Optional module elucloud from elumatec

Customers have high demands for quality and delivery times. Manufacturing companies must therefore invest in the efficiency and productivity of their production processes. Extensive automation and digitization of business processes can help in this regard. With eluCloud, elumatec and elusoft offer a joint Industry 4.0 solution for the digitization and analysis of machine and production data. The analysis of this data helps to optimize production processes and plan future maintenance. As a result, costs can be reduced and machine availability and productivity increased. 

"EluCloud records all data related to machines, parts and production, allowing one to access real-time information from any location of what is currently happening in production and what has happened beforehand," says Bas Ladestein, Managing Director of elumatec Benelux BV. "The real-time display of the machine status and the calculation of the machine frequency allows one to quickly identify deviations from the desired production. The data collected also helps with structured fault finding and analysis. EluCloud also provides an overview of pending jobs and detailed information on all parts produced. Based on this information, production data can be analyzed precisely and adjusted individually." 

EluCloud includes several modules and an App, allowing the functions to be accessed on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. EluCloud-Monitor forms the cornerstone of the software and is used to record data from the local machine. The modern controllers of elumatec machines can measure data in real time: the number of pieces produced, error messages, detailed time protocols related to tool usage or spindle run times. This precise time information helps, for example, to recognize required maintenance intervals in time and to plan better. EluCloud-Server stores all data for use in evaluations. This server is specially designed to be integrated into an existing IT infrastructure.

"Anyone who wants to make detailed evaluations of, for example, production utilization, job processing progress, job processing times, evaluation of individual machines, evaluations of the entire machine fleet or part processing times should invest in the additional eluCloud-Analytics module," Ladestein believes. "Thanks to the analyzed information and the user-friendly filter options, this module also supports, for example, the optimization of production times. By measuring and analyzing, among other things, non-productive times such as clamping adjustments and tool or position changes, it is possible to optimize production technology and significantly reduce production times. In addition, this module also helps with fault finding and allows them to determine the required production time for a workpiece or an entire job, allowing future jobs to be calculated more accurately." 

According to Ladestein, EluCloud is a particularly useful tool in automating and digitizing production processes, opening doors to Industrie 4.0 and the Smart Factory. "A core feature of any Industrie 4.0 solution is seamless communication between individual machines or between machine and software, also summarized as the Internet of Things or Internet of Things, IoT. The eluCloud API interface provides that communication between individual machines or between machine and software. The term API refers to an interface, with which the eluCloud solution can be integrated into existing solutions and connected to other software solutions. In this way, the data can also be integrated into calculation programs and ERP or MES systems."