Oscar, Thank you for sharing the information on how you were abele to get data from the Nissei TACT controllers. We have a similar project pending and this was very helpful insight. It sounds like we should be able to get started with basic process monitoring without the custom code similar to that which you had Nissei Japan developed, but if you could point me to where I can find information on configuring the TACT file dump that would be a huge help. If you prefer to contact me directly, I sent a request for connection via linked-in or my contact information is under the Gold Level integrator listing (InteCraft Automation).

Gilero provides a range of manufacturing services, including plastic injection molding and injection mold tool building. We focus solely on the medical device and drug delivery markets. Our medical injection molding facilities follow strict design protocols and process controls to ensure that all products meet the required specifications. Depending on client needs and product requirements, we can offer manual or fully automated production lines for molding and assembly.

The choice of material will depend on the specific requirements of the part being produced, such as its mechanical properties, chemical resistance, and environmental factors like temperature and humidity.

We have several Nissei vertical molding machines with the TACT controller and we have a project to interface with the machines and collect data. Thus far, we have been told that they dump a text file to a share folder, but that will not work for us.

We just hooked up to Stulz (Air control system) all that had to be done was add the Modbus Module to their controller and setup the addressing and now we can control/monitor the whole air control system at one of our “POT” plants and this also allows remote connection/control.

I was wondering if you had any luck with this request that I found on the Inductive website? I have a couple of Nissei machines and have been trying to get the data from them.

Our facility utilizes high-precision plastic injection molding and injection mold tool building equipment. In-house injection molding machines range in tonnage from 30-Ton to 250-Ton. Injection molding capabilities range from single cavity, pre-production injection molds to high cavitation molding using a hot runner system. The injection molding equipment used by Medacys is manufactured by some of the most trusted brands in the industry, including Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, Toyo Machinery, and Haitian International.

Kepware has some Toshiba drivers in there KepServerEX product. You can download a demo of it and see what you can do with it.

No, I have not. There are a number of third party systems for Injection Molding, but I’ve found nothing that can connect directly with Ignition. We also have a couple of Nissei machines (same issue), seems like the injection molding industry likes to keep its data to itself. Good Luck!

Hello from 2024, I want to know you can make the machine spit out folder at the right share folder? Do you have any documents about that?

Hi @joseut76! I am not sure if you were able to figure out how to connect Ignition to the Nissei Molding machines; we worked with Nissei to provide an text-based interface (they would not go the OPCUA route, unfortunately) Our custom code on the TACT controller will spit out a status file to a shared folder (to track uptime/downtime and reasons, mainly for OEE) and another file with process data (Flows, pressure, etc.) We then run a GW script to parse that data and put it into tags. Not the ideal solution, but it works!

I don’t have the process documented, but I would gladly assist you with it over teamviewer/remote desktop support if you can get on the RPi console. PM if you’d be interested.

Any chance of a handy-dandy tutorial for your Raspi setup? We have several Nissei presses in-house, and this may alleviate the effort of reinventing the wheel. Plus, I’m lazy… heh.

these signal is use the communication euromap63(file based communication ) or higher version EUROMAP77 (base on opc-ua)?

We are still working on this project for our Toshiba machines. I can only save those text files with machine data to a thumb drive, but I cannot get real time data. Are you sending the files to a network folder?

I was told that Toshiba doesn’t have an OPC driver for the presses. They have the Ipaqet software to collect data from/to the Injection Molding Machines.

You help me a lot with this information. Do you have another solution (2021)? If this is correct, I am doing a similar project but I would appreciate if you could send me updated information.

In comparison to other manufacturing practices, plastic injection molding for medical devices is very flexible and allows for full customization of components. It is used in high volume situations to fulfill injection molded medical device and drug delivery devices with high accuracy and precision. From an operational perspective, plastic injection molded medical devices are produced with low labor costs, are positioned to be scalable as the client grows in sales, and are more environmentally friendly due to the extended life of the product and reduction of waste.

We are working on a solution to have the Raspberry Pi push the file contents out to MQTT directly, since we are moving our environment to MQTT altogether.

