Siemens announced a new control-only retrofit program for CNC machines. Tailored precisely for milling machines up to four axes plus one spindle or 2- to 3-axis turning machines, users can gain new levels of manufacturing efficiency and productivity. By retrofitting an aging machine tool with a new CNC, users can quickly improve their productivity, cut soaring maintenance costs and greatly extend the machine tool's lifecycle, according to the company.

The Sinumerik 828D control is a panel-based CNC with horizontal and vertical control panel layouts. It's small enough to be easily integrated into the most compact machine tool designs. Now with support for analog drive connectivity, the Sinumerik 828D is a durable, rugged and user-friendly control with an intuitive graphical user interface for programming and operation. With no hard disk or fan, the 828D is maintenance-free and it features a 10.4" color TFT display, a full QWERTY keyboard and a number of communication interfaces including Ethernet, USB 2.0, Compact Flash (CF) card, Drive-Cliq, RS232 C, PLC I/O and NC I/O.