Now available from Kidderminster-based Amada (www.amada.co.uk) is its V-factory system.

This provides real-time data from Amada machines with an AMNC control — anytime, anywhere — using any device with an Internet connection.

The parameters monitored range from current machine status and volume of work to material usage, energy consumption and operation analysis, “in essence, a snapshot of the entire connected production environment at a glance”.

Access to real-time data is a prerequisite in many industries that want to manage production and check machine availability.

Amada’s V-factory is designed to facilitate this demand in a comprehensive yet easy-to-use format.

The system comprises a connecting box and software, with the latter allowing users to access a dedicated Web page called My V-factory, which is compatible with all PCs, tablets and smartphones (Android and iOS).

Access to this Web-based platform ensures that Amada customers can check machine status in real time; is the machine running, being set up, in stand-by mode, waiting for alarm response or idle?

Such information can be of benefit to company owners and production managers who are remote from the shopfloor — or those called off site — as well as companies running unmanned shifts.

Operators can also benefit from access to this data.

Amada says: “A wealth of information is available, including a complete history of all programs and detailed data about parts and machine performance.

For instance, V-factory might indicate that 60hr were attributed to waiting for materials last month, thus highlighting a problem that needs to be addressed; and by providing comparisons between ‘on’ time, alarm time, set-up time and stand-by time, the system offers an excellent tool for production analysis reports.

Laser cutting costs can also be established for material, assist gas and energy consumption, while for press brakes — for example — it is possible to gather data on the most commonly used tools and number of strokes.”

Another feature is the availability of machine diagnostic data, which leads to early problem identification and reduced down-time. Information about daily machine maintenance is also collected.

A standard installation takes just a few hours to set up, and no pauses in production are required. Proteus Industrial Switchgear, which recently installed an Amada fibre laser, is using V-factory.

CNC programmer Andy Roberts said: “We have found the V-factory system very easy to use. It allows us to see how effectively we are using the machine, and being a new user of fibre laser, we can see where we can improve on that efficiency.

“The operation results show how long the machine has been running each shift, and the alarm page is helping us to eliminate machine stoppages.”