Hi Jose! Yes, we finally had to settle for using the file on a network shared folder. It’s not the cleanest solution, but it works, for the most part. What we did was setup a Raspberry Pi(*) to act as the file server (using Samba); we created a shared folder for each machine, and configured the Nissei TACT controllers to dump the process data (MONDAT files) to the shared folder. We also had NISSEI Japan modify the software on the TACT to spit out a “machine status” file that would allow us to detect machine up/down and error codes for OEE measurement.

Hola Gabriel! Unfortunately, no. The file dump and GW script is about best you can get to interface with these machines. One improvement would be to skip the Gateway Script and have something on the file server side that can parse the file and push the data to OPCUA or MQTT. Cheers! Oscar.

You would expect that of any vendor, right? No, these machines do not provide any output other than a file-based output to USB or a shared folder. They aren’t even old machines really, the manufacturer simply does not offer any standard industrial protocol options.

Thank you for sharing the information on how you were abele to get data from the Nissei TACT controllers. We have a similar project pending and this was very helpful insight. It sounds like we should be able to get started with basic process monitoring without the custom code similar to that which you had Nissei Japan developed, but if you could point me to where I can find information on configuring the TACT file dump that would be a huge help. If you prefer to contact me directly, I sent a request for connection via linked-in or my contact information is under the Gold Level integrator listing (InteCraft Automation).

Located in Shenzhen, China, is Medacys – Gilero’s joint venture toolmaking and medical injection molder. This state-of-the-art injection molding facility spans 36,000 square feet and is staffed by manufacturing technicians, tooling designers, quality engineers, and engineering project managers. The expertise of the Medacys team focuses largely on the medtech and biomedical industries. With dedicated tooling, molding, assembly, and lab areas, along with environmentally monitored and controlled cleanrooms, our Shenzhen facility provides plastic injection molding services for companies across the globe.

There is a gateway timer script connecting to the shared folders that opens the file, parses the values and writes them to tags on Ignition. Also important, is that the shared folders need to be mapped from the Gateway (inside ignition.conf), instead of Windows. There is documentation on how this works here: https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC79/Mapping+a+Network+Drive

(*) We initially tried to host the shared folders on our Windows file servers, but there were some crazy file-locking issues that we couldn’t afford to spend too much time fixing…

I was wondering if anyone has connected Ignition to any of the following injection molding machines: Toshiba Model: EC180NV21-4 Toshiba Model: EC310NIIV30-8 Toshiba Model: EC390SXV50-17AT Toshiba Model: EC380SXV50-8 CINCINNATI Model: A07B-1530-B 003#U01 CINCINNATI Model: ROBO 110I-138 NISSEI Model FN4000 NISSEI Model FN6000 Engel Model: E-MOTION 440/200US Engel Model: TG650/300 US Engel Model: ES330-250 Engel Model: ES1300/300 SODICK PLUSTECH Model: LS180R SODICK PLUSTECH Model: LSR180EH2 SODICK PLUSTECH Model: LS180R FANUC ROBOSHOT 110I-138

I was wondering if you had any luck with this request that I found on the Inductive website? I have a couple of Nissei machines and have been trying to get the data from them.[/quote]

For example: the share folder on server PC is: \192.168.1.100\ShareFolder\Machine111 Then how can you make Machine 111 spit out response file right at the path above when I send request file (in this case Kepware send)?

Gilero stands out as an excellent choice for medical device injection molding manufacturing. Medacys, our joint-venture facility in Shenzhen, China, spans 36,000 square feet and is equipped with cutting-edge technology. The skilled team, comprising manufacturing technicians, tooling designers, quality engineers, and engineering project managers, specializes in the medtech and biomedical sectors. This specialization ensures a deep understanding of the unique requirements and regulatory standards in these fields. Gilero offers dedicated areas for various manufacturing processes, including tooling, molding, assembly, and laboratories. We maintain environmentally controlled cleanrooms for precision. Our in-house injection molding machines range from 30-Ton to 250-Ton, and they use equipment from trusted brands like Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, Toyo Machinery, and Haitian International.