Agility on the factory floor means that machines must be able to run and change over quickly. With JIT & Lean manufacturing, waste is minimized. Reducing setup time by upgrading to an embedded DNC solution like the ORiON Production Interface (OPI) made by Nexas is one way to implement IIoT on your factory floor. In trying to make your machine tools into "metal printers" - you need a smart edge device embedded in every CNC machine tool.
Nexas makes the UMI with Quad Core 32-bit ARM processors that have 512 MB of DRAM, and 16 Gigabytes of non-volatile SD flash memory to handle all your DNC needs. With power like that on an Ubuntu platform - embedded production optimization algorithms, Augmented Reality, Image Recognition, and Artificial Intelligence are now possible.
The Nexas OPI Unit is designed to be installed in almost all machine tool controllers to enable remote network wired/wireless access for DNC file loading and machine monitoring.
The OPI enables USB and serial DNC links (with protocols) to the machine, acting like a file store and embedded DNC engine. It runs on a Ubuntu Linux platform that works well connected to a normal Windows plant network. The UMI has many useful capabilities, including mapped drives with its SAMBA Server (uniquely handling SMB V1.0 on older CNC machines). Gone are memory constraints, long serial cables, slow BAUD rates, long setup times and frustrating blind operation with proprietary interfaces - today a tablet, smart phone or laptop will do...
The OPI enables USB and serial DNC links (with protocols) to the machine as it acts like a local file store and embedded DNC engine. Click here for the Nexas OPI-5 Feature Sheet or the OPI-5 Installation Manual.
The OPI pictured above also supports bar code reader input in standard Code 39 format on any USB port. It is designed to be flexible with power as it can accept 7-30VDC input 2.0A – so it is plug 'n play with Fanuc, and handles most other CNC controls due its' broad power range.
