Developers and Marketers of Automation Systems for the Manufacturing Floor
CAD/CAM Integration, Inc. is a leading Developer of Automation Systems for the Manufacturing Shop-Floor addressing the needs and requirements of small to large size National and International Manufacturing Enterprises.
CCI's is located in Marblehead Massachusetts just north of Boston, Mass. Until our recent move, CCI was in Woburn for 32 Years. CCI has been privileged to be located near the greatest Universities in the World. Our original Founders all attended Universities around the Boston Area with varied Educations and Backgrounds including Physics, Electrical Engineering, Bio Engineering & Finance. CCI was also involved in Manufacturing, Software Development & Machine Tool Controller design. These varied Educations & Experience have been instrumental in the development of ShopFloorManager over the last 40 Years.
CCI was born in July of 1983 using its four partner's diverse expertise to develop its mid-range multi-tasking, multi-user Unix Communications System. This system was first installed in defense contractor's facilities whose business required the ability to drip-feed very large files to manufacture airfoils for their customers. Starting with just three CNC's they have grown to over 50 CNC machine tools with Fanuc Controller, Mazak Controller, Haas Controller & Yasnac Controllers.
With the acceptance of PCs into the market place, circa 1985, there was a trend to use PCs to provide machine tool communications. CCI responded to these needs by developing a real-time Unix based PC System which was a multi-user, multi-tasking & fully networked system. Times were changing and during this same time period customers were beginning to address the issues of central storage, security and data management, which DOS system didn't adequately address. This was the beginning of LAN based systems.
At almost the same time a major aerospace customer asked CCI to port our factory automation software to a Novell LAN based system. This lead to our first real life experiences with LANs and their particular requirements. Life since, has not been the same for businesses in general and in particular, the manufacturing industry.
From 1985 until 1989 these systems evolved and matured into three basic product choices. Unix, VMS and DOS base Systems. Unix and VMS were the choice of larger enterprises while DOS was preferred of small factories.
In the 90's CCI received a Shop Automation contract from Pratt & Whitney, which was one of the largest contracts for a factory automation system up to that time.
Pratt chose CCI from all their competitors because of the ability of our systems to communicate with all of Pratt's existing manufacturing systems directly from machine tools to all of their manufacturing system using CCI's Network Communication Servers. This Advanced Multi-Tasking System networked to the three separate Systems, IBM, Dec & HP right at their machine tool.
Manufacturing was changing as Microsoft was redefining how industry was using computers to more efficiently operate their businesses.
Microsoft realized that data storage, retrieval, security, user friendliness and multi-tasking was a necessary ingredient if they were to survive and dominate the "PC" application market. This resulted in the first quasi "multi-tasking" system, Windows 3.1.
Even though this was a great step forward for office based businesses, for Manufacturing this operating System was not a suitable choice. CCI decided not develop our systems based on Windows 3.1 since this was not a preemptive operating system. In other words it was possible for an application to hog all of the resources of the computer and not allow another application access. Our thought was if you were drip-feeding and an application hogged the operating system you could ruin a part that you were cutting! As it turned out this was indeed the case and Windows 3.1 didn't cut it for manufacturing.
With the release of Windows 95 the operating system was more "preemptive" and CCI felt that it was time for CCI to start our conversion process. With the advent of Windows 95 the demand for Unix and VMS systems declined rapidly and with good reason. The Windows Operating System was being used in all facets of business and most companies just didn't want to have to maintain multiple operating systems. So Unix and VMS were no longer the choice for manufacturing.
In 1996 CCI finished developed of our first Windows based System, the DNCWin product, which was the foundations of our future offerings. Not following the crowd and releasing the long term needs of manufacturing CCI decided from the on-start to build all our applications around a database for security, data integrity, data accessibility and for providing a system that could meet the requirements of ISO9000 Quality Control Systems.
