Connecting printers and post-processing machines to the MES via Machine Connectivity gives you access to a number of additional functionality.
Smarter Job Management
Detecting started jobs
When a job is created manually in the MES and is scheduled, i.e. the job has a start and end time, then the MES can automatically detect through Machine Connectivity if that job is started on the connected machine.
The following algorithm matches a scheduled job with a job that is detected on a connected machine:
A scheduled job is matched with a detected job if
the detected job started within the start and end time of the scheduled job
or if the detected job started max 2h before the start time of the scheduled job
Creating jobs automatically
When a job is detected via Machine Connectivity that cannot be matched with any scheduled job, or if no scheduled job exists, then a new job will be created automatically in the MES with the data provided by the machine.
Automatic update of job times
When a job is detected via Machine Connectivity, the following times are set and updated automatically in the MES
Start time
When an existing MES job is matched with a detected job, then the start time of the job in the MES is set to the actual start time.End time
When a connected machine sends the job finished signal, then the end time of the job in the MES is set accordingly.Estimated duration
Value is adjusted throughout the printing time when the printer sends updated duration estimates.