Mission: Machine Connectivity Plug&Play
Beginning in 2019, 3YOURMIND started to put a particular focus on adding machine connectivity to the Agile MES. This feature was highly requested by customers in order to keep a real-time pulse on the production floor and to track data for quality assurance. While many machine vendors already provide monitoring systems, most AM service bureaus operate machines from multiple different vendors. In all their software products, 3YOURMIND has a keen focus on connecting disparate systems, departments, data, and knowledge for efficient additive manufacturing. To achieve a plug&play connection to machines of different vendors, machine data must be provided in a standardized way. 3YOURMIND is part of the umati group, which developed such a common interface concept based on the industrial architecture OPC/UA. This is a modern data formatting, designed for input and output of data in preparation for Agile Manufacturing use cases. 3YOURMIND is doing the work to read existing machine data interfaces whether formatted in OPC/UA, MTConnect, or a proprietary format from the vendor and converting it to the umati data model. When this is complete, the data from each machine type is shown in a common way to compare in 3YOURMINDs software and simplify monitoring and tracking.
To see our progress on connecting machines, you can refer to this page.
More information about OPC/UA and umati is available here.
Vision: Enabling Agile Manufacturing
Tracking standardized data of multiple machines in a single overview is key for high efficiency and quality assurance on an AM shopfloor. Monitoring large production facilities or even multiple locations from one source enables smart controlling and data automation. Currently, the audit trail is being done by digital approvals and commenting within our software, but we are preparing for automation by logging key data points to create reports that document a successful print. This is a long term project which will also be done with machine vendors as well as quality monitoring systems. This software connection and data automation are what enable Agile Manufacturing.
Want to know more or have a Machine Connectivity demo presentation?
Please contact us: info@3yourmind.com.