Post on 12-Mar-2018
October 2013 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 75
Digging for treasure has gotten easier:
Manufacturing systems hold a treasure
trove of operational data waiting to be mined
by smart shop-floor managers, who need
fast and reliable delivery of factory status
information to stay competitive. The latest
versions of shop-floor data collection and data management
systems boast more robust database architectures, better doc-
ument management of CNC program files, and improved use
of shop-floor metrics, with data-sharing kiosks and electronic
touch-screen whiteboards even appearing on shop floors. And
while virtually all software developers of data management
systems boast fast or real-time data delivery today, that may
not mean the same thing to all end users.
Shop foreman at Custom Mold & Design (New Hope, MN) uses Exact Software’s ShopBoss scheduling tool to quickly
visualize current jobs, prioritizing and shifting the workload in real time to meet customer demand.
Fast, Accurate Decision MakingHelps Keep Shops CompetitiveWith advanced data management software, shop managers get timely information to handle factory-floor operations more effectively
Patrick WaurzyniakSenior Editor
Manufacturing Software
Photo courtesy Exact Software North America
Most shop-floor data management systems today are
relational database management systems (RDBMS) that can
quickly and efficiently process high-volume transactional data,
and many systems also use the Structured Query Language
(SQL). Some shop data management systems also are sup-
porting the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which make
it easier for machine tools and software to communicate data
and is central to the data communications protocol pushed by
the MTConnect Institute (McLean, VA).
Focusing on Job Shops
With its latest update, Exact Software
North America LLC (Minneapolis) has
added a revamped application program-
ming interface (API) to its JobBoss Ver-
sion 11.7 shop-floor data management
software that includes customer-driven
enhancements targeting custom build-
to-order job shops. In the Version 11.7
released to beta testing in September,
the enterprise resource planning (ERP)
software allows customers to deploy
one of two SQL versions, Microsoft SQL
Express or full Microsoft SQL Server.
“Probably 90% of our customers
today self-identify as a job shop,” David
Lechleitner, pre-sales principal, Exact
North America. “We’ve seen a shift
though in recent years, where more
companies are entering into long-term
contracts with some of their customers,
but they would still identify what they do
as custom make-to-order.”
The upgraded API and the new XML
functionality help JobBoss communicate
with other software, Lechleitner said.
“We’re upgrading our API enabling
other applications, be it design pack-
ages like SolidWorks or nesting software
for fabricators, to have a better founda-
tion by which they can communicate to
us in real time.
“What Web services allow us to do
is leverage a different level of infrastruc-
ture—less moving parts, more seam-
less communication back-and-forth,
using really the same technology that
MTConnect is using, which is that XML
programming language.”
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76 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | October 2013
Manufacturing Software
With prior versions of JobBoss, users had the option to
deploy Microsoft’s Access relational database, which has a
2-GB database size limit, he noted. Originally written in CO-
BOL in 1984, the software later moved to the Access platform.
Lechleitner said the package has had a mixture of Access
and SQL components, but Version 11.7 will be a 100% SQL
database platform. JobBoss comes in three versions—Starter,
Professional and Enterprise Editions. The Professional and
Enterprise versions include a ShopBoss
scheduling tool for prioritizing and al-
locating workloads in real time based on
customer demands.
“The big reason that both we and
other solutions have moved away from
Access is really because of its under-
lying technology. Access was really
designed for low transactional data
sets—not a lot of activity hitting on a
literally minute-by-minute basis,” he
added. “So what SQL provides the end
user is more comfort and security, and
much less database corruption issues—
the database is rock-solid.”
With quality holding high priority,
Exact signed a partnership agreement
in July with uniPoint (Winnepeg, MB,
Canada), a developer of quality soft-
ware, under which uniPoint’s quality
management software modules will
be offered within JobBoss. “What we
found in the marketplace is that a lot of
ERP solutions would have embedded
solutions for quality but when it comes
to nonconformance, corrective actions,
and maintenance, that’s where most
embedded solutions stop,” Lechleitner
said. JobBoss Quality by uniPoint adds
quality-specific modules for auditing,
AS9100 compliance, customer service,
supplier management, validation and
many other quality elements.
Managing Data More Effectively
Shop-floor management software
developer Cimco Americas LLC (Stream-
wood, IL) offers a suite of data manage-
ment and collection tools including its
MySQL-based MDC-Max, a manufactur-
ing data collection package for real-time
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78 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | October 2013
Manufacturing Software
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monitoring and analysis of shop-floor productivity. The North
American unit of Cimco A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark), Cimco
Americas also has CNC-Calc, a basic CAD/CAM program for
the shop floor, plus other applications including Edit 7, DNC-
Max 7 (distributed NC) software for communication of CNC
programs, and a Product Data Management (PDM) package
for managing, controlling and securely storing all production-
related data.
Cimco’s database products come standard with MySQL,
an open-source SQL database—unless users want to upgrade
to the full SQL versions, which require a license. “MySQL is a
free database,” said Jody Romanowski, Cimco CEO. “It’s part
of our installation, or we can connect MS SQL, but then the
system will be more costly because the customer will have to
purchase and maintain a SQL server.” In many circumstanc-
es, Cimco's software actually performs better and has lower
administrative requirements with MySQL, which is now owned
by Oracle, Romanowski noted.
