Agreement e-enables the factory floor

Internet-enabled software CNC and soft motion control technology specialist Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc (MDSI) has entered a joint technology partnership with Advantech Automation Corporation, Taiwan.

Advantech, a $140 million manufacturer of PC-based industrial automation solutions, plans to incorporate MDSI's soft motion control into a new product solution for the General Motion Control (GMC)/industrial automation market, from their Cincinnati Industrial Automation group.

MDSI's core soft motion is patented technology that provides motion without proprietary hardware or motion control cards and is reconfigurable. The software can be used as a common control across all types of machine tools.

All-software MDSI technology Internet-enables the factory floor. It allows integration of equipment on the factory floor with all other enterprise-wide information and execution systems—onsite or off—by providing unprecedented access to machine data through its patented real-time data collection technology.

In an industry dominated by proprietary hardware CNC/GMC solutions, MDSI has been able to prove that high-end, multi-axis CNC machine tools can be controlled entirely from software, sitting on Microsoft Windows NT and running from a single processor.

'We are pleased to join forces with Advantech and bring the power of our software motion technology to the general motion market,' said James R. Fall, president and CEO, MDSI (pictured). 'Our soft motion framework meshes perfectly with Advantech's eAutomation vision.'