Since the creation of DNCWin our product offerings have evolved into to suite of products that meet the needs of Domestic and International discrete manufacturers. Our present offering address the needs of Document and Records management, Factory Communications including wireless, data access security, machine status collection and reporting, third-party integration, special factory automation software development, etc.
ShopFloorManager: (html) is an International Manufacturing Software System that will continue to evolve as CCI add the features that are requested by our customers and meets the needs of International Discrete Manufacturers for Shop Floor Control and Quality Control.
We are busily finishing up ShopFloorManager's for it's first release. It has taken a bit longer then expected so SuiteFactory's support has been extended into 2021! We have issued the last release of SuiteFactory in September of 2020. It contained all of the Features that are included in the first release of ShopFloorManager! The motivation for doing this is to accommodate customer's using Access databases since the upgrade to SQL needs to be handled on a one by one basis. This approach will ease the transition from SuiteFactory to ShopFloorManager while providing all the ShopFloorManager initial features in SuiteFactory's final release! Note: SQL will be the required database for ShopFloorManager.
So if you are an active Customer rest assured that SuiteFactory will be supported until we release ShopFloorManager and for at least another year after it's release! We will Team UP with you to upgrade to ShopFloorManager at your convenience! Thank You for Your Patience!
In a Shop Environment when one thinks for using OEE to improve Efficiencies on the Shop Floor you envision a scanner, PC & associated hardware at each piece of equipment or in close proximity if being share. ShopFloorManager uses the synergies of a Machine Controller & the Operator’s knowledge of the Controller for entering OEE data with minimal training! In stead of using Scanners we will be using a Machine Tool Controller and an N/C like File for inputting OEE data directly to ShopFloorMonitoring.
All of the ShopCharts now include OEE & Performance calculations updated in real-time located in the right-hand Panes of each of the ShopCharts. All ShopCharts provide a cleaner presentation for the User.
ShopFloorReports supports the following Reports:
A Free Pre-Configured System with more the 600K+ of Machine Events and 17 generate ShopFloorReports! You can create your own TEEP, OOE, OEE, Performance, Configuration, ISO, etc. Reports from the 600K+ of Events and have Access to all of ShopFloorManager's Features!
The ShopFloorManager's User Manuals supports forward and backward links providing easy access to Detailed use of ShopFloorManager. It provides links via the Internet referencing standards such as OEE, hardware supported, Network configuration & other Standards!
ShopFloorManager supports User Login/Logout using ShopFloorMDI, OEE-Controller based MDI and Remote Requests. ShopFloorManager records complete Histories and automatically provides Machine Status Program "User Login" for all Users.
For a complete OEE Calculation you need to add the number of defective parts produce during manufacturing! OEE doesn't care if it is repairable or scrap. ShopFloorMDI now supports adding and removing bad parts on any particular day.
If a machine event data item is configured with the utilization role Not Scheduled For Work, then any period of time between the beginning and ending of a session for that data item is marked as Not Scheduled For Work. Within machine event charts that include that data item for presentation, all displayed data points within the time span covered by that session are presented as Not Scheduled For Work and are removed from all utilization calculations for reporting production time and efficiency.
In the 1-day multiple-machine chart and the 1-day details chart for 1 machine, the labels for each bar include the total elapsed time in production for the machine or the total elapsed time in sessions for a specific data item. Changed the format to round fractions of second to the nearest second.
SuiteFactory MDI now presents two sets of functionalities:
Added new property settings for Machine Tool Connections to enable processing DPRNT output files and specify the name of the DPRNT output file for a specific Networked UNC Machine Tool Connection.
SuiteFactory Machine Events supports three types of machine events: Generic Events, State Events, and Session Events. Session Events also support Machine Utilization Roles (Production, Unplanned Interrupt, Planned Break, Not Scheduled, and Information)
Production percentage added to each CNC Bar. This will allow a Customer to see how efficient each of their CNCs are performing in real-time. This will allow a Customer to react to unacceptable efficiencies.
