How AE Aerospace Capture Data

As part of our 5G Machine time Servitization Use case we have had a range of sensors installed across our factory floor enabling wireless connectivity between machines.

At our facility we have many MAZAK machines, as such working with MTConnect technology was the perfect fit! MTConnect is a communications protocol that fosters greater interoperability between manufacturing devices and software from different suppliers.

MTConnect provides connectivity and the ability to monitory and harvest data from our entire production floor, machines, cells, devices, and processes. Essentially, it’s our answer to all the unknowns. We can monitor how long our machines are running for, accurately record how long each op/job takes and use this to create an accurate production schedule.

You could argue that this data can be captured manually too. However, by automating the process we are generating data that our entire team can utilise. Is an operation taking too long? Is the machine downtime a maintenance concern? Could the programme be altered? This advancement will bring us closer to rolling around our Glass Factory model, allowing us to create an online portal for our customers to track their orders in real time.

This ‘plug and play’ solution is assisting us in calculating overall equipment efficiency, reducing production losses, and identifying lean manufacturing strategies. Moreover, it is helping our business to become paperless. We no longer need to have our production scheduler running around the shop floor finding lead times on components as the data will be readily available. As such it is allowing our team to become more resourceful and apply themselves further to the strategic planning and development of the business.