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DNC Software for FANUC Controls – Part 1

DNC SoftwareDNC Software for FANUC Controls

Many clients call us about DNC Software for FANUC controls and ask “can I DNC or drip-feed my FANUC control?” The typical response is “what model of FANUC control do you have on the machine that you want to use the DNC software with?” Many times, the specifics are not available, but solutions are available depending on the make and model of the FANUC control!

To drip-feed or DNC to FANUC controls, there are several requirements that need to be met. For this post, assume this is a FANUC older controller with a tape reader. The old model of Fanuc controls had a switch or toggle on the controller that allowed for the operator to enable tape mode, along with other modes like MDI and Edit. When in the tape mode, the part program is executed line by line (more happens but keeping this post short). The operator would load up the tape on the machine’s tape reader and press Cycle Start to cue the part program.

Today, tape readers are a thing of the past and these FANUC controls still need DNC Software to drip-feed. For an older FANUC control that needs to be drip-feed or DNC, we can supply a Behind the Tape Reader (BTR). The BTR and DNC Software will replace the old tape reader and “trick” the control to believe it executes the old tape. If you have executives tapes, no problem – the DNC Software for the FANUC control can be configured to accept this as well.

There are many options for DNC Software for FANUC controls, but the key is compatibility and ease of configuration to work with Windows 7 and 8. Our motto is to keep it simple and don’t try to find the cheapest solution. Sometimes, you will spend more time trying to troubleshoot the FANUC drip-feed problem when something elsewhere is already proven and reliable.

Find a vendor who has experience and can provide you with the complete solution for DNC Software for the FANUC control. We would love to hear from you to help you with your shop floor needs!

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Del Mar Electronics & Design Show

del mar electronics showDel Mar Electronics & Design Show 2015

Shop Floor Automations will be in Booth #561 at the Del Mar Electronics & Design Show 2015 on May 6th and 7th.

SFA will be demonstrating our software and hardware solutions to help machine shops operate more efficiently.

Tradeshows are the best time of year, as far as SFA is concerned. They proudly display which shows they will be attending, which you can see at this link.

SFA is based in La Mesa, CA –  a suburb of San Diego County (the same county where Del Mar is located). They are happy to connect with clients, potential and present, all across social media. The quickest method is to tweet @SFA_inc

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Southwest Manufacturing News – April 2015

The Predator Software logo accompanied by several lines of text: "Got Predator Software? Maximize your shop floor productivity with: DNC network, machine monitoring, document control, and CNC editing. Call us today to improve your bottom line."April 2015 Southwest Manufacturing News

Shop Floor Automations is a proud reseller of Predator Software, year after year. We took out an ad in the April 2015 Southwest Manufacturing News talking about the many solutions this software can give your shop floor.

Meeting document control, CNC editing, machine monitoring, DNC, and more needs, SFA is always happy to talk to customers about the advantages of this software. Contact us by sending a message, or tweet us at @SFA_inc

Check out our ad covering our Predator services

As we roll out our new office in Houston Texas, please see what we have to offer.  See more details about our new offices.

More about Shop Floor Automations:

About Shop Floor Automations (SFA): Founded back in 1998, SFA started as a small company focused on distributing the Predator Software product line to the San Diego and Los Angeles markets of California. SFA has been ranked #1 in Predator Software Sales, Service and Support since 1999.

 

New and improved website

shop floor automationsShop Floor Automations website

Shop Floor Automations has released a more mobile and user-friendly website. We have our entire line of products and services available, as well as new support tools available.

We are also adding to our Customer Testimonial and FAQ sections. Please let us know what else we should add.

More about our services:

Shop Floor Automations (SFA) provides the leading software brands in the manufacturing industry to integrate & support the best solutions for our customers with our years of applicable experience. The developers of the software SFA carries understand your shop floor needs & with our integration services, we can make your company more efficient using machine monitoring, job scheduling, DNC communication, document control, revision control, CNC editing, & more.

SFA is committed to addressing manufacturing automation needs of customers with individualized solutions. By offering an extensive collection of software & hardware products, we scale automation solutions to customers of any size & variety of equipment.

Do you have a small shop? A large shop? Regardless of your number of machines, or types of controls, SFA has you covered with a complete hardware connectivity suite. Don’t shop around & waste time trying to find the lowest prices – using our 18 years of experience & full support (onsite & digital) will pay for itself with working solutions.

We make our own cables & regularly test hundreds of models of controls with our equipment to confirm what works with wired, wireless, USB, & floppy disk drives for CNCs to eliminate downtime.

Call (877) 611-5825 for more information on how to improve OEE on your manufacturing shop floor!

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March ad in the Southwest Manufacturing News

Manufacturing News

We are proud to be up and running for a month in Texas

Check out our other ad in MFG News

More about our Support Services, available across the USA:

Support / Services

When selecting a vendor for your shop floor automation needs, it is important to select a company that is committed to service and support. Our clients list continues to grow through recommendations from our customers, as well as our partners. You can speak to a real person over the phone with us, versus sending emails or leaving messages on a cell phone, then waiting for a response. The information contained on these pages is intended to give you direct access to the latest software revisions, support options and technical documentation available! Read more below.

Read more

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Predator’s Enhanced Ethernet Based Machine Monitoring called CNC Service

Enhanced Ethernet Based Machine Monitoring

Shop Floor Automations announces a new solution for Machine Monitoring utilizing MTConnect, FOCAS and other solutions called CNC Service (originally an article in CNC West).

