Anytime, anywhere: GE Fanuc supports MTConnect standard

By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff September 30, 2008

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms now supports MTConnect, a new communication protocol to link machine tools from varying suppliers. In particular, GE recently focused on integration of GE Fanuc CNC systems into an MTConnect Network, linking multiple CNC controllers via the Internet to remote sites using CIMPLICITY HMI software.

MTConnect is based on XML for widely recognized and accepted flexible representation when exchanging semi-structured, machine-readable data. Its protocol will be rolled out in three phases.“MTConnect will enable a host of third-party solution providers to develop software and hardware to make the entire manufacturing enterprise more productive,” says John Turner, a manager for GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms’ CNC business. “MTConnect is designing an open communication standard for interconnection that mirrors the success occurring in the IT world—that is, allowing devices, equipment, and systems to output data in an understandable format that can be read by any other device using the same standard format to read the data.”