FANUC IoT System Boosts Machine Uptime at Lettner

With around 45 machine tools on site, LMB Metallbearbeitung (LMB) produces millions of parts every year, typically with small diameters in the range of 0.6 to 22 mm. With so many machines and such high volumes, keeping track of production status and throughput can prove challenging, which is why the company turned to FANUC’s MT-LINK𝑖.

MT-LINK𝑖 is PC-based software that connects machines in the factory by collecting, managing and visualising various data sets. This advanced IoT tool is growing in popularity at factories around the world as they look to drive production improvements.

“We produce five days a week, 24 hours a day, with 23 employees active across two shifts and one ghost shift,” explains LMB’s Founder, Owner and Managing Director Alexander Lettner. 

FANUC MT-LINK𝑖 is a fully scalable, out-of-the-box machine tool monitoring solution that can supervise and manage data from one to 2,000 machines, robots and other devices like PLCs via an OPC UA server protocol. All that machine shops require to monitor and collect operational and production data is a PC and an Ethernet connection. FANUC’s advanced software automatically collects a variety of data points, including alarm history, macro variables and signal history, servo/spindle motor currents and temperatures, battery and fan status, feed rate overrides, and more.