Clicking on an Individual data item events displays Production details in the upper right hand information window. This includes Production, Planned Break, Unplanned Break, Idle/No Data time,Time in Shift & Time out of Shift.
Production percentage added to the Top Bar. This will allow a Customer to see how efficient each of their CNCs are performing in real-time. This will allow a Customer to react to unacceptable efficiencies.
Only show non-empty bars for data items that do not have any data records for the specified day & don't show legend entries for time span types that do not appear in any bar.
Individual data item bars display total time and percent of timespans covered by that data item during the day. The Right-side sidebar displays summary total times and percentages for each machine event role.
Within the details pane for a selected data point, changed how item data value for individual state values or session values are labeled. Previously,
individual values were labeled as "Value: xxx"; now it is "
Added a moveable splitter bar between the chart pane and the details pane that allows the user to move the splitter bar back and forth and adjust the width of the details pane.
When MDI starts running, it operates in an autosizing mode: when the user selects a different data item, the window automatically resizes itself to match the minimum size requirements for all displayed user interface elements for the new data item.
However, if a user manually increases the width and/or height of the window, the resizing mode changes: if the minimum width and/or height requirements for the new data item are larger than the previous width and/or height, the window size is increased to the new minimum width and/or height. However if the minimum width and/or height requirements are smaller than the previous width and/or height, then the window width and/or height remains at the previous size.
Created a new machine tool connection protocol named "Networked Manual". Functionally it acts as a synonym for the Networked UNC protocol. Pragmatically, it indicates that the machine tool connection is intended to support collecting Machine Event data for a work area that does not use ShopNCFiles.
The Machine Event Data Item setting Machine Utilization Role allowed only data items that specify ShopNCFiles as the type of the Item Identifier value to be configured with the role "Production". Changed to allow any data item to be configured for the role "Production" regardless of the type of Item Identifier Value.
Changed the column position of extended data values associated with individual Session events (Open, Close, or Mark) collected as part of a Machine Event; previously these columns appeared positioned to the far right of the status window. These columns now appear to the right of Machine, Data Item Name, Last Event, and 3 Item Data columns, and to the left of all other standard data columns.
Added the capacity to configure whether individual standard data columns are visible or hidden. Only standard data columns that are displayed to the right of extended data columns can be hidden. Extended data columns as well as standard data columns that are displayed to the left of extended data columns are always visible.
Separated the Details sidebar into two sections: the upper pane displays information about the selected data point in the chart, while the lower pane displays details of all of the history records related to the selected data point. Simplified what data is displayed in the lower pane for individual history records.
Enhanced the existing capacity to automatically insert Utilization Macros when downloading G-Code-formatted ShopNCFiles to compatible machine tools to also support inserting comments that contain identifying information about the DNC File (name, version, last modification time, size in bytes) and/or Search Criteria values. This will provide the needed Quality Control File Information for the CNC Operator to ensure they have most up to date N/C File!
This command requires specifying the name of a resource collection that is associated with the machine tool connection for queuing to send. The communications engine evaluates this command by finding the named resource collection and queuing all ShopNCFiles in that Resource Collection for sending to the machine. The machine's configuration controls whether or not machine event start/end macros are inserted into the DNC File before sending it and whether or not helper command files are also sent alongside each DNC File.
The user interface for configuring machine events has a new tab page for creating pick-lists and editing the set of values within an individual
pick-list. Data items now support using pick-lists for selecting values for two optional elements of a machine event: the event identifier field
(when not using either
DNC File Ids or CCI User Ids) and the Item Data field. Session list values and state list values also allow using a pick-list for selecting values for one optional
field of a given value: extra value data.
Within MDI, if any element for the selected combination of data item and either session value or state value is configured
to use a pick-list, MDI presents the set of values for the configured pick-list within a drop-down selection box instead of presenting a text entry box
into which the user types a value.
