Industry's first production-proven, software-based CNC control supports wide range of machine tools, links manufacturing with enterprise information systems

Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. (MDSI) announced today the market introduction of its OpenCNC(R) machine tool control software. OpenCNC is the industry's first production-proven, software-based CNC machine tool control application that minimizes the amount of hardware required and works with commercially available PC technology. Since 1993, more than 100,000 hours of reliable metal cutting production have been driven by the software in several manufacturing operations.

Bruce Nourse, MDSI's vice president of research and development, said, "OpenCNC is a completely software-based CNC control designed to eliminate end-user dependency on proprietary hardware including PC motion control cards. The servo-loop is closed entirely in software--and it's all done on a single Intel(R) processor on a standard Intel motherboard."

Jim Fall, MDSI's vice president of marketing, added, "OpenCNC provides manufacturers what they're looking for in an open system CNC machine tool control--choice in software and hardware. It supports a breadth of machine tools, provides a documented API for user configurability and comes to customers unbundled from any hardware."

OpenCNC machine tool control capabilities

OpenCNC is currently being used in production on a variety of machine tools, including 2- through 5-axis machining centers; 2- and 4-axis single and multi-spindle lathes; dual station grinders with integrated part handlers; and 3-axis gear hobs. The user may program the PLC logic with any of the five standard languages as specified by IEC-1131-3.

According to Nourse, OpenCNC incorporates CNC and PLC technology in a single software application. "OpenCNC's modular architecture allows MDSI to quickly add new technology to support the needs of manufacturers--without sacrificing quality," he said. "The software is scaleable to support `n' number of axes, spindles, I/O and job streams."

The market for OpenCNC: existing and new machine tools

According to Fall, OpenCNC's unbundled software approach reduces machine tool control costs and maximizes flexibility. He noted that companies are showing strong interest in OpenCNC for both retrofit of existing machine tools and new machine tools. "A lot of manufacturers have machine tools that can still make good parts, but they're saddled with obsolete, unreliable or dead controls," he explained. "The implementation of OpenCNC allows companies to extend the productive life of their machine tools."

Fall added that OpenCNC is equally suited for new machine tool applications. "It has the power and performance that machine tool builders require," he said. "With OpenCNC, they can integrate or develop add-on applications to differentiate their machine tools in the marketplace."

OpenCNC in action

Over the last three years, Great Lakes Industries of Jackson, Michigan has dramatically increased manufacturing capacity with its limited capital budget. Since 1993, the 36-year-old manufacturer of mechanical power transmission components has retrofitted 15 machine tools with OpenCNC. According to Don Werner, GLI's vice president and general manager, the impact of OpenCNC was almost immediate: downtime and repair costs dropped dramatically. "Today we've practically eliminated the need to purchase spare control parts," he observed. "We've had OpenCNC for over three years--and not one second of downtime because of the control."

Werner reports that his maintenance staff can retrofit a machine with OpenCNC in less than 72 hours. "Before, doing a retrofit meant contracting a systems integrator, spending thousands of dollars and waiting for months," he said. GLI has actually developed a "retrofit kit" that contains everything they need for a retrofit in a small suitcase-sized box. In the past, they'd need a refrigerator- sized cabinet to store the necessary proprietary control hardware.

The vision for OpenCNC: linking business systems to the factory floor

According to Charles Hutchins, co-founder and chairman of MDSI and pioneer of computer-aided-manufacturing (CAM), OpenCNC is solving the short-term needs of reducing CNC control costs and improving overall machine tool reliability. But its larger benefit comes from providing a bridge to integrate the factory floor. "The ultimate goal of OpenCNC," Hutchins explained, "is to enable open access to manufacturing data throughout the enterprise. Manufacturers want a more open solution so they can leverage the information generated by machine tools throughout the business."

Hutchins continued, "Machine controls, apart from their value as controllers of machine tools, have the potential of being collectors of critical manufacturing information, from cycle times and feed rates to setup and SPC data. Manufacturers need this information-- in real time without operator intervention--if they're going to continuously improve their processes to increase quality, lower costs and reduce time to market.