Manufacturing Data Monitoring System

The Challenge

The customer had a need to analyze their manufacturing process. They have inconsistencies in manufacturing that they have not been able to eliminate.

The customer wanted to have a very flexible system that would allow the addition of new data points to follow the clues where they lead. Like a lot of systems, it was not clear what needed to be monitored until the data helps discover the problem.

Solution

We created a flexible system that allows connection to a wide range of inputs. All the I/O is connected with Ethernet-based DAQ devices, so it can easily be spread out throughout the factory floor and moved to a new location as needed to discover issues. Multiple display applications are used to get views into the data of interest.

The system features include:

• Remote monitoring of manufacturing floor
• Multiple views into the system to monitor discrete parts of the production cycle
• Periodic logging of many system parameters
• Data capture is triggered by the process itself, so it collects data only during the production cycle
• Data is logged to a CSV file for customer evaluation in Excel
• Automatic emailing of warnings and status to assist in inventory control

Technical Details

This system was created using National Instruments LabVIEW™. Data collection is provided through a variety of Ethernet and wireless Ethernet DAQ devices and PLC’s that were already in place as part of production.