THINC Control: Obsolescing the Status Quo
By Bob Tain
Continual innovation is the decisive component to achieving a strong competitive position. The Okuma THINC-OSP Control offers the first true, open architecture, Microsoft Windows-based, plug and play control for the Okuma user and is a model for all CNC manufacturers to follow. It not only defines technology and a model that obsoletes the status quo, allowing the end user to innovate independent of technology suppliers.
After adopting the Okuma Precept in 1998 that "the classic model of CNC design, implementation, and use is obsolete," four basic laws of industrial computing were then defined by Okuma and are the foundation of THINC, THe Intelligent Numerical Control.
- The end user of machine tools must have the freedom to customize the control environment independent of the OEM in order to adapt to changing environments and requirements.
- Industrial computers for machine tool control must inexpensively and easily pace the general computing market even after installation and evolve with new technology on the factory floor.
- Machine tool controls must be fully and absolutely compatible with the de facto computing environment of the general computing industry.
- Machine tool controls must incorporate a robust and user friendly set of Application Programming Interfaces to allow the end user or a third party to develop software to influence machine tool operation allowing a more productive environment and thus higher profitability.
With more than 3000 THINC controls already in use, the end-user has developed creative applications that were never before contemplated, opening up a plethora of possibilities for the manufacturing industry. Visit Partners in THINC to learn about the infinite number of possibilities that will allow the end user to adapt to their ever-changing requirements.