Do Your Test Machines Need Smarter Data Collection?

One of the biggest hurdles that manufacturers face when trying to improve their test processes is manual data entry. Test machines with all manual operations and gauges are very efficient with knowledgeable operators but leave much to be desired with respect to data analytics. But how do you know you’re ready for a data acquisition (DAQ) upgrade to your machine? Here are a few questions to ask…

• Are your manufacturing engineers spending excessive time manually typing test data into tools like Excel or Minitab to analyze product performance trends?
• Are your customers asking for test data on the products they purchase but your test stand is manual and does not record data?
• Are your operators reading live gauge readouts to determine pass/fail criteria and you wish you had data traceability?
• Are your operators manually checking discrete data points and you wish you had the ability to sweep a full performance curve?
• Do you have a PLC controlled machine but no way to access the data?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be worthwhile considering adding a DAQ solution to your machine. In most cases, a DAQ upgrade can be done while maintaining the existing machine and simply adding controls hardware. In the case of a PLC controlled machine, it’s possible to start seeing your data without any hardware upgrades, as VoxSomnia offers custom LabVIEW programs that read directly from PLC tags. In both cases, a database can be configured to store all test data allowing it to be queried and read into custom dashboards and data visualizations.

At VoxSomnia, we are passionate about technology for manufacturers. Drop us a line at info@voxsomnia.io at any time to learn more about data acquisition and analysis tools!

About the author

Becca Tiwet

Sales & Applications Engineer

The extroverted engineer, Becca's background is in manufacturing design, where she worked on the front lines of common challenges of the manufacturing world for many years. Her ability to uncover the root cause of customer problems is a key ingredient to VoxSomnia's success!