Remote Honing Analytics

As was quite evident at IMTS, and as we’ve seen developing for some time, data-driven manufacturing is rapidly influencing the design and implementation of machine tools and accessories throughout the industry. As part of that continuing trend, Sunnen now offers MTConnect-compliant smart honing machines capable of communicating process analytics to other Industry 4.0 devices and the Industrial IoT.

Equipped with 5ME’s Freedom Gateway and Freedom Edge software, the machines can report current state, cycle times, delay times, part counts, gaging data, events and other data points needed to evaluate overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), future maintenance needs, and process performance.

The Freedom Gateway device is integrated with the machines' industrial controls and provides a secure gateway to an Ethernet network for local sharing of machine data and visualization of manufacturing metrics. It includes multiple Ethernet ports, VGA/HDMI ports, built-in Wi-Fi, digital and analog I/O, and an expansion slot for fieldbus cards.

Mike Nikrant, Sunnen software engineer, says, “We can now provide customers a means to monitor honing machine utilization and process efficiency remotely. Manufacturing visualization will be particularly important where honing is an integral step in sequential production of high volume products, such as fuel injectors, hydraulic valves and cylinder liners." Users can monitor production count by various measures such as part number, alarms, and reasons for stoppages. Each user on a network can configure a custom dashboard with drag/drop dashlets to create a single view based on job function such as maintenance, production, cell supervision, and so on.

Apart from real-time monitoring, historical data can be analyzed to identify inefficiencies and root causes to facilitate mistake-proofed processes, improved utilization, condition-based maintenance and reduced MRO inventories. The system is also scalable for use with 5ME's Freedom eLOG enterprise software, either locally or in the cloud.

Learn more at sunnen.com/smart.