Renamed 1-Day chart as 1-Day Summary Chart, added new 1-Day Details Chart. Summary Chart presents 1 day's set of machine event data as a set of bars, one bar per machine in the user-specified set of machines, with each bar presenting the combination of events for the user-specified set of Session-type Data Items. Details Chart presents 1 day's set of machine event data for one user-specified machine as a set of bars. The first bar presents the combination of events for the user-specified set of Session-Type Data Items, and bears the machine name as the label of the bar. The other bars present the details of the events for each Session-type Data Item in the user-specified set, using one bar for each user-specified data item, and each bar bears the name of its data item as the label of the bar.
SuiteFactory now allows opening up Manage ShopNCFiles and or Manage Controlled Documents and selecting multiple ShopNCFiles or multiple Documents and dragging & dropping them on the Target Packet! The Packet is then automatically populated with the selected N/C Files and or Documents.
SuiteFactory now allows selecting multiple ShopNCFiles or multiple Documents and assigning to the selected Packet via the "Add DNC File" or the "Add Controlled Document" Icons. The Packet is then automatically populated with the selected N/C Files and or Documents.
Existing utilization charts (summary, 7-day for one machine, 1-day for selected machines) now support combining data from an arbitrary selection of session data items.
Added 3 new reports that summarize an arbitrary selection of data items as a single report listing, for each machine, the set of discrete time intervals between individual events and the state of the machine during each discrete time interval as a specific combination of event records.
Before this version, selecting a very large number of items would result in SuiteFactory Runtime failing to respond to user interaction for long
periods, measured in tens of
seconds or more, while preparing the selected items for updating or cleaning up after updating. During those long delays, Communications Engine and
Communications could hang
waiting for responses from SuiteFactory Runtime and under some circumstances they would not resume normal operation after SuiteFactory completed its activities.
Redesigned how Edit Approval and Sign-Off for Selected/All Files handles processing the selected items. Eliminated the long setup and cleanup delays.
Improved feedback
after selecting "Update All" to provide an estimate of time remaining to complete.
ShopNCFiles and ShopFloorDocuments have an associated "file type" as indicated by a file extension; that is, the portion of a file name that follows the last "." in the
file name and which indicates either the function of a file or else the format of its content and the application that can display, present, edit or
otherwise use the content.
Changed the behavior of Check-out/Check-in for 3rd Party Editing to handle the situation where an application has an older, possibly deprecated extension
and a newer extension
for its data files. (For example, current versions of MS Word support the extension ".doc", indicating documents created by and compatible with older
versions of the application
and usable by newer/current versions of the application, and the extension ".docx", indicating documents created by and compatible with newer versions of
the application but not
compatible or usable with older versions of the application.)
When a user checks out a DNC File or Controlled Document, the checked-out copy's file name is given the extension that is recorded for it in the database.
When checking in an
external file to replace the content of that ShopNCFiles or ShopFloorDocuments, SuiteFactory now compares the file extension of the selected external file with
the value of the
file extension field in the item's database record: if they are different, ShopFloorManager replaces the value in the database with the extension of the selected
external file.
While working with approval and sign-off on large numbers of approval items, it was possible that SF User Runtime would regularly stop responding for long periods of time, measured in tens of seconds, as it tried to retrieve a count of the number of pending items waiting for sign-off by the logged-in user. Completed several changes related to how editing approval and sign-off saves data and how SF User Runtime performs the count of the number of items waiting for sign-off that eliminate the long periods of lack of response and that improve the speed with which editing approval and sign-off saves changes.
Several changes to ShopFloorManager, ShopCharts and ShopFloorMDI relating to displaying reports that combine the data for two or more singleton session-type data items. These changes make it easier for users to view combinations of sessions that have some relevance to the users; I.E., tracking machine setup, N/C program execution, and machine tear down operations as distinct session-type data items while combining them in reports for tracking utilization of individual machines.