“To compete, machine shops have to find any way possi-
ble to make efficient use of personnel,” she said. “That means
eliminating work that is redundant or that can be automated,
and having the data you need exactly when you need it, so
production is not slowed down. Our customers are looking for
products that will help them do more with less people, and
they’re using technology to help them.”
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October 2013 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 79
With Cimco’s PDM software, shops easily manage and track
the latest CAD/CAM part programs, helping to reduce
scrap and errors caused by using outdated part programs.
Pho
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Cim
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LLC
Along with the MDC-Max data collection package, Cimco
offers a part program database, NC-Base, that Romanowski
said is its most popular product. “Our DNC and the Edit soft-
ware are very widely used, but for higher-end database type
products, NC-Base is very popular. It’s an easy-to-manage
database. It’s part-program centric, and it will track all the
revisions for a customer that a part program goes through,
while letting you associate other documentation with the part
program. And of course, it has security so you can do read-
only access on the shop floor.”
Having the right part program at the right time cuts down
on errors and improves quality, she added. “What’s always
been a big driving factor for us and those systems is to elimi-
nate errors. When we go in, a lot of times the data isn’t orga-
nized very well. It’s fairly common for somebody to go grab a
file and in it is an old print, or it’s an old NC program they find
on some drive somewhere—they run that and it ends up not
being the current version or the most accurate version. We’re
trying to prevent that with our software for our customers,
by reducing scrap and mistakes, and getting the data to the
people who need it more quickly and efficiently.”
Sharing Data through Shop Kiosks
As access to shop-floor data proliferates through hand-
held devices, customers are also looking to push that data
out onto the shop floor to reach a wider audience. After
introducing its iVet app for iPhone and iPad at IMTS 2012,
ERP software developer Henning Industrial Software (Hud-
son, OH) has added the Visual EstiTrack Shop Kiosk for dis-
playing ERP information more freely on large LCD monitors
on the shop floor, noted Rich Henning, president, Henning
Industrial Software.
“We’re seeing more people who want to share key
performance data with their staff to provide timely feedback
on how well they’re doing,” Henning said. “Traditionally
this type of information sharing has been through posting
Manufacturing Software
paper reports on a bulletin board in public areas. Our new
electronic Shop Kiosk provides shops an alternative to post-
ing paper reports. It provides an electronic and interactive
dissemination method for content via a touchscreen LCD
using a modern, tiled Windows 8 interface.”
Real-Time Analysis is Key
To be competitive, manufacturing operations must collect
and analyze factory-floor data in real time in order to more ef-
fectively gage overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and other
factors. Until fairly recently, however, the costs for machine
tool data collection have been prohibitive, with only larger
manufacturing operations able to easily afford them. “It’s criti-
cal that manufacturers focus on things in real time,” said Greg
Mercurio, president, Shop Floor Automations Inc. (La Mesa,
CA), a manufacturing integrator for collection and manage-
ment solutions from Predator Software and Scytec Systems.
Since last year, shops looking to lower data collection and
monitoring costs have been using the Scytec Consulting Inc.
(Greenwood, CO) cloud-based data monitoring system that
Shop Floor Automations distributes. “We’re the sales, service
and support partner for them, which includes demonstrations
and on-site visits,” Mercurio said. “The difference in this ap-
proach is it’s a ‘try before you buy.’”
Some years ago, it was commonplace to pay $2000–
$3000 per machine for shop monitoring, Mercurio said, but
with the Scytec cloud-based alternative, it costs shops a frac-
tion of those prices. “For the medium-sized to smaller shops,
Scytec’s cloud-based low-cost shop-floor monitoring
system offers users real-time views of factory equipment
operational status.
Pho
to c
ourt
esy
Shop
Flo
or A
utom
atio
ns In
c.
typically 50–100 users or less, the reality is they don’t have
that type of money,” Mercurio said. “With this system, the cost
is much lower up-front.”
The Predator MDC (Manufacturing Data Collection) suite
of machine data monitoring, collection and analysis software
features real-time performance with reports, charts and
dashboards. The software suite tracks key manufacturing
metrics such as OEE, cycle time, idle time, setup time, and
machine downtime. Available as Predator MDC, MDC Express
or Enterprise editions, the package is based on open-archi-
tecture client-server database standards with users selecting
from either Microsoft Access or Microsoft Server or Oracle. In
August, Predator released an update of its PDM application,
adding performance improvements for users viewing vault
data and increasing the maximum number of vault items.
“Productivity, reliability and revision control have been
and will continue to be the hallmarks of modern shop floor
DNC networking and communication software,” said Jim
Abbassian, president, Predator Software Inc. (Portland,
OR). “MDC or Manufacturing Data Collection and machine
monitoring provide actual shop-floor metrics that feed back
into improved scheduling and improved ROI on shop floor
utilization and management. PDM has traditionally been
used on engineering drawings, but lately we have developed
manufacturing-based document management that addresses
the requirements of CNC program management and manu-
facturing shop-floor document management.” ME
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82 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | October 2013
Manufacturing Software
Cimco Americas LLC Ph: 888-DNC-7858
Web site: www.cimco.com
Exact Software North America LLCPh: 800-777-4334
Web site: www.exact.com
Henning Industrial Software Ph: 330-650-4212
Web site: www.henningsoftware.com
Predator Software Inc.Ph: 503-292-7151
Web site: www.predator-software.com
Shop Floor Automations Inc. Ph: 619-461-4000
Web site: www.shopfloorautomations.com
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