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Legacy Blog – Edition XVI

shop floor automations blogHere are some SFA pieces of product news and MFG Day coverage. Manufacturing Tomorrow especially shared a few of our pieces.

For product news, we thank Manufacturing Tomorrow for covering the news of our latest hardware release, the LAN-USB Connect, which adds USB and ethernet abilities to your machine. MFG Talk Radio also published this piece from us – a top 3 reasons list of why moldmakers need to embrace the IIoT.

Moldmaking Technology also published an article talking about how machine data collection software helps combat downtime.

Finally, it’s never too early to start talking about MFG Day (also known as “manufacturing day”). Fabricating and Metalworking shared our piece last year on shaping the Made in America movement, where we highlighted three organizations helping to make manufacturing great again.

Our newest article from Manufacturing Tomorrow on this holiday highlights three manufacturing companies SFA has worked with and how they are helping to close the skills gap.

SFA has been helping manufacturing companies increase productivity for 20 years now. Call us at (877) 611-5825 or fill out a contact form!

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The Benefits of a Wireless Shop Floor

A Wireless Connect device accompanied by floating shots of 3 various CNC machines and the wi-fi symbol.Manufacturing technology changes each day. Companies want more innovative ways to increase productivity through machine automation. A wireless shop floor is one avenue to pursue.

Customers who have issues with floppy disks or inferior cabling are a big wireless demographic. This was what brought Stollen Machine of New Jersey to SFA.

Stollen invested in six wireless hardware devices from SFA to help to replace an old cabling system. A case study done with the customers found that they were able to get back 15% more time daily.

Sometimes, innovation is not the reason for the switch. Unexpected events can turn customers to industrial automation.

In Modern Machine Shop, editor Stephanie Hendrixson shares the story of a manufacturer in 2005 that went wireless. A lightning strike destroyed their CNC machine circuit boards. This lead to an upsetting amount of downtime and lost profit.

“At the time of print, [the manufacturer] reported no problems with downloading numerical control (NC) programs wirelessly thanks to an error-checking protocol,” the article states.

“Download speeds were adequate for its needs,” Hendrixson writes. “Data encryption and other security measures kept NC programs safe from interception and [the] corporate network safe from attack.”

Here are some reviews from SFA customers who have gone wireless:

“My favorite features from the changes implemented are process control, process security, and enhanced availability of knowledge base information. Total cost was also very affordable.” – James, Amarillo Gear

“Wireless DNC has been fantastic for our production. We went from losing the wired system to [choosing] a wireless system, and it actually works very well.” – George at Gyford Production Standoff Systems

Whether an emergency prompts it, or a shop floor has the liberty to try new means to improve their manufacturing process, going wireless is an amazing investment. Want to know more? Call (877) 611-5825, or send us a message.