An infographic for Predator Software with a marker and several clip art gears and symbols relating to DNC software.Predator Software Top Reseller

We are proud to be the top reseller of Predator Software 16 years running and we are determined to continue this streak for the years to come!

“There is something happening with our business, knowing our customers are our biggest fans, referring new business to us, “ Greg Mercurio, President of Shop Floor Automations, says.  “We have close relationships with our customers, CAD/CAM partners, machine tool distributors, and other ERP/MRP that believe in our sales, service, and support staff.  They know SFA will take care of them and recommend Predator as the best solution.”

Thank you to all of our customers in making us an industry leader in manufacturing automation solutions.

Sincerely,

The SFA Team

Data Driven Manufacturing Data CollectionImprove Lean Production Operations With Data Collection

“Cloud” applications can be found virtually everywhere today, and for good reason. Join us on April 14th at 12:00 p.m. PST to learn how cloud-based machine monitoring and data collection can make predictive maintenance a reality in your operations.

The webinar will be hosted by Smartware Group, Inc., makers of Bigfoot CMMS, and Scytec, makers of DataXchange. These experts will introduce the latest technologies to monitor and collect asset data and integrate this data for actionable and results-oriented operations and maintenance management.

Register for this machine monitoring webinar to glean real-world examples of the benefits of cloud-based machine monitoring and asset management, and see how high your utilization and asset management strategy can soar.

Get more information and register.

Are Your Machines Really Cutting?

A manufacturer that is distinctive for its attention to in-cycle machining productivity describes its efforts to obtain efficiency improvements outside of the machining cycle. The shop’s primary tool is a simple, daily, graphical recap that illustrates when each machine tool was and was not making parts AKA machine monitoring.

The procedures that seem efficient and the procedures that are efficient might be two different things. And telling the difference requires data.

The machining cycle is one area in which this idea is strikingly applied. One of those co-owners of the Wright City, Missouri, manufacturer—engineering vice president Jerry Halley—spent much of his career with aircraft maker McDonnell Douglas, which became Boeing during his time there.

Mr. Halley demonstrated that small tools used at the specific, harmonic spindle speeds that avoid chatter can cut deeply enough and quickly enough to remove material more efficiently than traditional rough cutting.

Because the equipment was “as good as its going to get,” the company had to find a way to continue winning efficiency gains so it could continue delivering cost savings. Not only did competitiveness require this, the formally specified cost-reduction targets of OEM customers required this as well.

To discover these sources of additional savings, Tech Manufacturing began measuring its entire process. The company began to measure not just its cycle time and not just the processing of individual parts, but the entire performance of its CNC machines around the clock. Implementing machine monitoring software from Scytec, the company began to measure the in-cycle and out-of-cycle time of 11 CNC machines. Now, company leaders in the office and on the shop floor all study a daily, visual printout of just how much machining time each of those machines delivered over the course of the previous workday.

The first result of doing this, says Mr. Halley, was an almost immediate 5-percentage-point improvement in measured performance. That boost was the early return on simply paying attention to this performance for the first time. And that boost hinted at an important insight, one that the company validated as it went on to find further performance gains with the data. Namely: Even in a seemingly efficient shop, there is still plenty of chronic inefficiency just waiting to be addressed.

The Scytec software is simpler than other machine-monitoring systems that Tech Manufacturing evaluated. Other systems had more capability than the management of this company thought it would use, at least at first. Scytec’s modularity makes it possible to buy up into additional capability over time. For now, though, Mr. Halley’s belief—a belief that has proven true—is that significant process improvement can be won just from the simple measurement of when the machines are and are not making parts.

At the start, that efficiency was 52 percent. Scytec told the company’s team that this is reasonably good. Shops generally assume they are far more productive than they really are. Thirty to 40 percent efficiency is common, said Scytec, and the software company has had machine-shop customers that initially measured an efficiency below 10 percent. Now, after two years of monitoring performance every day and responding to yellow events, Tech Manufacturing is consistently running at an efficiency of 65 percent.

The goal is to reach 70, says Mr. Halley. Getting there will be hard, because the reality of diminishing returns has set in. After two years of improvement, the inefficiencies remaining to be discovered relate to increasingly minor or increasingly rare events.

Shop Floor Automatons is the largest re-seller of Scytec software, specializing in DataXChange.

Read the full article here or call us at (877) 611-5825 

 

touch hmi tabletPredator Touch HMI Released

La Mesa, CA – November 16, 2015 – Shop Floor Automations (SFA), one of the largest independent CNC Automation Suppliers for Predator Software has now released Predator Touch HMI, a new addition to our software line.

This new Windows application is a touch-first HMI, Human Machine Interface, designed to replace shop floor bar code readers, QR code readers and handheld terminals. The simplicity of this new software allows machinists and operators to control with ease and little training.

The touch-first interface simplifies real-time manual data collection and direct numerical control. Touch HMI also supports data collection for machine downtimes, scrap reasons, and more. Running on almost all Windows editions, Predator Touch HMI is easy to install and begin improving manufacturing processes and operations.

Predator Touch HMI has many features including the ability to create an unlimited number of shop floor applications. This software also includes three different button types with the touch-optimized interface. Additionally, there is no install required and it can be integrated with other Predator applications as well as other third-party apps.

Touch HMI has the ability for wired or wireless support as well as configuration to communicate with CNCs, CMMs, test stands and other devices. With an affordable site license, Predator Touch HMI is a valuable tool in the automation of machine shops.

For more information: www.shopfloorautomations.com, email: info@shopfloorautomations.com,
Tel: 619-461-4000, fax: 619-461-5918, toll free: 877-611-5825.

