CNC monitoring
CNC machine monitoring that works on the old machines too
LiveMach CNC machine monitoring is an industrial IoT tool for Indian job shops and plants. Its own sensors, fitted outside the machine, show whether each CNC is running, stopped, idle or off. A cloud dashboard shows spindle utilisation and downtime by shift. It is for owners, plant heads and production managers.
LiveMach reads your CNC machines from outside. No software on the machine, nothing cut or rewired inside. That is why it works the same on a 2024 VMC and on a 1998 lathe with a dead serial port. Controller readings can be brought in where the controller allows it.
What is spindle utilisation, and how is it different from machine on time?
Machine on time is how long the machine had power. Spindle utilisation is how long it was actually cutting. In most job shops the second number is roughly half the first, and only the first one is visible today.
A CNC standing with the door open, waiting for the next job, looks exactly like a running machine from the office. It is powered, the screen is on, the operator is next to it. But no metal is being removed. Over a shift that gap is where your capacity went.
This is why owners are surprised by their first month of data. Nobody was lying. The floor genuinely felt busy. Busy and cutting are different things, and the difference is money on every quotation you send.
Illustrative shift, not live data
One shift, four machines, four states
Each strip is an example 480 minute shift. Setup or changeover and breakdown are shown as stoppage reasons. Read the running blocks against the whole strip and you have spindle utilisation for that machine.
Illustrative shift strips for four CNC machines over 480 minutes each, coloured by running, idle, setup or changeover, and breakdown. Spindle running time is between 44 and 51 percent on each machine, well under half the shift, against 100 percent machine on time.
States
- Running
- Idle
- Setup or changeover
- Breakdown
Machine on time is 100 percent on all four. Spindle utilisation is under half. That gap is the whole point.
Once you can see the real number, machine hour rate stops being a guess and starts being arithmetic.
What are the four machine states?
Every minute of every shift, each machine sits in one of four states: running, stopped, idle or off. These four are the base for utilisation, downtime and costing.
| State | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Running | Spindle turning, cutting a part. | This is the only state that makes you money. Everything else is cost. |
| Stopped | Machine powered but not running, for example waiting, in setup or broken down. | Every stop is recorded with its start and end time, so it can be given a reason. |
| Idle | Machine powered, no cutting. Waiting for material, operator, inspection or the next job. | Often the biggest surprise, and often the cheapest to fix. |
| Off | Machine switched off, for a break, a holiday or an unstaffed shift. | Kept apart so planned time off never mixes with real losses. |
Reason codes such as setup or changeover and breakdown sit on top of these states, so a stoppage is never just a gap on a chart. It is a gap with a name.
How does LiveMach connect to a CNC machine?
We fit sensors on the outside of the machine that read what it is doing, and our device converts that into machine state and production counts. The core does not need the controller.
These are the four methods we actually use. Which combination goes on your machine depends on what it exposes and what your process needs.
Current transformer on the spindle drive
A clamp-on CT around the supply to the spindle drive. Cutting current and idling current look completely different, so this alone separates running from idle on most machines. It also feeds power consumption per machine.
Optocoupler tap on signal lines
Tower lamp and contactor signals are read through an optocoupler, which keeps your machine and our board electrically separate. The two never share a ground.
Proximity sensor
Mounted near a moving element such as a turret, a door or a bar feeder stroke. Used for cycle detection and part counting where the electrical signals do not give a clean count.
4 to 20 mA loop
Where a transmitter already exists on the machine for pressure, temperature or flow, we take its standard loop signal instead of adding another sensor.
Schematic diagram
Where the sensors actually sit
Everything we fit is outside the machine envelope. The dashed boundary is the line we never cross.
- Your CNC machine
- Nothing inside this line is touched
- LiveMach device
- Current transformer. Clamped around the spindle drive supply cable.
- Optocoupler tap. On the tower lamp or contactor signal, electrically isolated.
- Proximity sensor. Beside a turret, door or bar feeder stroke, for cycle counting.
- 4 to 20 mA loop. From a transmitter the machine already has.
Nothing inside the machine is cut, tapped into or rewired. Our device sits alongside the machine rather than in its control path, so if it fails the machine keeps running exactly as before. Your machine warranty and your AMC are untouched.
Does it work on every CNC machine, not only the new ones?
Yes, because it does not depend on the controller. Controller integration only works when the controller exposes an interface and the vendor allows it to be used. Most Indian job shops have a mixed floor where that is true for a minority of machines.
Walk through a typical shed in Pune, Rajkot, Coimbatore, Ludhiana or Bengaluru. There is a recent VMC with a modern controller, three older machines from two other brands, a lathe from the late nineties that still holds tolerance, and one machine whose communication port stopped working years ago.
