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Automate and Streamline Moldmaking with DNC Software

DNC SoftwareDNC Software  for Moldmaking Automation

Shop Floor Automations (La Mesa, CA), the leading reseller and support provider for Predator Software, offers the perfect solution to automate and streamline the moldmaking process.

Predator DNC Software is designed to allow moldmaking applications to communicate with up to 256 CNCs simultaneously from a single PC. Predator DNC works in the background, even while other applications are running, to drip-feed large programs typically used by mold makers. Predator also includes a Server Safe Mode to protect against lost data in the event of a network crash during drip feed transfers. The software also supports various baud rates up to 256,000bps to allow for fast through-put to the machine to eliminate starving the control, which is common when running at lower baud rates.

The most used feature in the software is the DNC restart functionality to allow for the operator to restart mid-tape should a tool break in the middle of the program. The user can also specify a string of text that is then inserted at the beginning of the CNC program that is sent.

Predator DNC comes standard with protocols for error-free communication to packetize the data as the NC programs are being requested from the CNC controller. These protocols include Bridgeport Easylink, Brother Dialog, Fagor, Heidenhain Blockwise, Okuma B, and Xmodem at no additional cost.

This article was featured in Mold Making Technology. Read it here.

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Shop of the Future

Shop of the Future Article

Using Shop Floor Automation’s software, manufacturers are now able to increase the efficiency and precision of their machines. These advancements in software technology have allowed manufacturers to reduce the amount of manpower as well as errors in their manufacturing processes, truly making them the shop of the future.

Joe Morales, director of manufacturing of Implant Direct states in the article:

“We chose Shop Floor Automation’s Predator DNC software,” he says. “All our machines have plenty of built-in memory, so we don’t use the drip-feed feature of the software, but we use most of its other features. All our machines are linked to their own computers, which, in turn, are linked to a server with Predator software. That way, our guys can read their travelers, input the program they need and Predator will deliver it to their workstation.”

“One thing we really like about the Predator software is its editor,” he says. “With as many parts and programs as we have, document control is extremely important. In the past, if an operator made changes to the G-code, the change could slip through a crack. But Predator prevents that. As soon as a program is no longer needed on the floor, it goes back to the programmer via Predator Software. The programmer uses the Predator editor to compare the returned program with the original. The software instantly flags changes so the programmer can check it out.”

Another useful feature, according to Morales, is the software’s “mass” editor. “The mass editing capability lets you call up multiple programs all at once and make changes to them,” he says. “This saves a tremendous amount of time. For instance, let’s say we wanted to alter speeds, feed rates or G-code. With Predator we can make one change and the software will change the entire family of parts all at once. It’s one of the key links in our manufacturing chain that helps us run this factory on the cutting edge of technology.”

Read the full article here.

SFA moved to a new location

Shop Floor Automations moved to La Mesa

Shop Floor Automations is settling into our new location in La Mesa, which is part of San Diego County here in California. We are now located at 5360 Jackson Drive, Suite 118, La Mesa, CA 91942.

Update: we are now located at Suite 202 in the same building.

We are focused on not only our local community but also the manufacturing community. We are part of NTMA’s San Diego Chapter, where we take place in as many local events as we can.

For information on upcoming NTMA San Diego events, head over to this page we have set up.

More info: Shop Floor Automations is a proud associate member of the San Diego Chapter of NTMA. The National Tooling & Machining Association works to create allies within the San Diego region of the local machining and tool industry by fostering mutual success through education, technology and communication.

We encourage you to take advantage of what this great organization has to offer. Please check the schedule below in order to find upcoming events held by NTMA.

SFA is located in San Diego County, situated in the bustling suburb of La Mesa, California, about 10 miles East of San Diego, ever since our founding year.  We expanded our support offices throughout the USA over the years to meet customer demands.

More about us here!

SFA has added a web call back feature to the website

Get a call back on YOUR time

SFA has added a web call back feature to the website. You can now request a phone call from our sales or technical departments.

More about the care Shop Floor Automations gives their customers:

The founders of SFA have many years of experience providing effective solutions to manufacturers large and small from coast to coast. Their expertise in designing and implementing DNC and Shop Floor Networks allows them to take the best hardware and software products to the next level. That level is a fully implemented, turnkey solution tailored specifically for a customer’s requirements and environments.

Shop Floor Automations is appropriately positioned to provide our customers with a complete technology environment. Customers are not looking for products so much as they are seeking solutions to their business problems. Our total solution approach for manufacturing customers provides hardware and software packages, installation and support services, and expert consultation where required. Our principal goal is to help customers save time and make money.

