Connect Legacy Machines and Operators Without Replacing Equipment
A short, physical validation: take one to three of your least connectable machines, capture their real signals, prove the counts reconcile and the devices survive the environment — then write the installation standard the rest of the fleet will be quoted against.
Connect my legacy machinesTalk to a manufacturing engineerIs this the problem you need to solve?
- Half the machine park predates any usable network interface.
- A machine vendor wants a large fee just to expose a cycle signal.
- Manual workstations produce no data at all, so a whole process step is invisible.
- Every digitalisation quote stalls on "we do not know what these machines can give us".
Primary buyer: Automation Manager · Engineering Manager · IT / OT Manager · Production Manager · Digital Transformation Manager
What this PoC will prove
Recommended pilot scope
- One to three machines chosen for difficulty, including at least one with no PLC at all.
- The digital, analogue and counter signals each machine genuinely exposes.
- One workstation panel workflow where operator reporting is in scope.
- The agreed network architecture, including how the shop floor is segmented.
- A defined restart and recovery test.
What will be live during the PoC
How this PoC runs
Durations are typical, not guaranteed. What extends a schedule: missing or incomplete data, security and network approvals, hardware lead times, sample collection, installation access, the production schedule, ERP test access, and the time your team needs to review results.
No unplanned shutdown is expected. Any installation window or controlled interruption is agreed with you in advance and scheduled around production.
How success will be measured
| Metric | How it is defined | Where the number comes from | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cycle count reconciliation | Deviation between captured counts, the machine’s own counter and the operator’s manual count, per shift. | Sensor, meter or device data | Technical |
| Signal accuracy | Correct interpretation of each tapped signal, verified against observed machine behaviour. | Sensor, meter or device data | Technical |
| State detection accuracy | Correct classification of running, idle, stopped and setup, checked against observation. | Sensor, meter or device data | Technical |
| Event latency | Time from a physical event to it being visible in the platform, at the 95th percentile. | MSF platform data | Technical |
| Device and network uptime | Availability of the modules, panels and their connection over the validation period. | Sensor, meter or device data | Technical |
| Operator completion rate | Where a panel workflow is in scope: share of expected operator entries actually completed. | MSF platform data | Adoption |
| Installation effort | Hours per machine including preparation, wiring and commissioning — the number the fleet quote is built on. | Observation and user interview | Financial |
| Restart and recovery behaviour | What happens after a power cut or network loss, and whether any counts are lost. | Sensor, meter or device data | Technical |
Before implementation, MSF and your team agree how each metric is calculated, where the baseline comes from, what data is excluded, and what result supports a rollout decision. This page lists what gets measured; the actual targets belong in the written PoC scope, not in a marketing claim.
What you need to provide
- Electrical drawings where they exist, and the machine cycle definition you want counted.
- Safe, scheduled access to the machines and their cabinets, with the permit to work.
- Mounting positions, power and network availability at each machine.
- The maintenance or automation contact who knows these machines.
Who does what
Meta Smart Factory provides
- Discovery workshop and scope facilitation
- Solution configuration for the agreed scope
- Integration and connection work inside that scope
- MSF hardware listed in the proposal
- Training for the pilot users
- The KPI definitions and validation method
- Issue tracking and support during the pilot
- The final result report and rollout design
- Smart I/O modules and panels for the pilot machines, wired and commissioned.
- A documented installation standard so the fleet rollout can be quoted accurately.
You provide
- A named business owner and a named technical owner
- Timely access to users, the line, machines and approved systems
- An accurate explanation of the process and the master data
- Network, power, mounting and safety access
- ERP, PLC and vendor documentation, plus the experts who know them
- Representative samples or historical data
- Validation that the baseline is fair
- Feedback and the acceptance decision
- An electrician or maintenance technician to work alongside during installation.
- The machine’s own counter reading and manual records for reconciliation.
Defined in the written proposal
- Panel PCs, tablets, servers and GPU servers
- Cameras, lenses, lighting and enclosures
- Scanners, printers, RFID readers, meters and sensors
- Travel, installation, freight, import duty and local electrical work
- Whether hardware is rented or purchased
- Whether any PoC fee is credited against a rollout
Commercial terms, hardware ownership, travel, integration scope and any rollout credit are defined in the written PoC proposal. They are not the same for every product, and this page does not promise them.
What you receive at the end
- A working connection on the pilot machines.
- Wiring and I/O map documenting exactly what was tapped.
- Panel workflow configuration where operator reporting was in scope.
- Validation report with reconciliation and recovery results.
- A repeatable installation standard.
- Bill of quantities and fleet rollout plan.
Dependencies, exclusions and limits
This PoC depends on
- Safe electrical access and a scheduled window on each machine.
- Network reach or an agreed alternative at each machine position.
Not included in this PoC
- Machine control modification, safety-circuit changes and anything affecting machine safety functions.
- Machine vendor licence fees for opening a proprietary interface.
This PoC validates capture on the machines in the pilot. Older machines vary enormously, so a result on three machines is an installation standard and a cost model for the fleet — it is not a guarantee that every remaining machine exposes an equivalent signal.
Go, adjust or stop — the decision gate
Frequently asked questions
Will this modify our machines?
No. Smart I/O reads existing signals — cycle contacts, lamps, counters, sensor outputs — without changing machine control or touching any safety circuit. The tapping points are agreed with your own electrical owner before anything is wired.
What if a machine exposes nothing usable?
That is a real outcome and it is better found in week two than in a rollout. The alternatives are then costed: an added sensor, camera-based counting, or an operator panel for manual reporting on that machine family.
Why only two to four weeks?
Because the question is narrow and physical. It is not proving an MES — it is proving that these machines can produce trustworthy data and what connecting them costs. The MES PoC is the natural next step, and it usually reuses this installation.
How do you prove the counts are right?
By reconciling three independent sources across several shifts: the captured count, the machine’s own counter, and what the operator recorded. Agreement between all three is evidence; agreement between the system and itself is not.
Related products and PoC programs
Request this Proof of Concept
Tell us the scope you have in mind and we will come back with a written PoC plan: what gets connected, what you provide, how success is measured and what the decision at the end looks like.