CNC machine connectivity: connection guides

CNC machine connectivity in Scout MES works over your factory LAN, with no electrical modifications to CNC machines and PLCs. Each guide below shows what data Scout reads from a given control, robot, PLC or protocol, and what is needed. The full list, including systems without a separate guide, is on Supported controllers and protocols.

CNC controls

• Bystronic machine monitoring
• Citizen machine monitoring
• cncGraF machine monitoring (InfoCAM)
• Delem control monitoring
• DMG MORI machine monitoring
• Fanuc machine monitoring
• Haas machine monitoring
• Heidenhain TNC monitoring
• Kimla UDP machine monitoring
• Mazak machine monitoring
• Mitsubishi CNC monitoring
• OKUMA machine monitoring
• OSAI CNC monitoring
• Safan press brake monitoring
• Siemens Sinumerik monitoring
• Trumpf laser monitoring

Robots

• Fanuc robot monitoring
• Yaskawa robot monitoring

PLCs

• PLC monitoring
• Beckhoff PLC monitoring
• Omron PLC monitoring
• Siemens S7 (S7 TCP)

Protocols

• HTTP JSON machine data
• JDF JMF: connecting printing machines
• Modbus TCP
• MQTT protocol
• MTConnect machine connection
• OPC UA standard (and OPC DA Classic)

Other devices

• Connect a conventional machine
• Teltonika telematics modules

How to connect a CNC machine to the network

Scout reads the data over your factory LAN, directly from the control, with no electrical modifications. The machine does not need internet access: SCT (Scout Configuration Tool) runs as Windows services on a computer in your network and sends the data to the Scout server over HTTPS, so you do not need to open any inbound ports. We install and configure SCT remotely. You prepare a Windows computer in the LAN and send us the list of machines (control type and IP address). Scout only reads data. It does not control machine motion.

Frequently asked questions

How do I connect a CNC machine to Scout?

The machine must be connected to your factory LAN. We install SCT on a Windows computer in your network remotely, and SCT reads the data from the control and sends it to the Scout server over HTTPS. No electrical modifications are needed.

What if my machine has no CNC control?

We connect it through our BIOS-IO-01 module, which takes a signal from the machine, e.g. the run signal from the signal tower, and sends it over the LAN.

Who sets up the connection?

We do, remotely. You prepare a Windows computer in your LAN and send us the list of machines; we install and configure SCT and connect the machines. To add a machine later, you write to us and we change the configuration remotely.