On an SPM, the cycle is set by the slowest station.
Machine-level timing says the machine got slower. Station-level timing says which station did — usually the difference between a week of investigation and an afternoon.
A special-purpose machine is, by definition, unlike any other machine on the floor, which makes generic monitoring assumptions unusually likely to be wrong. What an SPM does have is a PLC that already knows a great deal — cycle state, station status, counts, faults — because it had to in order to run the machine at all.
Monitoring an SPM is therefore rarely an acquisition problem. It is an agreement problem: deciding which of the PLC's existing signals represent the things you want to measure.
Machine signals, an energy meter and sensors, on one timeline.
Every special-purpose machine can carry all three. Each part is recorded with the energy it took and the condition of the machine that made it.
What the machine is doing
- State: running, idle, setup, stopped
- Counts and cycle time, per part number
- Stops with reasons from the operator
- Alarms and fault stops
What it costs to run
- kW, kWh, kVA and power factor, live
- Energy per part, per shift and per job
- Idle energy: power drawn while producing nothing
- Maximum demand and load profile
How healthy it is
- Condition sensors connected where they matter
- Per-machine baselines, not generic limits
- Alerts before a trend becomes a breakdown
- Readings stored against every part
Sensors typically connected on a special-purpose machine
An energy meter connection is available on every machine type we monitor. Sensors are chosen per machine at the pilot, and connected by the MachineWise team. See energy monitoring and condition monitoring.
This is the single highest-value configuration decision on an SPM. Machine-level cycle timing tells you the machine got slower; station-level timing tells you which station did, which is usually the difference between a week of investigation and an afternoon.
What one cycle produces
Multi-station and multi-cavity SPMs frequently produce several components per cycle. Establish this before any count is reported.
Which faults stop production
An SPM annunciates many conditions. Only some stop output, and treating all of them equally makes the Pareto meaningless.
Station boundaries
Where one station's time ends and the next begins, as the PLC sees it — not as the mechanical layout suggests.
Idle versus starved
An SPM waiting for input material is a supply problem, not a machine problem. Distinguish them or the wrong team gets the action.
Almost everything you need, usually. Cycle running, station states, counters and fault bits are typically already in the program because the machine needs them. Acquisition is configured by the MachineWise engineering team, read-only, with nothing written to the PLC.
The work is mapping — deciding which tag means what, with its data type, scaling and edge behaviour recorded — and it is a conversation involving your maintenance team, your production team and ours. On a bespoke machine there is no shortcut and no library to look it up in, which is why the method matters. It is set out in PLC signal mapping for machine monitoring.
What does one part cost in electricity?
With an energy meter on the special-purpose machine, this is measured for every shift and job. Until then, estimate it here with your own numbers.
Values are pre-filled with a typical special-purpose machine. Replace them with yours; nothing you type is stored or sent.
Idle energy is usually the fastest saving: it needs a switch-off rule, not capital. The meter shows it per machine, per shift.
Two special-purpose machines on a live dashboard this week.
Bring the SPM whose cycle time everyone argues about. Station-level timing usually ends the argument within a fortnight.
Book a free 2-machine pilot →WhatsApp us