Communication Standards

It is a fact of life that in a manufacturing organisation a large variety of machine tools are used which are made by different manufacturers having different control systems. Same thing happens with the other devices being used. In view of the heterogeneity of the various systems used it becomes extremely difficult to integrate all of them unless a proper understanding of all the various interface details. To tackle such problems, it is necessary to standardise the way the interfacing could be done which paves the way for easier interfacing of the heterogeneous equipment used in the manufacturing organisations.

Some of the major components in the manufacturing systems that need communication are :

• CAD/CAM work stations from different vendors
• Personal Computers
• CNC controllers
• Controllers of flexible manufacturing cells
• Material handling devices like robots and AGVs
• Programmable logic controllers (PLCs)