This year’s Smart Factory Expo made one thing very clear: for many manufacturers, planned production data is broken.
We spoke to CNC shops struggling with the same core issue—badly estimated setup and cycle times. Most didn’t realise just how much this was costing them. Inaccurate planning data meant:
- The shop floor wasn’t being fed work at the right pace
- Jobs were missing delivery targets
- Actual job costs were a mystery
- Quoting was hit-and-hope
- Profitability was unknowable
It wasn’t just customers raising these issues. Partners building digital twins, tool wear sensors, and contract manufacturing platforms all mentioned it too—without real data, their tech can only go so far.
Management and improvement still has a long way to go
Despite all the digital tools on show, there’s still a gap when it comes to actionable insights. Many CNC manufacturers are still unsure where their biggest productivity losses even are.
There’s no shortage of monitoring systems. But standard machine monitoring—tracking when machines are on or off—isn’t enough anymore.
Understanding machine utilisation is just the start. The real impact comes when you can break that utilisation down by:
- Job
- Work order
- Operator
- Setup
- Shift
That’s where the real waste hides. That’s where the improvement opportunities are.
Full production visibility—not just machine utilisation
That’s why at TrackMyMachines we focus on full production monitoring.
Not just machine on/off times. But actual job-level insight.
We help you see:
- Which jobs are making money—and which aren’t
- Where setup and cycle times deviate from your estimates
- Which machines are sitting idle and why
- Whether production is matching plan in real-time
If you’re relying on guessed planned times, you’re running blind.
At TMM we turn your shop floor into a source of truth—so quoting, planning and profitability all improve.
