Web-Enabled Real-Time Quality Feedback for Factory Systems Using MTConnect

Quality is a key element to success for any manufacturer, and the fundamental prerequisite for quality is measurement. In the discrete parts industry, quality is attained through inspection of parts but typically there is a long latency between machining, quality measurement and part/process assessment. Since manufacturing systems are by their nature imperfect, it is imperative to indentify and rectify out-of-tolerance processes as soon as possible. Rapid quality feedback into the factory operation is not a complex concept, however, the collection and dissemination of the necessary measurement data in a timely and tightly integrated manner is challenging. This paper discusses Web-enabled, real-time quality data based on the integration of MTConnect and quality measurement reporting data. MTConnect is an open factory communication standard that leverages the Internet and uses XML for data representation. The quality data is represented in MTConnect as XML to represent Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) output results. A pilot implementation to produce Web-enabled, real-time quality results in a standard MT-Connect XML representation from Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) inspections will be discussed.