Thank you for taking a moment to learn more about us! Sales Contact Form | 24 Hour Support Contact Form | Join Our Email List

Because Shop Floor Automations is passionate about bringing your legacy machines up to date, we also realize that social media is a growing and helpful tool in the manufacturing industry. We would love to connect and be added by you on our major social media channels! Chat with us on one of our social media channels!

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Wireless Hardware & Software provider for Alumco

SFA Inc. & Alumco

SFA is the featured wireless hardware and software provider for Alumco in a CNC West article. Look for us in the CNC West April – May 2004 issue.

More about our wireless shop floor solutions: 

SFA offers industrial grade wireless devices with quick installation to connect to your CNC machines. Consumer level devices, like DLink or Netgear products, cannot withstand the manufacturing environment. Our products allow you to connect your RS232-based machines to your existing wireless network & we can even help if you lack an existing wireless network!

Costs of stringing cable will vanish. Machines with overhead cranes, traveling gantries, or those simply too far to cable are efficiently & reliably networked. Want to move your CNC machines? No need to change cables or re-configure software. Best of all, nearly any CNC machine can be connected using wireless! Any PC with a Wi-Fi compliant network card on this wireless network can be configured to access the wider PC network.

Encryption & spread spectrum technology, thanks to WEP, WPA, & WAP encryption features, means wireless DNC is the most secure & interference-resistant way to network CNC machines.

Want to get in touch with Shop Floor Automations? Call (877) 611-5825 toll free, or visit on social media. We also have a convenient chat engine on our site.

Orders via the internet

Shop Floor AutomationsOrder from Shop Floor Automations online

Shop Floor Automations nows accepts cabling and CNC Editor orders via the internet. Avoid extra time you do not have over the phone through our safe, digital Shopping Cart.

AS OF 2016: We have done a complete overhaul of our shopping cart for customer convenience. Our solutions have been broken down by your needs.

For software – we have machine monitoring, DNC communication, CNC editor, plant maintenance, job scheduling, document control, tool management, and MTConnect.

For hardware – we now have the Connect Series. Connect options via ethernet, wireless, serial, USB, floppy, tape reader (BTR), and more.

We also have a line of accessories and much more. Go shopping in our store!

Shop Floor Automations is appropriately positioned to provide our customers with a complete technology environment. Customers are not looking for products so much as they are seeking solutions to their business problems. Our total solution approach for manufacturing customers provides hardware and software packages, installation and support services, and expert consultation where required. Our principal goal is to help customers save time and make money.

SFA has become the industry leader in Shop Floor Communications and Machine Monitoring Solutions – totally redefining what “Shop Floor Automation” solutions should be.  With thousands of customers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Asia, we were called upon by other vendors to provide other solutions that could be met by our knowledge, support and sales experience of the manufacturing industry.  In 2010, SFA aligned itself with these vendors to close the loop with maintenance management software, job management and scheduling software, hardware manufacturers, and machine tool companies.

 

Website Redesign Launched

Shop Floor AutomationsSFA Inc. Website Redesign

We at Shop Floor Automations are proud to announce that our Website Redesign has launched. We wish our visitors to have a smoother website experience and hope that your time on our site is enjoyable and informative.

More about the services on our website:

Our shop AKA Hardware & Software – Our solutions in DNC communications, machine monitoring, CNC editors, CMMS plant maintenance, job scheduling, document control, tool management, and MTConnect pairs well with our hardware solutions – connect to your equipment via serial cables, Ethernet, wirelessly, or replace old tech like floppy discs.

Support – Get some extra help with your hardware and software installation

Company – Our blogs, newsletters, webinars, training videos, customer testimonials, and more

Contact – Get in touch with Sales, send a request for a demo, contact Support, subscribe for Email updates, and connect with us on social media

Help – 24 Hour Support and Remote Assistance links are located here for customer convenience

Call Shop Floor Automations at (877) 611-5825 for more information! The founders here at SFA have many years of experience providing effective solutions to manufacturers large and small from coast to coast. Our expertise in designing and implementing DNC and Shop Floor Networks allows us to take the best hardware and software products to the next level. That level is a fully implemented, turnkey solution tailored specifically for our customer’s requirements and environments.

