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How to Collect Data Using MTConnect

Integration
  • Updated

Introduction

An MTConnect integration provides a robust amount of data and typically does not entail additional hardware or software adapters - along with the accompanying labor - that are necessary for older, legacy equipment.  In fact, MTConnect is so simple, machine integration can often be accomplished without the aid of MachineMetrics on-site technicians. 

Topics covered in this article

This article contains the following topics:

What is MTConnect? 

MTConnect is an open-source standard for collecting data from manufacturing equipment. The MTConnect standard is utilized worldwide and enables manufacturing equipment to provide data in structured XML rather than proprietary formats. It is one of the most commonly encountered standards that MachineMetrics uses to connect to machines.  

MTConnect-supported machines

Many well-known machine tool brands now come equipped with MTConnect as a standard feature on their new equipment, including brands like Mazak, Okuma, Hurco, DMG, and many others.

If you aren’t certain whether any of your machines support MTConnect, a MachineMetrics representative can inform you once they are provided with basic information regarding the make, model, and year of manufacture for your machines. If you are an existing MachineMetrics customer, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager for clarification. Otherwise, please reach out to sales@machinemetrics.com

Enabling MTConnect

Machines that support MTConnect may still require that you contact your machine vendor or distributor to ‘enable’ MTConnect. To find out if MTConnect is enabled on your machine, either check with your machine vendor, or you can check the machine yourself by following the steps below. 

How to find out if your machine is producing MTConnect data

  1. Wire ethernet from your network to the machine and set a static IP.
  2. From a desktop, ping the IP address of the machine to confirm that it's connected.
  3. In a browser, go to port 7878 on that machine (Example: 192.168.10.11:7878).
  4. If no data appears, then your machine is not producing MTConnect data. You may require a control software upgrade. If no software upgrades are available for your machine model, MachineMetrics can suggest other methods for data acquisition.

    *Keep in mind that MTConnect may be an executable file on your machine control's Windows-based back end. A search for MTConnect should reveal whether this software is installed on your machine. A restart of the software might be necessary: How to Restart MTConnect

If you are able to successfully enable MTConnect, the next step is to add your machine to your MachineMetrics Account. 

MTConnect Integration

MTConnect integration uses an MTConnect adapter as the data collection method, as outlined below.  This can be configured in the Data Collection tab in  Settings > Machine Settings.

MTConnect Adapter

Connects the machine to MachineMetrics by ingesting a SHDR stream emitted by the MTConnect Server on the machine.

Using other data standards

If you are already gathering data using other standards, there is no need to switch to MTConnect. MachineMetrics supports all existing data standards. If you do want to switch, many existing standards have adapters already written for them. You can find them on the MTConnect Github.

Where to learn more about MTConnect

MTConnect is developed and maintained by The MTConnect Institute - a non-profit, member-run organization. You can learn more about MTConnect by reviewing the MTConnect Wikipedia Page.  These articles in Modern Machine Shop and in Control Design can help give you a sense of MTConnect's increasing role in manufacturing.
If you have any questions please reach out to us at support@machinemetrics.com

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