OPC UA

OPC UA is the industrial interoperability standard, published as IEC 62541, that most PLCs and newer CNC controls already speak. A server on the equipment exposes its values in a structured address space, and a client connects, authenticates and subscribes to the ones it cares about. The planned connection makes WorkCell that client, reading only: whether a machine is running, what it has produced, and what faulted. Those readings attach to the job and the work center, so utilization comes from the equipment rather than from recollection. WorkCell will not write a setpoint or a command back to a control.