What is MTConnect? MTConnect is the standard way to get real time data from manufacturing equipment - such as machine tools and other types of equipment on the shop floor.
One of the top trends in shops today is the need to better monitor shop floor data. Increasingly, manufacturers are demanding this type of capability with their new equipment, and many of them are using MTConnect as the means to get data off the shop floor from both new and legacy equipment. The huge advantage of MTConnect is that it is a universal standard and not unique to just one CNC control or manufacturing equipment provider. In most cases, you can keep your current shop floor network infrastructure. MTConnect is basically the language that your machines will speak over your network.
Examples of MTConnect enabled equipment are machine tools, bar feeders, high pressure pumps, air compressors, coolant chillers and a whole world of other types of manufacturing equipment. Examples of how this MTConnect data can be used are for shop floor monitoring software, as well as other types of manufacturing software; some people even have the MTConnect data tying into their ERP system, as an example. It is not unusual for shops to see a 20% improvement in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) in three to four months, with a payback in six to nine months when using MTConnect enabled equipment with shop floor monitoring software.
Ted Toth, NTMA’s current Vice Chairman, says, “We should look at this innovation the same as updating from NC paper tape to the RS232 interface. MTConnect is and will be the next generation of machine communications. We are sharing this emerging technology with our members to give them an advantage in the market place.”
For more information about MTConnect visit: http://mtconnect.org/
