MT Connect

I have a customer wanting to connect our machines to their MT Connect system. They tell me its very easy and all I have to do is write an interface. Sounds very easy for them.

Anyone worked with one of these systems before? Best i can tell i just have to put the data into XML files and the server will collect it from my machine.

http://www.mtconnect.org/

Last year was the first time I ever heard of MT Connect. I was asked about writing and AdvancedHMI driver for it. I only looked into for a few minutes, but I got the impression it was an attempt at a standard protocol similar as to what OPC achieved.

CharlesM said:

I have a customer wanting to connect our machines to their MT Connect system. They tell me its very easy and all I have to do is write an interface. Sounds very easy for them.

Anyone worked with one of these systems before? Best i can tell i just have to put the data into XML files and the server will collect it from my machine.

http://www.mtconnect.org/

Click to expand...

Hi Charles,

Could you find a way of connecting PLC to MTConnect? Did you come forward with MTConnect ? An tips i have a same case as you are in. I need to connect the plc via MTConnect. But i could not find much information in the documents on MTConnect

Thanks
Harsh

Sorry I'm not much help. After talking with the customer they assured me that all I needed was to put data into an XML file using some "standard tags". I told them I could do that if they supplied the tags they wanted the data in. They still have not sent me any tag information to move forward.

It is my understanding that the org has standard tag names for the data. If these standard tag names do not fit your application then you submit the tag names to them and they are created as the new standard. Which makes me think if everything is a standard then nothing is.

If you come up with something that works I would like to hear about it. If I end up doing anything I will post an update here.

Charles

Below are a mixture of videos, podcasts and articles on MTConnect. As stated at the MTConnect website, "MTConnect is an open, royalty-free standard that is intended to foster greater interoperability between devices and software applications. By establishing an open and extensible channel of communication for plug-and-play interconnectivity between devices, equipment and systems, MTConnect allows sources to exchange and understand each other’s data. This common communication is facilitated by XML and HTTP technology to provide real-time data from throughout a factory. This common communication empowers software developers to implement applications aimed at providing more efficient operations, improved production optimization and increased productivity.”


MTConnect enables productivity by making it easy to connect manufacturing equipment to a network, to get information from manufacturing equipment, to share manufacturing information in an open and standard way with your suppliers and anywhere you choose. MTConnect makes it very easy to monitor what your equipment is doing. Connect once, improve productivity everywhere!

• This is an MTConnect video is about 7 1/2 minutes long and it does a nice job with the history of MTConnect and detailing exactly how we got to the first release.
• History of MTConnect
• Introducing MTConnect
• I wrote an MTConnect article for PRECISION Magazine that is titled MTConnect: The Holy Grail of Manufacturing and Why This Time is Different. The article is in the May/June version. My article is on pages 20 and 21 of the May/June edition.

• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]MTConnect.org

• http://MTConnect.org [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]- THE site for MTConnect[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]github.com/MTConnect[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]- lots of source code, binaries and information on exactly how MTConnect works at the lowest level[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]MTConnect Forum[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]- Q & A as well as discussions[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]MTConnect Users Portal[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]- some good info here[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]
  [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]MTConnect videos and training[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]from the [MC]2 2013 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]agent.MTConnect.org[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]-- this is where the MTConnect simulator is running. You can just type this into your browser and give simple commands such as:[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]http://agent.MTConnect.org/probe[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]http://agent.MTConnect.org/current[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]http://agent.MTConnect.org/sample[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

[/FONT]

• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif][MC]2 2015 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]that is coming the end of April in Chicago[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]MTConnect: To Measure Is To Know by Dave Edstrom[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]- technical info on MTConnect is on pages 125 to 202[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]Getting Started With MTConnect - Shop Floor Monitoring, What's In It For You?[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]White paper[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]Getting Started With MTConnect - Connectivity Guide[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]White paper[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

[/FONT]

Charles,

One way that you can connect their MTConnect devices is through OPC. More specifically, Kepware offers an MT Connect communications driver. I have provided several links to our web site of information that will be relevant to what you are doing.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/Kepware.htm
http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepserverex.htm
http://www.eternity-sales.com/Kepware/kepserverex_machine_connectivity_drivers.htm

If you have other devices that are not MTConnect, Kepware offers driver suites for just about every major brand of controller.

Keep in mind, your client software will need to be OPC compliant in order to communicate.

Should you have any additional questions, feel free to post, pm or email me through the link provided below.

Disclosure - ESI is an authorized Kepware Distributor.