OnTakt: Processes

Part of the OnTakt User Guide.

What is a process?

A process is the combination of a machine, a set of programs from that machine, a set of tool assemblies that are used for the process, and settings that define the behavior of OnTakt while that process is running.

Creating a process

• Go to the Processes page
• Click Create Process
• Enter a name for the new process and click Create.

Adding programs to a process

• Right-click the program in the list and click Edit
• Choose the process to add the program to from the Processes menu
• Click Save Changes

Adding tools to a process

Tools must be added to a Tool Assembly, which can then be added to a process. Generally, there will be one tool assembly for each tool location in a machine, and it will contain all of the tracked components of that tool.

To add existing tool assemblies to a process:

1. Go to the Tools page.
2. Click the Tool Assemblies button at the top.
3. Select the tool assemblies to add to the process.
4. Select the new process from the sidebar that opens, or choose "(Remove from process)".
5. Click Move.

To create new tools in assemblies and add them to the process in bulk, see Importing OnTakt Tools.

Aggregating data

To view all the parts produced by a process on any given day, click the group's name in the list of program groups in the Groups section of the Programs page. This chart can then be navigated like an individual machine chart. Note that goals and events are not shown because they can vary between machines.

Part counting

Some looping programs do not enter a completed state, so they can't increment the part count reported by the control. In these cases, it is possible for OnTakt to read the part count from a common variable (also known as a macro variable) that the program can increment each time it loops, producing an accurate part count in OnTakt.

To use this mode, set the part count variable option of the program in OnTakt to the number of the variable on the control that you will be writing to.

For control-specific information, see the following pages:

• Okuma OSP
• FANUC
• Haas NGC
• Siemens SINUMERIK

A note about common variables on FANUC controls: only variables #500 through #549 are read by OnTakt Proxy versions older than 2.4.1. Attempting to use a variable outside that range for part counting or value reporting will not work. Upgrading to OnTakt Proxy 2.4.1 or newer will remove this limitation.

Variables

OnTakt can read the values of common variables (also called macro variables) from the machine control when it saves a part and add these values to the part record. You can also set up notifications to be alerted as soon as the machine reports a variable that is above, below, or at a threshold you set.

Because the indices of these variable may change between programs, OnTakt allows you to assign names to variable numbers on a per-program basis. This process is called variable mapping:

1. Go to the Programs page
2. Right-click on the program you want to assign variables for
3. Click Edit
4. To add a variable mapping, click Add Row in the "Variable mapping" section of the program editor
5. In the text fields that appear, enter the name of the variable and the index that this program uses to store it. When entering the name, all of the names that are already used appear as suggestions. This allows you to click one and use it so that names can be consistent between users and programs.
6. For notifications, choose a comparison and a threshold. For example, to be notified when a variable is greater than 5, choose ">" for the comparison and enter 5 for the threshold. To turn off notifications, choose "Never" for the comparison (and the threshold will be saved, but ignored).
7. Add as many mappings as you need. You can remove a mapping by clicking Delete Row in the row of the mapping you want to remove.
8. When you are done, click Save

The next time a cycle running this program completes, the part record will contain the values of these variables under the names you specified. To view this information, you can open the part editor from a machine chart page, or go to the Parts page, right-click on the part, and then click Edit.

If a machine does not report a named variable when the part is created, a warning will appear on the dashboard until it shows up for a future part.

Serial numbers

OnTakt has a special mapped variable name for serial numbers. If you enter SERIAL as the data name, OnTakt will treat this variable as containing the serial number of the part. This will appear as a suggested name even if you have not used it before.

Example use case: When running parts from bar stock of a known length, a common variable can count the number of parts made from the current bar. When it is a couple parts away from the number of parts you know you can make from one bar, send a notification to prepare to replace it soon instead of waiting for a machine alarm to reduce downtime.