System Configuration settings determine whether or not Automatic Import increments the Version value of a DNC File or Controlled Document when replacing the content of an existing item. This replacement is possible only when single versions of an item name are required. (If multiple versions of the same name are allowed, then incrementing Version values does not happen.)
ShopFloorManager automatically checks for and purges stale Sign-Off records during database conversion, and displays a message regarding the purged records. Modified the text in the message to better explain what happened and reassure end users that everything is fine.
Some machine tool controllers do not support embedding macros in NC programs that direct the controller to send text back to ShopFloorManager via the configured serial port. In order to support recording the start and end of NC program execution on such machines, SF needs to be able to prepare and send dummy NC programs that contain the RRC text to indicate that NC program execution is starting or ending for a specific DNC File. These can be uploaded by the operator to signifying the start & end of a cycle.
If the combination of license, system configuration, Shop Floor Event configuration, and the configuration of a machine tool support embedding
Utilization Tracking events
in a compatible DNC File, the action of queuing a DNC File whose data format is G-Code causes SF checks whether there is already a machine-specific
copy of the DNC File
content into which machine-specific Utilization macros have been inserted and verifies that the current copy was created using the current configuration:
if the private copy
doesn't exist or is out of date, SF creates/updates the private copy.
When the Communications Engine processes a queued job, it looks for the machine-specific copy of the content; if the machine-specific copy exists, the engine sends it, otherwise the engine finds and sends the base content of the queued DNC File.
Some stages of database conversion would cause ShopFloorManager Runtime to stop responding or provide feedback to the user for a period of several minutes to tens of minutes, depending on the number of records in a table that was undergoing conversion. Re-implemented some of those cases to replace the long delay with incremental processing that provides feedback.
This orientation does a better job of not suppressing machine names. Under in-house testing the chart will show machine names for 19 machines, and suppress all but four machine names for 20 or more machines.
When a user invokes existing ShopFloorManager MDI, the program displays a confirmation dialog box that reminds the user that any uncompleted sessions will remain uncompleted after the program closes, and then asks the user to confirm or cancel closing the program.
An embedded Search Criteria Value data block must start within the first 5000 characters of an NC program, and it must be shorter than 5000 characters in total length.
Updated printed configuration reports so that they now report all configurable properties for workstations, resource collections, machine tool connections, system configuration, printer configuration, and licensing and activation.
We fixed issues with configuring the Print Header for printing ShopNCFiles in 7.3.192. The fixes left in place the prohibition against including "Note"-type columns
in the set of Search Criteria columns to include in the header.
This prohibition has now been removed, allowing users to select any Search Criteria column of any type in the header.
ShopFloorManager now supports comparisons of both N/C Files & Documents of any type consistent with the Document Type! See configure "Other" Compare Utility below. Choosing the correct compare third-party tool for documents allows you to compare Documents of any type for changes!
ShopFloorManager now supports recording the RUN monitoring events for Machine Tools that are operated in drip-feed mode. There are some caveats associated with drip-feeding as ShopFloorManager only knows when data starts and ends at the serial port. If you have very large buffers the details you record may be inaccurate. However, by carefully using headers & trailers comprised of null characters you should be able to accurate results.
ShopFloorManager now supports the selection of the Compare Third-Party App for both N/C Files and Controlled Documents. So it is possible to use any Third-Party Compare tool on the Market for both N/C Files & Documents of any type consistent with the Document Type!
ShopFloorManager now supports comparing two Documents based on plain text. So any changes in the two documents can be compared just as N/C Files! It will also compare two non-text based Documents displaying the results with characters that were not meant to be readable. But in the hands of a knowledgeable User this comparison can be very useful!
If the SF database is configured to enabled using Approval and Sign-Off, then the Show Packet List window, whose menu item appears in the File menu
of the Manage ShopNCFiles and Manage Controlled Documents windows, indicates whether individual Packets are approved or not and allows removing
the reference DNC File or Controlled Document only from Packets that are currently set to be Not Approved. If a Packet is marked as Approved,
even with conditions, it is not possible to alter the configured set of Pages within that Packet.
