On April 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the [MC]2 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference in Orlando, Mazak Corporation’s Vice President of Manufacturing Ben Schawe will discuss how the machine tool builder uses MTConnect inside its North American manufacturing plant to monitor its production equipment and gather valuable data to further improve operations. Additionally, Mazak’s Digital Solutions Specialist Neil Desrosiers will be at the conference April 8, 9 and 10 to lend his expert advice regarding the use of MTConnect with Mazak machines. As a first in the machine tool OEM industry, Mazak started converting its manufacturing plant over to the MTConnect open communications protocol in 2013. While Mazak is currently using MTConnect to monitor overall equipment efficiency, the company will soon use it for several unique custom applications, including monitoring machine tool spindle sensors for valuable maintenance data and tracking part cycle times to benefit the company’s scheduling department. Furthermore, Mazak has plans to use MTConnect with third-party software to create custom apps for the mobile monitoring of its manufacturing plant. These apps will give Mazak managers and other key personnel access to live real-time data from equipment monitoring dashboards via mobile devices. Additionally, Mazak staff would immediately receive a text and/or email alert should an issue arise within the plant. A diamond sponsor of the [MC]2 2014 Conference, Mazak has been a strong supporter of the MTConnect protocol since its inception, offering all of its machines with MTConnect compatibility. Currently, over 100 Mazak customers are at various stages of MTConnect integration within their facilities involving approximately 500 Mazak machines within a wide range of model types. Through MTConnect, Mazak can ensure that its customers can easily monitor various machine components and functions through a series of sensors. Customers are then able to retrieve raw machine data and incorporate it into aggregate charts and graphs that depict production over specified periods of time. This information allows manufacturers to accurately pinpoint and correct for manufacturing bottlenecks or causes of machine downtime to improve spindle utilization and further streamline production operations. “More of our customers are discovering the value and capabilities of MTConnect, and Mazak has been deeply involved with supporting and advancing the standard. This is why we participate in the [MC]2 event,” said Brian Papke, president of Mazak Corporation. “MTConnect’s value to our customers is in the ability for them to establish extensive and open channels of communication for plug-and-play interconnectivity between devices, equipment and systems to improve operational efficiency and optimize productivity.”