A monitoring system built on controller protocols covers the first machine and argues with the rest. A system built on external sensing covers all of them the same way, on the same dashboard, with the same four states. For a job shop, that is the difference between monitoring your plant and monitoring a corner of it.
| Point | Controller integration | LiveMach external sensing |
|---|---|---|
| Old machines | Needs a live communication interface. Older machines are often out. | Works. A lamp, a contactor or the spindle drive current is enough. |
| Mixed brands | A different integration per controller family, and a different licence. | One approach for every brand and every vintage. |
| Depth of data | Can read controller level detail such as programme and alarm codes. | State, timing, counts, current and power. Less controller detail, and honest about it. |
| Risk to the machine | Touches the machine control network. | Electrically isolated and outside the control path. |
| Time to fit | Depends on vendor cooperation and licences. | Usually about an hour per machine, in a normal changeover gap. |
We are not pretending this is better at everything. If you need programme names and controller alarm codes off a fleet of identical new machines, a protocol based system gives you more. If you need every machine in the shed measured the same way starting next week, this is the approach that gets there.
How does real machine time help job work costing?
If you quote job work, your rate is built on a machine hour cost. Most shops assume the machine runs far more than it does, so the rate is wrong in both directions and nobody knows which jobs are actually profitable.
With real utilisation the arithmetic works. You know how many spindle hours a machine genuinely gives in a month, and which jobs eat setup time. Where the power consumption add on is set up, each machine also carries a real electricity figure instead of a spread one.
- Machine hour rate built from measured spindle hours, not from an assumption.
- Setup heavy jobs priced for the setup they actually consume.
- Power cost attributed per machine, so a heavy machine stops being hidden inside a shared electricity bill.
- A clear answer to whether the next machine is needed, or whether the existing ones are simply idle half the shift.
This is the argument that lands with a job shop owner, because it changes the number on the quotation rather than adding another report to read.
What does the dashboard show for every machine and shift?
One dashboard covers all your machines across sheds and plants, with shift, day and month views. Night shift is recorded exactly like the day shift, because nobody has to be there to record it.
Live floor view
Every machine colour coded by state right now. You can see a stopped machine from your phone before anybody walks past it.
Shift comparison
The same four machines across three shifts. This is usually the fastest way to find a supervision problem nobody wants to raise.
Operator view
With the optional operator panel and attendance modules, hours and machine assignment are recorded against each machine, so efficiency conversations are about data and not about opinion.
Machine ranking
Top and bottom machines are ranked, so you can see quickly which ones need attention first.
What we have actually proven, and what we have not
We will be straight with you. Our largest deployment is 150 machines at a ₹500+ crore manufacturer, and that plant is a mixed electrical and mechanical floor. Our proven ground is textile looms and screen printing machines.
We do not have a CNC case study to show you, and we are not going to invent one. What we can show you is the same hardware and the same four state model running on machines that are older and dirtier than most CNC machines, and a pilot on one of your own machines that either convinces you or does not.
Start with one machine
Pick the CNC you argue about most. We fit it, you watch two weeks of real spindle data, and then you decide about the rest of the shed.
Common questions
- Does it work with my FANUC or Siemens controller?
- We do not need your controller. LiveMach reads the machine through external sensors, so nothing has to be enabled or licensed on the control. That means it works the same whether your controller is a current FANUC, an old Siemens or a make nobody supports any more. If you also want controller readings, they can be brought in only where the controller allows it.
- Will it work on my 1998 lathe with no communication port?
- Yes, and that machine is the reason this approach exists. A current transformer on the spindle drive, an optocoupler on a lamp or contactor signal, or a proximity sensor on a moving part gives us running, stopped, idle and off without any digital output from the machine.
- Does installation stop production?
- No. Fitting is done from outside the machine, usually inside a normal changeover or shift gap, and most machines are reporting within about an hour. Nothing inside the machine is cut or rewired, so there is no commissioning to redo afterwards.
- Will this affect my machine warranty or AMC?
- It should not, because we make no modification to the machine. Sensors clamp on or mount outside, the device is electrically isolated from the machine, and no internal wiring is altered. If your OEM contract has specific wording, show it to us before installation and we will fit accordingly.
- Can it count parts?
- Yes, on most machines. Counting comes from cycle detection, using either the spindle current pattern or a proximity sensor on a repeating movement. Where a process makes a clean count impossible we will tell you at survey rather than after installation.
- Do you have CNC customers we can talk to?
- Not yet, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Our proven deployments are textile looms, screen printing machines and a mixed 150 machine plant. The hardware and the state model are the same, and the honest way to test it on your machines is a pilot on one of them.
- What happens to the data if the internet goes down?
- The device keeps logging to its own memory and syncs on its own when the connection returns. The stoppages during the outage are not lost, and the timestamps stay correct.
- What does CNC monitoring cost?
- It depends on the number of machines, the sensor set each one needs and whether you want add ons such as power monitoring. There is no public price list because no two sheds are the same. It is agreed in writing. Tell us your machine count, makes and rough vintages and we will quote properly.
Related reading
How to retrofit old CNC machines for monitoring
A step by step guide for old machines with no network port or digital output.
CNC machining shops
A shorter look at what a pilot on a machining floor involves.
OEE software
The full OEE calculation worked through on a CNC lathe, on one 8 hour example shift.
Machine downtime tracking
Reason codes, the Pareto, and why the Excel tracker eventually stops working.
The LiveMach sensor device
What the device reads on a CNC and how it stays outside the control path.
How LiveMach pricing works
What decides the cost and how a pilot on one machine starts.