CNC Sensor is an application developed entirely in-house by v-tech s.r.o., designed to monitor, evaluate, and efficiently manage processes in engineering and manufacturing environments. The project originated in response to the needs of our own production, which lacked reliable real-time data essential for both operational and strategic decision-making.

The purpose of the application is the automated collection and analysis of machine data from CNC machining centers. Emphasis was placed on accessibility — both in terms of acquisition costs and ease of implementation. The application provides key insights that help:

• streamline production planning,
• increase utilization of the machine fleet,
• motivate employees through transparent performance monitoring,
• carry out economic evaluations of orders and overall production.

The result is a comprehensive overview of completed production, serving as a practical tool for identifying bottlenecks, reducing operating costs, and continuously improving productivity.

The application can be freely extended and tailored to the specific needs of each customer, making it suitable for both small businesses and larger manufacturing enterprises.

As part of our service, we provide complete installation, connection of CNC machines, and system commissioning directly at your production facility.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first screen of the application, providing real-time information about the status of each machine connected to the system.
Each machine is displayed as a status row, showing the following current information:

• Machine name
• Production program name
• Number of produced parts
• Spindle override status
• Feedrate override status
• Rapid traverse override status
• Job/order number
• Productivity

Timeline

The Timeline is one of the main diagnostic overviews in the CNC Sensor application. It provides a visual representation of machine status over time.

The timeline consists of 7 rows, each representing one day of the week. For better evaluation of, for example, multi-machine operation, it is possible to compare the timelines of multiple machines side by side.

When hovering the mouse over a specific time segment, a small box appears showing:

the start and end time of the selected interval,

a status description,

and additional details such as the assigned operator, active production program, or recorded alarm.

Statistics

This tab provides primarily a graphical evaluation of completed production. It includes three sub-tabs, each offering a different type of data visualization:

• Pie Charts – for proportion-based insights (e.g., machine states, downtime reasons)

• Bar Charts – for comparing production quantities, cycle times, or performance metrics

• Line Charts – for tracking trends over time, such as productivity or utilization

Machine Alarms

The Alarms tab is used to manage alarms triggered by the NC and PLC units of CNC machines. Due to the large number of possible alarms and error messages, the application is designed to capture all incoming alarms, even those that have not yet occurred, and initially place them in the "Uncategorized" group. These alarms remain in this group until they are manually sorted into specific predefined categories by the application operator using the "Alarm Settings" button. In the default configuration, the application includes three predefined alarm categories.

ERP Data Integration

CNC Sensor is an application for monitoring CNC machining centers in a manufacturing company. Its output is a comprehensive and structured overview of completed production, serving as a tool for identifying weak points in the production process, reducing operational costs, and improving productivity. By accessing production data from the ERP system, CNC Sensor is able to automatically process, compare, and evaluate machine and production data. Due to the wide variety of ERP systems used for production management, it is nearly impossible to establish fully bidirectional communication between the ERP system and CNC Sensor. Therefore, data exchange is limited to a one-way flow: ERP system → CNC Sensor. The core idea of this integration is to link machine data based on the selected NC program running on the CNC machine, which corresponds to the production operation listed on the manufacturing order (traveler). The goal is to robustly connect the execution of the NC program to the correct production operation of the given work order.