The benefit of an open-architecture control like the THINC control is realized in the ability to easily communicate and process business-critical manufacturing information to and from the machine tool—in real time. Our THINC control is built upon industry standard technologies—Intel, Microsoft Windows, Ethernet, USB, etc.—which enable our manufacturing customers to apply their native business, manufacturing, and quality systems directly to the machine tools. For example, operators are now able to interface directly with their ERP systems from the machine control. So, operations such as clocking in, accessing engineering data, running jobs, and documenting quality-control information can all be handled electronically on the machine. More importantly, machine production and quality information can be automatically transferred into the business systems without operator intervention—saving time and money. And if the controller is truly open, the system is agnostic to the business system employed, so whether you are a small shop using Exact Software's JobBoss or a Fortune 500 company running SAP, you know that out of the box, you will gain an advantage from the open-architecture platform.

Simply, open-architecture machine tool controls enable 'plug and play' on the factory floor. Our manufacturing customers have led us to define plug and play as encompassing three key components as standard—Microsoft Windows Operating System, Networking, and Application Programming Interfaces (API). First, by integrating Microsoft Windows XP with our real-time control on a single processor, we enable the ability to install and run any PC software designed to run on the Microsoft platform out of the box—this includes both off-the-shelf tools such as Microsoft Office and CAD software, and custom applications designed by third parties to meet a specific need. Second, native and standard networking technologies, such as Ethernet and USB, create the opportunity to share data, as in the ERP example above, and now open the door to more intelligent, electronic interaction between the machine tool and other manufacturing devices such as robots and barfeeders, CMMs and gages, or tool presetters and tool crib managers. The third leg of plug and play relies heavily on providing a published API at no cost to customers or developers. The API allows data connections to be made between the machine tool control and all of the example devices and systems—fully realizing plug and play on the factory floor.

The most obvious challenge lays in the management and security of the operating system and installed software applications. Protecting the machine-tool control from viruses or malware, managing system backup and recovery for both machine control data and PC data, and managing system updates, such as operating system patches, must all be addressed proactively. If an office PC goes down due to attack, a replacement can usually be provided in reasonable time. If a revenue-producing machine tool succumbs to attack, our manufacturing customers could lose significant production while the problems are fixed. To mitigate the risk associated with providing an open system, we have partnered with industry leaders to provide a system protection package with every machine control we ship. Our partners, Trend Micro [virus protection], Symantec Livestate [system backup], and Bigfix [system management], have combined to cover the three critical areas of operating system management providing our customers a certified, industry-standard solution.

Okuma America recently opened a new facility on our Charlotte, NC, campus that is home to nearly 30 technology providers with the collective, singular goal of developing integrated solutions to customer problems. The Partners in THINC facility provides a manufacturing environment for our customers to come to see how an open-architecture machine control brings benefits not formerly possible on proprietary systems. From ABB and Fanuc Robotics, to Renishaw and Marposs measurement systems, to Zoller and Kennametal tool management, our partners are not simply co-locating. Rather, we are collaborating to develop new systems and interfaces that begin to assemble the manufacturing puzzle pieces for the customer. Since the initial opening of the Partners in THINC facility, our partners have developed 14 new integrated solutions. In all cases, we are exercising all three components of the plug-and-play platform—Windows, Networking, API—to realize these solutions.

As mentioned previously, the API is a crucial and necessary component of the THINC-OSP control. To truly be open, a machine tool controller must be capable of incorporating and interfacing with other software applications that often may not come from the original manufacturer. All of the Partners in THINC collaborators need data-access capability, both reading and writing, to implement their solutions. Our company decided to publish and support our API for technology suppliers interested in developing software for the THINC control. Being a Partner in THINC is not a prerequisite for obtaining and using the APIs. Just as a PC is capable of running software from vendors other than Microsoft, the THINC control with integrated API also enables third parties to develop applications that actually enhance the control capabilities beyond what was originally delivered. Many of the Partners in THINC now have their own products running on the THINC control and accessing machining data— program information, tool offsets, parameters, etc.—when needed to make manufacturing and quality decisions inprocess, without human intervention.

For tool management, we now have a commercially available solution with partners Zoller [Tool Presetting] and Kennametal [ToolBoss inventory manager] that allows our customers to set tools offline and store them securely until they're needed at the machine tool. Rather than having to manually request tools from the Toolboss and enter toolsetting data directly at the machine, the integrated application now ties all three devices together with the Job/Routing number that was originally assigned in the business system. Now, when a job is called up at the machine control, electronic requests are sent from the machine tool to the Toolboss, and once tools are loaded, tool offsets are electronically transferred via Ethernet to the machine tool control tool data registers. As a result, paperless and error-free operation is realized.

On the quality side, our company, Zeiss, and Caron Engineering have joined to provide an integrated solution for feeding back CMM measurement results to the machine tool via Caron's Autocomp software [Statistical Process Control and automatic tool offset/wear adjustment] to enable a realtime, closed-loop between the machine tool and the measuring system. When measured parts begin to trend out of tolerance, tool compensation can be automatically adjusted to ensure the next part is good. On-machine measurement is being provided by multiple partners. Renishaw, Marposs, and Hexagon Metrology have each integrated solutions for importing 3-D CAD models of the part to be machined, generating on-machine probing cycles, and feeding this data back to their integrated SPC tools for storage and analysis. The next step here is to incorporate the CMM example above to automatically adjust tool compensation based on the results and, where possible, re-cut out-of-tolerance features to ensure the part is good before it leaves the machine.