How OpeEye Connects to Your Machines: Tablet, Sensor or CNC Controller

Short answer

OpeEye gets data three ways. An operator tablet at each machine works on any machine from day one with no wiring. An optional auto-count boxwired to the machine's cycle signal counts pieces and running time by itself. A direct controller connection (Fanuc, Haas, Mitsubishi — rolling out) reads counts, alarms and cycle times from the control through a read-only gateway.

The three sources, side by side

Operator tablet vs auto-count box vs controller connection
	Operator tablet	Auto-count box	Controller connection
Status	Available — every machine	Optional add-on, per machine	Rolling out — Fanuc, Haas, Mitsubishi
Where it runs	Tablet at the machine	Small box in the machine panel	Gateway PC on the plant network
Piece count	Operator taps +1	One pulse per cycle, automatic	The control's own counter, automatic
Knows the job card	Yes	No — tablet	No — tablet (program number is a weak proxy)
Knows the operator	Yes	No — tablet	No — tablet
Knows rejects & reasons	Yes	No — tablet	No — tablet
Running / idle	From operator actions	Yes, from the signal	Yes, the control's own state
Alarms	Operator reports	No	Yes — with alarm code and text
Cycle time	Derived	From pulse gap	The control's own measurement
Program / feed / spindle	No	No	Yes
Hardware per machine	A basic Android tablet	One small box	None — gateway shared by the floor
Fails when	Operator forgets or batches taps	Wrong signal tapped, Wi-Fi down (buffers)	Option not licensed, IP changed (self-heals)

1. Operator tablet — day one, every machine

01
Mount a tablet
Any basic Android tablet, bought locally, on a stand or bracket at the machine. Machine code + 4-digit PIN to log in.
02
Operators tap
Pick the job; then +pieces, reject with reason, tool change, pause, breakdown. Three taps per entry, big buttons, no typing.
03
It's live everywhere
Every tap updates the floor board, the job card, the reports and the alerts. Works offline; syncs later with original times.

This is the whole product on day one, and it stays on every machine forever. It is also the only source that knows the things a control cannot: the reject and why, the reason for the stop, the operator, the job card. Setup for a whole floor is one afternoon.

2. Auto-count box — hands-free counting, per machine

A small box in the machine's panel, wired to the cycle-complete or stack-light signal. Every cycle sends one count; running and idle are inferred from the pulses. It pushes to OpeEye over the factory Wi-Fi, buffers in its own memory when the network drops, and replays with the real event times when it returns. Its mode and settings are managed from the OpeEye dashboard, not with a laptop at the machine.

Use it on the machines where the count matters most and the operator is busiest. The tablet stays for rejects, reasons and job selection; on a machine with a box, a manual +1 is blocked so the two can never double-count.

3. Controller connection — Fanuc, Haas, Mitsubishi (rolling out)

A small gateway PC on your plant network polls each supported control over the LAN — Fanuc through FOCAS, Haas through MTConnect, Mitsubishi through SLMP — once a second, and pushes only changes to OpeEye. From the control it reads the part counter, run state, alarms with their codes and text, cycle time, and the active program, feed and spindle.

Counts are read as a level, not as pulses, and reconciled to each production run — so an operator resetting the counter, a power cycle, or a gateway that was offline for ten minutes does not create phantom parts or lose real ones. Multi-part fixtures (one cycle = four parts) are configured per machine.

Security posture: outbound only, read-only by construction. No inbound port on your network, no VPN, no port-forwarding, and the gateway software cannot send a write to a control. Other brands on request.

Mixing them on one floor

12 machines, all tablets

The typical start. Whole floor live in an afternoon, no hardware beyond tablets. Most shops run this way for months and get most of the value.

Tablets + boxes on the 4 busiest

Hands-free counts where the operator can't stop to tap. Reports don't change — the count just stops depending on memory.

Tablets + controller link on the new VMCs

Alarms with codes and true cycle times from the controls that support it; tablets everywhere else. One dashboard, one set of reports.

What happens when the internet goes down?

Nothing is lost. Tablets store entries locally and sync when the connection returns, with original timestamps. The auto-count box buffers pulses in its own flash memory. The gateway buffers readings on disk. When everything reconnects, late events are attributed to the right job and time — reports stay correct.

Setup at a glance

Tablets: One afternoon for the whole floor; on-site across Gujarat, remote elsewhere
Auto-count box: Panel wiring per machine; claim code typed on the dashboard; online in minutes
Controller gateway: One small PC on the plant network; machines added from the dashboard
Your IT: Wi-Fi for tablets and boxes; a LAN port for the gateway; nothing inbound

Start with tablets this week. Add the rest when it pays.

A 20-minute demo, on-site in Rajkot and across Gujarat or over a call anywhere in India. Free 15-day trial, no hardware to buy from us.

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Questions shop owners ask

Do I have to choose one way to connect for the whole factory?

No. The three sources mix on one floor and feed the same dashboard: tablets on every machine, an auto-count box on the busy ones, the controller link on the CNCs that support it. You can start with tablets only and add the others one machine at a time.

What is the auto-count box, exactly?

A small electronics box mounted in the machine's panel and wired to its cycle-complete or stack-light signal. Each cycle sends one count to OpeEye over the factory Wi-Fi; running and idle are inferred from the pulses. It buffers when the network drops and syncs later, and its settings are managed from the dashboard.

Which CNC controllers can be connected directly?

Fanuc (via FOCAS), Haas (via MTConnect) and Mitsubishi (via SLMP) are first, and rolling out now. Other brands on request. The connection reads part count, run state, alarms with codes, cycle time and the active program.

Is a controller connection safe? Can it change anything on my machine?

It is read-only by construction — the gateway software cannot send a write to a control. It also only makes outbound connections to OpeEye: no inbound port on your network, no VPN, no port-forwarding. The gateway is a small PC on your plant network that polls the controls and pushes normalised readings out.

Does the controller link know which job is running and who is running it?

No — and neither does any sensor. A control knows its program number, not your job card; it does not know rejects or why the operator stopped. That context comes from the tablet, which is why the tablet stays on every machine.

What happens if the controller's counter is reset or the machine is switched off?

OpeEye reads the counter as a level, not as pulses, and reconciles it to each production run. A reset, a power cycle or a gateway that was offline for ten minutes does not create phantom parts or lose real ones — the next reading self-heals the count.

Looking for pricing? See how OpeEye is priced.

How OpeEye connects to your machines — tablet, auto-count sensor or CNC controller