Background
A CNC manufacturing facility operating 12 machining centers had no objective record of how each machine spent its time. Downtime events, setting periods, error conditions, and idle states were visible only to personnel standing in front of the machine — and only at the moment they occurred. There was no historical log, no duration data, and no way to compare machine utilization across shifts or across the facility.
The factory already had Tower Lamps (signal lights) installed on each CNC machine, indicating running, setting, error, and off states through color signals. PT Phase Delta Control was engaged to capture these signals digitally and convert them into a structured, time-stamped monitoring system — without modifying any existing machine or controller.
System Requirement
Capture Tower Lamp signals (green/yellow/red/off) from 12 CNC machines in real time over the existing network
Record the duration and frequency of each machine state: Run-time, Setting-time, Down-time, Error-time, and Off-time
Allow configurable scheduled production times and planned downtime windows per machine, so unplanned events can be distinguished from planned ones
Generate graphical web-based reports accessible from the control room and management workstations
Implement without changes to existing CNC controllers or machine wiring
Project Implementation
Wireless I/O module — Tower Lamp signal acquisition per machine
Local Ethernet Network — Data transmission to monitoring server
Web-based monitoring platform — Real-time dashboard and historical reports
System Description
I/O modules were wired to the Tower Lamp terminals on each of the 12 CNC machines. The three-color lamp signals — green (running), yellow (setting/changeover), red (error/fault), and off — were read directly as digital inputs, converting a visual-only indicator into a continuous, time-stamped data stream transmitted over the Ethernet network to the monitoring server.
Each machine was configured with its scheduled production hours and any recurring planned downtime windows such as shift breaks or scheduled maintenance. The system used these parameters to classify each state event — distinguishing, for example, between a planned changeover and an unplanned fault stop of the same duration.
The monitoring platform accumulated data continuously, calculating per machine and per shift: total run time, cumulative setting time, number and duration of downtime events, error occurrences and their total duration, and off-time. All figures were available in real time on the dashboard and stored for historical trend analysis.
Graphical web reports were accessible from any workstation on the network, giving production managers and engineers the ability to review machine utilization patterns, identify which machines accumulated the most unplanned downtime, and compare performance across shifts — without requiring physical access to the shop floor.
Summary
The system gave the facility its first objective, time-stamped record of how each CNC machine spent every hour of operation. Tower Lamp signals that had previously served only as visual floor indicators became the data source for a full downtime analysis platform — deployed across 12 machines with no modifications to existing equipment.
12 CNC machines monitored via existing Tower Lamp signals — no controller changes
Continuous logging of Run-time, Setting-time, Down-time, Error-time, and Off-time
Configurable scheduled times and planned downtime for accurate event classification
Graphical web reports accessible from control room and management workstations
Historical trend data enabling cross-machine and cross-shift performance comparison
