Data capture solution for the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre

"We chose Argenta following an open tender because nobody else was able to demonstrate that they could meet our requirement to capture and store sensor data directly from the shop floor," said Jon Stammers, Technical Fellow at the AMRC. "It is challenging
to integrate the various systems in a manufacturing environment, but Argenta had valuable experience working in similar environments."

The new solution provides a single centralised document repository, based on the Windchill product lifecycle management software. All the research and machining information is now available
in one place for any queries arising. Being able to access the repository digitally from the shop floor ensures that operators are always using the latest version of the programs that will run on the machine, and the latest version of the associated
experiment documentation. 

LabVIEW is used to capture data from the machines directly and store it in a SQL database. By capturing sensor data from the machines, the AMRC can analyse excessive vibration and any occurrence of chatter, so it can refine future programs run
on the machines. It can also capture data about machine usage to understand and demonstrate utilisation rates. Argenta created a visual reporting solution that makes it easy for the AMRC to analyse real-time and historical sensor data.

Read the full article in the January issue of DPA