Predator CNC Editor v6.1 Released

CNC Editor Gcode EditorPredator CNC Editor v6.1 Released

Predator CNC Editor  v6.1 has been Released and is ready for use on manufacturing shop floor. If you would like more information on how Predator Editor and other CNC Editors can benefit you, read more below:

SFA provides customized CNC Editor Solutions for everyone, from small job shops to the largest manufacturers, with hundreds of features to improve day-to-day CNC machine tool productivity. Dozens of CNC intelligent editing commands make changes to your CNC program quickly & easily. Edit confidently with the ability to undo & redo all changes. Microsoft Word-compatible menus, toolbar, & shortcut keys make these systems easy to learn with basic CNC communications. Also, Windows 10 O/S is supported!

In addition, editing multiple CNC programs of unlimited file sizes at the same time, even while other applications run in the background, is supported. Cut, copy, & paste between them. Program includes a side-by-side file compare that identifies all G-code & M-code differences, then fixes them with a single click.

These extremely versatile but easy-to-use packages are designed to simplify your work & will also improve productivity. Our editing & backplotter packages are developed under rigorous testing.

Founded back in 1998, Shop Floor Automations, Inc. (SFA) started as a small company focused on distributing the Predator Software product line to the San Diego and Los Angeles markets of California.  Within 6 months, the company expanded to cover the entire West Coast as a reseller with the goal to be the #1 reseller in a year.

The goal was met in 1999 when SFA was awarded the status of largest distributor of Predator Software in North America. SFA has been ranked #1 in Predator Software Sales, Service and Support for decades.

 

New Website Launched

shop floor automationsShop Floor Automations Website Relaunch

Shop Floor Automations is proud to announce that we have launched a new website. Easier to navigate, easier to shop, easier to get in touch with our staff – we are very pleased with the end product.

We have separated our products into hardware and software categories, with categories matching the needs you are looking for. We also make sure customers can go right to our shop, if they know what brand or product they are looking for.

We also have lots of blog entries, archived newsletters, and many more resources. We look forward to helping you improve YOUR shop floor!

More about Shop Floor Automations:

Founded back in 1998, we started as a small company focused on distributing the Predator Software product line to the San Diego and Los Angeles markets of California. Within 6 months, we expanded to cover the entire West Coast as a reseller with the goal to be the #1 reseller in a year.

The goal was met in 1999 when SFA was awarded the status of largest distributor of Predator Software in North America. We have been ranked #1 in Predator Software Sales, Service and Support for many years running.

SFA has become the industry leader in Shop Floor Communications and Machine Monitoring Solutions – totally redefining what “Shop Floor Automation” solutions should be.  With thousands of customers from across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Asia, we were called upon by other vendors to provide other solutions that could be met by our knowledge, support and sales experience of the manufacturing industry.  In 2010, SFA aligned itself with these vendors to close the loop with maintenance management software, job management and scheduling software, hardware manufacturers, and machine tool companies.

“Every day, more and more manufacturing companies come to rely on Shop Floor Automations, Inc. for shop floor solutions, services, and expertise to increase their manufacturing productivity and profitability.”

Greg MercurioPresident & Co-Founder of SFA
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Predator DNC 4.0 Released

Predator DNC Software 4.0 released

Predator DNC 4.0 has been released for manufacturing shop floors. For more information on Predator DNC and other DNC options from Shop Floor Automations, read below:

Manage your CNC programs, machine parameters, & offsets. Enjoy a wide range of CNC communication options from your Predator PCs for drip-feeding, downloading, & bi-directional communication. Upload via parallel, RS232, RS422 Ethernet, & wireless Ethernet for thousands of CNC machines. With Microsoft Office  & Windows Explorer-compatible user interface (Windows 10 O/S supported), use familiar features for drag & drop, cut, copy, paste, shortcut menus, object-based menus, toolbars, tool tips, & available online help.

Improve CNC revision control while using existing ERP & MES bar-coded paperwork. Eliminate time wasted walking back & forth between your CNC & PC with a Remote Request function. Consider a 32-Bit, Multi-thread, Multi-tasking, Open-Architecture DNC Software solution that works wired & wirelessly.

Simplify operations with one network for all of your CNC machines, Robots, PLCs, & part makers, grouped by building or cell.

With Predator DNC, you can network all of your CNCs, Robots, and PLC- based machines. Predator DNC manages your CNC programs, offsets, and parameters. It supports a broad range of CNC communications for drip-feeding, downloading, and uploading via parallel, RS232, RS422 Ethernet, and wireless Ethernet.

When you need to manage your robots, CNC machines, part markers, and PLCs, you need Predator DNC. Not only will it manage your programs, but also your parameters and offsets. It supports everything you could possibly need when it comes to CNC communications, whether you’re uploading, downloading or drip-feeding via wireless, Ethernet, RS232, RS422, or parallel. Call SFA for more info at (877) 611-5825!