ANCA Internet-connected Management Suite offers users 'smart factory' possibilities

ANCA’s new Management Suite is “a game changer” for the CNC grinding industry, allowing customers to monitor the performance of their machines no matter where they are in the world, enabling them to run smart factories by providing live production information to make data based decisions on operational improvements.

Says Thomson Mathew, ANCA software product manager: “We listened to what our customers needed to improve their grinding performance. They told us they wanted a smart factory concept where machines are grinding tools all day everyday, with minimal intervention, and the ability to remotely monitor machines for better intelligence on grinding performance and down-times.

“Imagine you have planned for your CNC grinding machines to run a long tool batch over the weekend. One of your team is on alert to monitor production, keeping an eye on their phone or other device from home, and is immediately notified if there is a machine down. In the past, this person would have had to be on site all weekend - which is a cost to the business - or would have resulted in lost productivity, as the problem would only have been picked up when people returned on Monday to find the grinding had stopped at midday on Saturday.

“There has also been lots of discussion about the value of data to companies. Data analytics are the key to improving business processes and our new software suite has been designed to give our customers as much intelligence as possible on their machines performance in a simple-to-use interface. Gone are the days where customers rely on manual records of machine performance with software that provides factual reports and analytics to enable informed decisions.

“The machine analytics provided by the Management Suite gives companies the ability to produce highly accurate reports on machine usage, allowing them to identify waste and increase overall equipment efficiency.”


ANCA's Management Suite offers company's a smart factory opportunity

The Management Suite dashboard provides users with the flexibility to monitor the production of their machines in and out of the office via the Internet. It can be viewed by multiple people in the company to ensure a connected team who can work together remotely and onsite to maximise their operational efficiencies.

Customer benefits of Management Suite

  • Monitors machine and production in real time and delivers up to date information, greatly enhancing visibility and control in manufacturing operations;
  • Reduces costly machine down-time by immediately notifying when a machine has ceased production, with reasons for the stoppage sent via email or SMS to the relevant personnel;
  • Provides complete visibility of the machine status and activity from the office PC or from anywhere in the world, if the user is logged into the company’s server.