Picture it. You are relaxing on Saturday night sipping Courvoisier Napoléon and reading about particle physics (just me?) when your phone lights up and email notifications start pouring in. But they look suspicious. They are from your machine tool. This is getting weird.From: Your super pricey machine toolSubject: I'm not making money right now!!I don't feel well. THink I'll take tonight off and make no money at all.What do you do? If you have a plan for remote monitoring and service, you get an operator to head to the machine and a technician or engineer on a video call to diagnosis the problem. The machine resumes making money. You return to reading. Everyone wins.How do you make this magical data monitoring future a reality? You start planning now. During the webinar, Zoom and Teams on Your Machine Tool – Does it Make Sense? More Importantly, Does it Make Dollars? presented by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Thomas Kurfess, Ph.D. and Thomas Feldhausen, Ph.D., invited Chris Davala, a principal engineer with Okuma, to join them for a discussion on using remote monitoring tools to improve manufacturing operations. Here are some simple steps to get started.VISUALIZE your factory floor monitoring system. Start by researching what is available. There are hundreds of options to improve operations and reduce downtime. What do you need?Communications tools like Zoom, Teams, and BlueJeans can be implemented on machine tools with PC-based controls. This allows engineers and service technicians to dial into machines remotely and find, diagnosis, and solve problems.Monitoring software allows for instantaneous data transfers — giving users the ability to monitor production status even when they are not in the office. While an onsite supervisor with a clipboard may be able monitor stack lights for red or yellow lights, they still must investigate every light by physically walking to the machine, finding the operator, and resolving the issue (or calling for help). With remote monitoring, that same person can monitor multiple data points from multiple machines from an onsite or offsite office.Monitoring options include proprietary software that comes with most machine tools as well as off-the-shelf software and custom options. There are remote monitoring tools for every machine and every budget.ANALYZE your data. Once you start collecting data, you need to use it. “As Deming famously said, ‘Without data, you're just another person with an opinion,’” Davala explains. “The amount of data available from modern machine tools is truly unbelievable, but you have to capture it, and you have to use it.” Davala recommends first deciding what specific data points are relevant and important for your business.PLAN to improve. After you have a monitoring system in place and you start collecting data, you can make a plan to improve operations. What needs to change? Make it clear to engineers, supervisors, and operators how the new system will help them reduce downtime and improve performance.“What gets measured, gets done,” says Davala. “Human nature drives people to want to do better when they see the metrics. We have seen operators improve production by 10-15% just by putting a monitor on the floor. Nobody wants to be last.”Data monitoring systems can be set up with multiple levels of alerts, so managers get alerts about machines that are offline and need immediate attention, while maintenance gets updates from machines that are due for service. Machines can email or text multiple people according to preset preferences.EXECUTE. Do it. Once you have a vision and a plan, it is time to get started. Whether you are aiming for a true lights-out manufacturing operation or just need to avoid downtime, remote monitoring and video calling can help modern shops run more efficiently.“Machine tools already have these functions. They can do so much more than just make parts,” Davala notes. “Start using remote monitoring and data collection options to your advantage.”The bottom line? Remote monitoring = real results. So, the next time your machine tool emails or video calls, be ready to answer! It wants to talk about making more money. Listen to more Tom and Lonnie Chats (TLCs), the engineers who work hard to help you work smarter, here.
Remote monitoring software and communication tools can improve operations and reduce downtime in your manufacturing facility or job shop. AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology’s recent webinar will help you get started.
Subscribe to Newsletters
Get the latest news from IMTS delivered to your inbox.