Check out more info on machine monitoring software

 

The office at MOXA, where tech training for MOXA products takes place.Corporate Training at MOXA

To keep up with the rapid changes in communication technology, our support team is often tasked with visiting our vendors, such as MOXA, to learn about the latest products they have to offer. It is very important to us to be as knowledgeable as possible about the products we sell and support.

Our latest tech training was held at the MOXA corporate office in Brea, California. Being an integral part of our product line, Moxa products are very sophisticated communication devices that we are proud to use as part of our automation solutions. During the visit, our support team was trained on the latest wired and wireless devices in the Industrial Ethernet Lab.

In our ongoing effort to provide the best solutions to our valued customers, our staff has up-to-date knowledge to help facilitate your shop floor’s automation solutions.

Check out some photos from the event on Facebook. For more information on our hardware, check out more information or call (877) 611-5825

Predator DNC V10 Released – original article from CNC West Magazine: 

Predator DNC SoftwareShop Floor Automations (SFA), one of the largest independent CNC automation suppliers for Predator Software has begun implementing the latest version of Predator DNC Software v10. The new version continues to improve support for the latest CNCs, robots, PLCs and other manufacturing equipment under the latest version of Microsoft Windows. Numerous new features and improvements have been added.

The support for MicrosoftWindows 8, and Server 2012 has been completed under 32 and 64 bit operation systems while including Predator DNC Objects for Microsoft SQL for 2012 and 2014. The new version extends the support for virtual operating systems such as VMware and HyperV.

Predator DNC v10 supports the latest Fanuc Focas v3.9 device drivers. The change improved support for Fanuc controls with new options to eliminate spaces in filenames, automatically rename to an O number and force uppercase files. The new drivers enable support forWindows functional account providing specific permissions to access target folders to help secure CNCs from network.

Additional diagnostic tools have been created to allow users to support a machine specific error log without enabling multiple commands and individual logs. A single log created to trace all activity and shared to multiple users for confirmation of transfers and historical archiving. Shop Floor Automations reports the benefits of upgrading the Predator Software to the latest version allow for future compatibility between enhanced wireless and wired serial devices used for CNC communication and machine monitoring applications. The Predator Editor Lock provides software control over a CNC machines “Write Protect” key to lock and unlock the CNC’s memory.

Shop Floor Automations YouTube Tutorials

Shop Floor Automations has created a new line of videos on YouTube called Tutorials. This is a collection of helpful lessons on different processes a customer might have to complete.

shop floor automations youtubeWe value our customers highly, and that is why we want to make it as easy as possible for them to get step-by-step instruction on issues they may have. If you cannot call us or cannot have another technician remote in, we encourage customers to visit our channel and check out the tutorial videos.

If you are having trouble finding a video with the proper instructions, please contact us, and we will do our best to make a tutorial for your specific needs. We also have top-quality technicians that can assist with any technical questions.

You can visit the Shop Floor Automations YouTube channel here. We also have a list of transcriptions from our videos here.

For more information, contact us Toll Free at (877) 611-5825

Manufacturing News

We have opened a new regional office in Houston, Texas. In the ad, pictured here on Southwest Manufacturing News, we speak about the services we offer.

“Manage. Measure. Improve,” SFA declares. Among the services offered, we will continue to provide machine monitoring and OEE, job scheduling, DNC software, MTConnect, plant maintenance (CMMS), document control, and more future solutions.

Also, SFA gave a window into how USB can replace Floppy Drives. Our advertisement for more detail is here at Southwest Manufacturing News.

With machines such as Fanuc, Fadal, Haas, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Mazak, & Yasnac, a company can convert from using floppy disks to USB for CNC controls.

Please Contact us for more information toll free at (877) 611-5825 or tweet us at @SFA_inc

Shop Floor Automations: NETWORK ANY CNC CONTROL

lan to cncLa Mesa, CA – March 16, 2015 – Shop Floor Automations (SFA), one of the largest independent CNC Automation Suppliers for the CNC Machine Tool Industry has enhanced the LAN Connect product to add Ethernet to any CNC machine.

The LAN Connect device acts as an interface between commercially available SD flash memory and any CNC control with an available RS232 port. Machine tool files can be sent from CNC memory to the LAN Connect device, SD memory to CNC memory or drip-fed (DNC) from the SD memory.  Flexible CNC communication firmware is built into the unit allowing connection to just about any machine tool control.

The LAN Connect device contains all the necessary hardware to integrate a universal display onto a CNC machine tool pendant. The controller is DIN rail mountable inside the pendant or can be reverse mounted on the display.  A two (2)GB SD card is included and be upgraded by the end user to any size or brand desired to support larger NC programs/storage capacity. Read more below.

Read more

Southwest Manufacturing News – May 2015

In the May 2015 issue of Southwest Manufacturing News, we proudly ran two ads to let the manufacturing industry further know of our services. Our big highlight focused on cloud data collection services for $45 per month, per machine.

Scytec Hosted DataXchange through Shop Floor Automations means the client will not need servers, have access to a real-time dashboard, and many more benefits. Better yet – they will see up to 10 percent productivity on an immediate time frame!

Check out our Southwest Manufacturing News advertisement

We also announced the opening of a regional office in Texas advertisement

Contact us to find out what data you can gather and store in the cloud. Get machine monitoring info or call (877) 611-5825

Machine Monitoring gives you the ability to see what your machines are doing in real-time. Collect & process data from your machines using software like MTConnect, FANUC FOCAS, custom macros, or hardware devices. Optional data collection terminals can be used for additional operator input. Run time, downtime, & OEE data is then presented via dashboards, historical reports, & charts.  Emails or text messages can be sent to notify you of production issues on the shop floor.