Australian grinding machine manufacturer ANCA recently introduced a new smart factory Management Suite that uses virtual machine monitoring technology to achieve premium grinding efficiencies – in or out of the office.
Comprising of three products – Tool Management; Wheel Management and RedaX – ANCA’s Management Suite monitors machine and production in real time and delivers up to date information, greatly enhancing visibility and control in manufacturing operations.
It also reduces costly machine down-time by immediately notifying when a machine has ceased production, with reasons for the stoppage via an email or SMS to the relevant personnel.
Additionally, the tool provides complete visibility of the machine status and activity from the office PC or from anywhere in the world if the user is logged into the company’s server.
ANCA Software Product Manager Thomson Mathew said the new software is a game changer for the CNC grinding industry, allowing customers to monitor the performance of their machines no matter where they are in the world.
“We listened to what our customers needed to improve their grinding performance. They told us they wanted a smart factory concept where machines are grinding tools all day everyday with minimal intervention and the ability to remotely monitor machines for better intelligence on grinding performance and down-times,” he said.
“Imagine you have planned for your CNC grinding machines to run a long tool batch over the weekend. One of your team is on alert to monitor production, keeping an eye on their phone or other device from home and are immediately notified if there is a machine down. In the past this person would have had to be on site all weekend – which is a cost to the business – or would have resulted in lost productivity as the problem would only have been picked up when people returned on Monday to find the grinding had stopped at midday on Saturday.”
Mr Mathew said the machine analytics provided by the Management Suite gives companies the ability to produce highly accurate reports on machine usage, allowing them to identify waste and increase overall equipment efficiency.
“The Management Suite dashboard provides users with the flexibility to monitor the production of their machines in and out of the office – all they need is to be connected to their server via the internet. It can be viewed by multiple people in the company to ensure a connected team who can work together remotely and onsite to maximise their operational efficiencies,” he added.
“The new software means that our customers can decide where their time will be best spent; meeting with clients, visiting other sites or even having lunch out of the office in the knowledge that their machines are operating at a premium.”
