Contract manufacturers face very special challenges today: In addition to high quality, their customers demand short delivery times and maximum flexibility. If the company is also active as an automotive supplier, further requirements apply in terms of traceability, sustainability and compliance with other strict supplier regulations with audits and DIN certifications.

This calls for complete transparency of business processes, especially those on the store floor. Ostlangenberg Fertigungstechnik GmbH from Langenberg is aware of this and has taken appropriate measures. The company has introduced the end-to-end MES suite Proxia with a modern machine connection based on OPC-UA. In less than a year between the idea and implementation, 51 machining centers were connected. The result is a modern networked machine park, embedded in a harmonized IT infrastructure that provides a complete overview and seamless transparency in order processing.

OPC-UA for future-oriented networking

A good 90 percent of the reasons for machine downtimes at Ostlangenberg can now be determined digitally and automatically via machine data acquisition (MDA), even without the input of an employee. A powerful OPC UA client/server connection to the machines in combination with the software solution from Proxia Software in Ebersberg near Munich is responsible for this.

OLE ("Object Linking and Embedding") is a mechanism developed by Microsoft for exchanging information objects between different programs. OPC Classic ("OLE for Process Control") established itself on the market in the 1990s and served as the leading communication basis for various industrial bus systems and protocols at the time. However, this first version of the standard was subject to a number of limitations, which led to the development of OPC UA (UA: Unified Architecture).

OPC UA is considered a pioneering standard for Industry 4.0 and therefore for the smart factory in that it offers the possibility of reading and displaying detailed process data from various types of machine control systems and thus analyzing it in real time. Compatibility and other interface problems are a thing of the past thanks to this technology. Most machine and control system manufacturers now also rely on OPC UA and are increasingly establishing this technology as the standard.

As part of the MES system evaluation, the comparison with a conventional machine connection, such as via a PLC, showed that the modern OPC UA is the right way forward for Ostlangenberg Fertigungstechnik. The controller-independent technology means that the company is completely open both in terms of connecting the various machines and integrating them into the IT environment. The combination with a powerful MES now allows all relevant machine data from the machining centers to be read out and analyzed in real time in a visually clear manner. Avoidable downtimes or delays of other kinds can thus be identified immediately.

IT harmonization makes digitalization easier

Ostlangenberg mainly uses Fanuc controllers in its machinery. This allowed the company to focus on Fanuc's OPC UA offering. In the meantime, around 50 machines have been seamlessly networked within a very short space of time. "Just a few years ago, I wouldn't have thought this possible, if only because of the effort involved," says Managing Partner Claus Ostlangenberg with fascination, adding: "This year, we purchased four new horizontal machining centers. In the past, networking them would have been very expensive and time-consuming. But it was done in no time at all, without the need for a technician to be on site - a great thing from both an economic and ecological point of view."

The machines were connected via remote control from Proxia. This saves costs and shows how forward-looking the decision was. The MES grows with the expansion of the machine park through the quick and easy connection of new machines and, in the view of the Managing Director, "is already a harmonious IT structure that paves the way for the further digitalization of our company."