Changeovers run long
When every job is new, setup is a large share of the day. Recording it as its own state shows which jobs and machines lose most.
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Job Shop Machine Monitoring: Real Hours per Job | MDCplus
Job shops · quoted vs real
Machine monitoring for job shops
In a job shop every day is a new set of jobs, and a quote is only as good as your real machine hours. MDCplus shows how long each job really takes, how much of it is setup and where the hours leak, so you quote with facts and know what an hour is worth.
- Real hours per job
- Setup time as its own state
- Honest machine hour rate
- Start with a few machines
Machine monitoring for job shops means collecting machine data automatically so you can see how long each job really takes, how much of that is setup, and where machine hours are lost. In high-mix production there is no steady rhythm to learn, so the only way to quote accurately is to measure, and the only way to price an hour honestly is to know how many of your hours are productive.
Job tickets
How do I know whether a job made money?
Pick a job. The bars compare the machine hours you quoted with the machine hours the job really used. Change the machine hour rate to see what the difference costs. Illustrative jobs, not customer data.
Not sure what your machine hour is worth? Use the machine hour rate calculator.
Where the hours go
Where do machine hours leak in a job shop?
The machine waits for something
Material, program, tool, inspection or an operator. Stops with a reason turn a feeling into a Pareto.
Late starts and early stops
Shifts that start and end a little off add up across a month of machines.
Run time that does not match the quote
If real cycle times are always above the quoted ones, the next quote is the place to fix it.
Start small
How can a small shop start with machine monitoring?
- Pick the machinesThe ones that carry most of your revenue, or that you suspect lose the most.
- Connect them read-onlyThe first machine takes 1 to 2 hours. Older machines connect through a terminal, PLC signals or sensors.
- Ask operators for one thingA reason when the machine stops. States are collected automatically.
- Use the numbers in the next quoteCompare real hours with quoted hours, then add machines as you see value.
Licensing is per data collection point, where one PLC or HMI is one license. The price includes implementation and the server license, so a few machines is a real starting point.
Mixed machine park
Can old and new machines be connected together?
Yes. MDCplus connects to CNC machines and PLCs over more than 100 open protocols, including FANUC (FOCAS 2), Siemens Sinumerik, HEIDENHAIN, Mazatrol, Okuma OSP and Haas. Older machines connect through a terminal, PLC signals or sensors. It is installed on premise and can work fully inside a closed network without internet access.
Open the machine connectivity checker to see the connection route for your controller.
Talk about your shop
Tell us how many machines you run and which controllers they have. We will answer what can be read and which few machines to start with.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know whether a job made money?
Compare the machine time the job really used, setup included, with the machine time you quoted, and value both at your machine hour rate. Recording machine states automatically gives the real time without relying on operators to write it down.
How do you track setup time in a job shop?
Setup is recorded as its own machine state, so you see how long each changeover really takes and which jobs or machines lose the most time. That is the starting point for reducing it.
How do you calculate a machine hour rate?
Add the yearly cost of the machine: depreciation, interest, space, maintenance, tooling, labor, energy and overhead. Divide it by the scheduled hours for the cost of a scheduled hour, and by the productive hours for the cost of a productive hour. The machine hour rate calculator does this for you.
Can we start with only a few machines?
Yes. Licensing is per data collection point, where one PLC or HMI is one license, so you can start with the machines that matter most and add others later.
Do operators need to do extra work?
The machine states are collected automatically. Operators are only asked to select a reason when a machine stops, which takes seconds and makes the downtime data useful.
Can MDCplus run in a closed network?
Yes. MDCplus is installed on premise and can work fully inside a closed network without internet access.
How quickly can we start?
The first machine is connected within 1 to 2 hours. The rest depends on how fast you provide the list of machines and the network access on the site.
Technical library
Read more
- How to improve OEE in a job shop
- SMED changeover template in Excel
- Tracking machine downtime in Excel, and its limits
- When to switch from Excel to OEE software
- What is machine downtime
- How to make operators log machine downtime
- Late starts and early stops: how to fix them
- OEE, TEEP and OOE Excel tracker template
- How to calculate cycle time and throughput
- Downtime Pareto principle with a free template
Other industries
Aerospace
Automotive
Railway components
Turbines & Pistons
Equipment manufacturing
Precision machining
Contract manufacturing
Process manufacturing
Free tools
- Machine connectivity checker: find the connection route for your controller.
- Machine hour rate calculator: cost of a scheduled and a productive hour.
- Digital maturity assessment: 20 questions across 7 areas in about 5 minutes.
- Product overview, FAQ and all industries.
Last updated: . Prepared by the MDCplus team.
