The world of manufacturing is embracing the fourth industrial revolution — a revolution that is driven by connected networks of intelligent devices providing data to improve and optimise production processes.

In the CNC machining industry, part measurement data is extremely valuable, with the information it provides being used to verify that feature dimensions are correct, while giving manufacturers the knowledge required to optimise machining processes based on measured results.

By analysing the data, valuable insights into machine shop production efficiency can be obtained, giving manufacturing engineers the information needed to improve the yield and quality of machined parts.

Renishaw (www.renishaw.com) says that, with years of experience in its own machine shops, it understands the power of using measurement data “to control machining processes with robust automation”.

The company is now using this knowledge to contribute to the MTConnect standard — a technology that supports Industry 4.0 applications, as demonstrated at the recent IMTS 2018 show (held last month in Chicago).

Equipment interoperability requires the exchange of data between connected devices in Industry 4.0 applications.

Renishaw is working with the MTConnect Institute (an ANSI Standards developer) as part of its Standards Committee, helping to add support for workpiece quality data to the MTConnect open communications standard for future applications.

Renishaw probing systems for machine tool applications will output data according to the upcoming version of the MTConnect standard (v1.5.0); this is the first version of the standard to support part measurement results.

At IMTS 2018, Renishaw showed how metrology data can be extracted from its machine tool probes and used in The Grand Challenge — a ‘digital twin’ machining application (the seamless linking of individual process stages).

Co-ordinated by STEP Tools Inc, the project saw Renishaw work alongside Boeing, DMG Mori, Hyundai and Mitutoyo to demonstrate how digital twin machining can be accomplished.

The ‘challenge’ showed how data can be exchanged between CAD/CAM software, CNC machines and measurement devices, thereby allowing: CAD users to see that tolerances are being met; CAM users to see that processes are being executed; work to be shared between machines; automated verification that feature dimensions are produced to specification; and closed-loop optimisation of the machining process based on measured results.