Machine Monitoring for a Job Shop
A large job shop in the U.S. with 100 CNC machines needed increased visibility into their machine utilization so they could get a better understanding of their true machine uptime and downtime hours. With their shop floor already at maximum capacity, just adding another CNC machine to allow for increased up-time was no longer an option. The customer chose to install eNET Machine Monitoring in their shop because of eNET’s unique (Cycle Start Disable) feature, which locks-out a cycle start button when a machine sits idle for a pre-specified amount of time, which then forces the machine operator to enter a downtime reason to unlock the cycle start button.
To test eNET’s “Smart Manufacturing” capabilities the client began by collecting the monitoring data for just 5 machines of different brand and control types, of which they suspected were the worst bottlenecks in their production flow. The eNET machine monitoring system provided accurate event-driven production data for “cycle on/off, setup time and downtime reasons” directly from the (5) pilot-machine controls. The decision-makers were able to generate machine monitoring reports for daily, weekly and monthly visibility into their production performance. In fact, the new client was very surprised to discover the downtime reason they lost the most uptime to was from machines waiting for CNC programs, as there was a constant need for new programs in their job shop environment.
Without adding expensive CNC machines this company was able to realize a very profitable gain in machine uptime just by hiring another CNC Programmer. The quick ROI they experienced from the eNET Monitoring System on the original (5) pilot machines justified adding machine monitoring to the rest of their equipment, including a handful of manual machines.
| Product Name | eNET Machine Monitoring |
| Product Description | Real Time Machine Tool Status Monitoring |
| Capabilities Applied / Processes | Collection of CNC Production Data Leveraged Machine Monitoring Reports to make data-based decisions |
| Expertise | Manufacturing Engineer |
| Additional Facts | Identified specific reasons for and durations of CNC Machine Downtimes Addressed main cause of Downtime to gain additional Machine Uptime |
| Industry for Use | Machining - Job Shop |
| Volume | 5 Machines |
| Standards Met | Customer Specifications, OEE |