MTConnect

MTConnect is an open, read only standard for getting data out of machine tools. An adapter sits next to the control and an agent publishes what the machine is doing over HTTP in a common format, so two controls from different builders answer the same question the same way. Nothing goes back down the wire; it only reports. The planned connection will read that feed and record cycle starts and stops, parts completed and alarm conditions against the WorkCell job running on that machine. Today those numbers come from an operator at a shop floor terminal, which works, but only as often as someone types.