However, if the SF database is configured to disable using Approval and Sign-Off, or if using Approval and Sign-Off is not licensed, then the
Show Packet List window provides no indication of the current approval status of listed Packets, and authorized users may freely remove the
reference DNC File or Controlled Document from any or all referencing Packets.
If the SF database is licensed and configured to enable using Approval and Sign-Off, and if it is also configured to require marking selected ShopNCFiles and Controlled Documents as Obsolete as a condition for being able to delete them, then within the Manage Packets if a selected Packet is marked as Approved but one or more of the Pages is marked as obsolete, the Page listing's icon for the Packet always indicates that the Packet is partially approved, regardless of the Sign Off State of other pages or of the packet itself.
Add something!
For machines configured with for the Networked UNC protocol and using RRC, replaced the machine configuration setting for enabling automatically performing
the "SAVE" action on all files in the designated sub-folder of the configured RECEIVE folder with a new configuration setting that enables automatically
performing either the "SAVE" action or the "GET" action on all files in designated sub-folders of the configured SEND or RECEIVE folders.
The hard-coded name of the sub-folder for the "GET" action is "GET". Every time that the Communications Engine checks for a new RRC file, it also checks
the GET folder for the presence of any ordinary file. For every ordinary file found in the GET sub-folder, the Communication Engine performs the GET function
using the file name of the file as the name of the DNC File to locate and download to the machine's SEND folder. After completing the action, the
Communication Engine deletes the original file from the GET sub-folder.
The hard-coded name of the sub-folder for the "SAVE" actions continues to be "SAVE". Every time that the Communications Engine
checks for a new RRC Command file, it also checks the SAVE folder for the presence of ordinary files. Whenever the Comm.
Engine finds a file in the SAVE folder, it checks the content of the file for the presence of any command. If any command
is found, the Communications Engine performs that command; otherwise, the Communications Engine saves the file as if it
contained the RRC "SAVE" command by saving the file's content as a new DNC File whose name is the same as the data
file's name. After either performing the discovered command or after successfully saving the new DNC File and pushing
the appropriate RRC response, the Comm. Engine deletes the original data file from the SAVE folder.
SF now supports enhanced RRC responses to commands that save new ShopNCFiles or replace the content of existing ShopNCFiles. When enhanced responses are enabled they include the first few lines and the last few lines of the new DNC File content.
Maintenance Engine Automatic Import and Communications Engine communication with networked UNC machines now use network ping functions as part of testing for the existence of remote folders and the ability to connect to and use them. (Ping functions generally time-out much more quickly when the host systems are not powered up compared to the methods that SF used previously.)
For machines configured for the Networked UNC protocol and using RRC, the machine can also be configured to automatically SAVE all files that are found in a designated subfolder of the configured RECEIVE folder. The hard-coded name of that sub-folder is "SAVE". Every time that the Communications Engine checks for a new RRC Command file, it also checks the SAVE folder for the presence of ordinary files. Whenever the Comm. Engine finds a file in the SAVE folder, it saves the file as if it contained the RRC "SAVE" command by saving the file's content as a new DNC File whose name is the same as the data file's name. After successfully saving the new DNC File and pushing the appropriate RRC response, the Comm. Engine deletes the data file.
Default text in command file is "GETLASTRESPONSE".
This command finds the most-recently-created command response file that was prepared for this machine and queues it to send
to the machine.
This is a complement to disabling sending responses to Queue To Save, Save As, and CNC Email commands.
If sending responses for these commands is enabled, the response is created and saved as the most-recently-created command
response file, and then that response is queued for sending. After receiving the response at the machine, the machine
operator can fetch that response again by sending the "Get Last Response" command.
ShopFloorManager added the capacity to detect and convert Griffo Brother's Mazak Files to SolutionWare format on import!
Any questions or concerns? Let me know @ president@shopfloormanager.com