SHOP FLOOR AUTOMATIONS ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF PREDATOR’S
ENHANCED ETHERNET-BASED MACHINE MONITORING

Predator SoftwareLA MESA, Calif. – December 16, 2014 – Shop Floor Automations (SFA), the largest distributor and Service Center for Predator Software Inc., today announced the release of Predator’s popular Manufacturing Data Collection (MDC) software for Ethernet-based machine tools.

For many years, Predator has offered its fully automated, real-time MDC system for any size company to monitor and improve shop floor productivity using PLCs, macros, and paper-based solutions. This solution integrated well into equipment with stack lights and older machines to capture running, alarms, feed hold, and idle time, but left some users objecting to adding more equipment due to the costs of hardware requirements.

Today, most CNC machines include Ethernet ports and can be leveraged for data collection. CNC machines that use a Fanuc controller may have a feature called FOCAS, which allows for the capture of real-time data such as overrides, spindle speed, program number, feed/speed rates, alarms, and indicates control mode. Read more below.

Read more

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Cloud-based machine monitoring from Shop Floor Automations

manufacturing technology trendsCloud-based machine monitoring

Cloud-based machine monitoring from Shop Floor Automations enabled aerospace parts manufacturer Tech Manufacturing to reduce lead times and improve productivity.

When companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Bombardier have urgent orders, how can a shop that is already running 24/7 reduce its lead time? This was the problem faced by Tech Manufacturing (Wright City, Missouri), a long-time manufacturer of machined metal parts for the aerospace industry. By introducing cloud-based monitoring from systems integrator Shop Floor Automations (La Mesa, California), Tech Manufacturing was able to pinpoint exactly where productivity issues needed to be addressed to maximize efficiency.

One way the company could have solved this problem would have been to purchase additional machines; however, Jerry Halley, chief engineer at Tech Manufacturing, was interested in finding a smarter, more efficient approach.

“It was clear to me that we needed, first and foremost, a much better understanding of how our machines were actually performing for us in real-time,” Mr. Halley says. “In addition, if we had both live and historical machine performance data available, we should be able to identify any technical or process issues that were detrimental to individual or overall productivity.” Read more below.

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SFA in September 2014 Modern Machine Shop

See Shop Floor Automations’ recent advertisement here in Modern Machine Shop September 2014 issue below.

A red, yellow, and green bar graph showing increase, with the tallest bar crashing through the roof of its bounding box. There are several lines of text referencing software and hardware solutions for the shop floor.Shop Floor Automations can help improve your bottom line! We provide the best software, hardware and installation services since 1998!

Our solutions include DNC software, machine monitoring, data collection, updating floppy drives to USB, helping companies monitor data wireless, and many more specialties. If you want to update your machine shop without buying new machines, call us!

SFA is located across the social media landscape. You can like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and so much more. Check out our social media resources page by clicking here. You may also read our blog by clicking here.

  • Customer Success Survey. 8 quick questions. Reward: Free Shirt – Click Here
  • Purchase Origin Survey. 4 quick questions. Reward: Coupon Code – Click Here
  • Case Study. 10 minute to 15 minute phone interview. Rewards: Free publicity and upon publishing of the case study, you will get a free shirt! Click Here
  • Google Review. Leave a Star Rating & optional comment. Reward: Making our day! Click Here 
  • Facebook Review. Leave a Star Rating & optional comment. Reward: Making our day! Click Here

If you want to leave a less than perfect review, we encourage you to reach out to us first. Please call (877) 611-5825 or contact us via this form. We would love the opportunity to fix the situation.

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Add USB to Any RS232 CNC Machine

Add USB to Any CNC Machine


Add USB to any RS232 CNC machine with an RS232 comm port on your shop floor. Eliminate floppy disks, PCMCIA cards or manual data entry methods of CNC communication by adding USB to any machine, any brand with our USB connect solutions.

Let Shop Floor Automations provide you with a simple to use, easy to connect and flexible system to transfer your CNC programs to your machines. This eliminates the downtime resulting from failing floppy disks or disk drives that no longer read the CNC programs you spend hours to create.

Add USB to Any RS232 CNC Machine with USB Connect Solutions on machines such as Haas, FANUC, Mazak, Okuma, Fadal, Mori Seiki, & more. The compatibility list is updated frequently!

We offer a model that can be mounted on the CNC control pendant so operators can quickly select the files they want to download, upload or drip-feed to CNC machines. The USB connect comes with all necessary cables and includes a 2GB memory stick.

If you have several machines or need a backup to your DNC system, our portable USB device is the perfect solution. The unit can be configured to work with machines that have different baud rates and leverage colored USB sticks for specific program types.

Visit us at shopfloorautomations.com or call 877-611-5825 to learn more about how we can help automate your shop floor.

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Improve Machine Uptime and Productivity

Machine Uptime and Productivity

Using Machine Monitoring and Data Collection Software, you can improve Machine Uptime and Productivity! Every minute on the shop floor counts toward profitability and increased production.

Shop Floor Automations has been working with shop floors in the manufacturing industry since 1998 making machines more efficient and reliable.

If you could eliminate downtime and provide operators, shop managers and mid- management with real-time dashboards along with historical reports and charts, everyone becomes accountable. Shop Floor Automations provides Predator or Scytec machine monitoring and data collection systems to deliver measurable cycle times, spindle utilization and why CNC machines are idle.

We offer cloud-based CNC monitoring systems starting at $45 per month as well as on-premise solutions that run on SQL or Oracle and can be deployed in weeks. We can also make magic with solutions like MT Connect and a simple MDC adapter.

If you want to replace a paper system or whiteboards, or are just looking to learn more about how we can help you, visit us at shopfloorautomations.com or give us a call at 877-611-5825.

We look forward to connecting with you, and helping your shop floor!