recorded machine data is to be made available in an editable format (xls, csv, or similar) for integration into existing evaluations.
In addition, further reports are to be generated:
It is still unclear how a performance level and quality level can be recorded or is normally recorded.
Due to the wide variety of components and the small quantities, there are no precise target specifications that can be compared with actual performance. I also wonder how we can determine a quality level, as rework (very rarely rejects) is not systematically recorded today. We are open to suggestions on how we could record this for an OEE analysis.
For longitudinal portal welding robots:
As these systems cannot be utilized to full capacity due to the nature of the process, not so many parameters need to be recorded here. We would be particularly interested in recording the arc burning time. This may require the installation of additional hardware (relays, etc.) so that this signal can be evaluated.
Further requirements:
The system should be easily expandable in case further requirements for machine data collection arise in the future (additional fault causes, expansion of the machine park, etc.). It would be desirable for the machine data collection and evaluation to run entirely via our own infrastructure and for the data and evaluations not to run first via the servers of the respective provider.
The software cockpit view (evaluations) should be accessible on at least 4 computers (if not browser-based evaluation).
| Quantity | |
|---|---|
| Researched solutions | 27 |
| Selected potentially relevant solutions (of which published) | 21 (4) |
| Sent e-mails (questions, queries) and telephone calls | 68 |
| E-mails received from vendors | 17 |
| Direct responses to the IT project | 7 |
| Responses classified as relevant | 188 |
The IT project has already been closed.
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