New Technology

When it comes to machine monitoring, there’s a new option on the market that towers above the competition in the developer’s eyes.

Designed and manufactured by Lyndex-Nikken in Mundelein, Illinois, the EZ-SmartTower is more than just a light that signals a machine’s status to shop-floor personnel. Billed as an easy-to-use and cost-effective monitoring system for all machines in a shop, the product is designed to boost efficiency by helping shops evaluate their machine ROI. In addition to tracking machine performance, the EZ-SmartTower provides real-time machine analytics aimed at assisting manufacturers in optimizing their processes, tracking employee performance and maximizing productivity.

Looking like a slightly larger version of a conventional status light, the tower sits atop CNC lathes, mills and other shop machinery. Wired to the machine controller, it features LED indicators that show whether the machine is running, idling or down, as well as current cycle and error times. These real-time status updates help operators make on-the-fly decisions that can boost workflow efficiency.

In addition to a separate tower for each machine in a shop, the EZ-SmartTower system includes an app that allows operational managers to monitor and analyze up to 30 machines from one central computer. The tower is equipped with Wi-Fi technology that enables wireless data transfer from each machine to a master computer in real time. (If other wireless signal traffic in the shop would cause too much interference with the tower’s Wi-Fi signal, connections from individual machines to the master computer can also be wired.) For security purposes, data gathered by the app is not transferred to or stored in the cloud — it stays in the shop.

The EZ-SmartTower system captures and displays a wide variety of machine, operator and part data. This data can be helpful in reducing bottlenecks, improving spindle utilization and improving production efficiency.