FactoryWiz Alternatives: Keep the DNC, Change the Monitoring, or Both

Picture a contract shop with 30 machines: Mazaks on RS232, newer Haas and Okuma controls on Ethernet, two robot cells and a heat treat furnace. One program library feeds them all. When someone suggests looking at other monitoring tools, the first worry is not the dashboards. It is the programs.

That worry is the right place to start, because FactoryWiz sells both halves. We make Fabrico, one of the five options below, so read our section as a vendor's pitch and test it like the others. The list is not ranked.

What FactoryWiz is (as of 13.11.2026, per factorywiz.com)

The FactoryWiz home page describes software that follows machine performance, downtime, OEE and output, and also moves CNC files. Its about page traces the product to Refresh Your Memory, Inc., founded in 1983 to supply PC-based communication for CNCs, which launched FactoryWiz Monitoring in 2013. FactoryWiz has since merged with MaintiMizer and is now a product of Celsus Software. Highlights, as of 13.11.2026:

• Where it runs. Intranet web-based software on a physical or virtual Windows server. Data can be stored locally, and the database behind it is MariaDB, which you can query directly.
• What it connects to. MTConnect, FANUC FOCAS, umati and OPC UA on modern controls, plus older equipment with no native Ethernet. The compatibility chart goes control by control. The home page lists CNC machines, additive machines, robots, furnaces, compressors and process PLCs.
• Operators. OperatorConnect shows a list of downtime reasons as large buttons when a stoppage occurs. From the same tablet, operators can download DNC programs and call for help.
• Reports and alerts. Reports compare shifts, jobs, parts and machine groups, can be emailed on a schedule, and open in Crystal Reports, Power BI or Excel. Text and email alerts cover alarms, part counts and maintenance, which its monitoring overview pitches for lights-out runs.
• Maintenance. A preventive maintenance module tracks run time and power-on time and sends notices when a PM falls due.
• Integration. A .NET API and a SOAP web service, for links to ERP and MES systems.

The DNC overview covers the other half: RS232 and Ethernet or FTP transfers, drip-feeding large programs, file compare, a quarantine for returned files, Active Directory sign-in and CMMC requirements. It also says the DNC can send the actual part number to the monitoring side when a macro program runs several parts, and pass on probe and offset data.

When FactoryWiz still earns its place

• You want programs and machine data from one vendor, with one support line for both.
• IT wants the software and data inside the plant, on a Windows server it manages, for CMMC or customer rules.
• Older controls still talk RS232, and drip-feeding long programs is part of the day.
• Your team writes its own reports in Power BI or SQL and wants direct database access.

If the pull is toward money, other machine types or a plant-wide OEE view, read on.

Program transfer and monitoring: one tool or two?

A DNC moves programs to the control and back. Monitoring reads what the control then does: running, idle, in alarm, how many parts. Some vendors sell both, some sell the monitoring and leave the DNC to you. Decide which camp you are shopping in before any demo, and see our machine data collection guide for the signals themselves.

Splitting the two is common and works, with one catch. If your reports today rely on the DNC to supply part numbers or probe values, the new monitoring system needs another route to that data, or those reports go quiet.

Comparison table: FactoryWiz and five alternatives

Rows paraphrase each vendor's pages as read on 13.11.2026, with links in the sections below. They are unranked, and anything a cell leaves out is a question for that vendor. After the FactoryWiz reference row, Fabrico comes first because this is our page.

Curious how an OEE layer looks beside an existing DNC? Book a demo; a week of handwritten stop notes makes a good test file.

Fabrico: OEE and downtime cost, next to the DNC you keep

This section is ours. Fabrico is cloud-hosted OEE software that doubles as a light MES. No part programs pass through it; its job is the shift's lost time and the money attached to that time. From our MES and OEE overview:

• Signals. Automated machines report through their PLC, and older ones get a Fabrico IoT device that reads external sensors. Supported protocols cover OPC UA, PROFINET, Modbus, EtherNet/IP and MQTT (connectivity details).
• Operator reasons. The signal times the stop, short ones included, and the operator chooses a cause from a phone or tablet.
• Money, not just percentages. Availability, performance and quality by machine and shift, downtime ranked by cause, and what the lost time cost, on the web and in apps for iOS and Android.
• Alerts with rules. Push, in-app and email notifications, with rules for who hears about what.
• Beyond CNC. Presses, welders and manual benches share the same OEE; at a bench with no signal, the camera add-on counts parts. The camera add-on's video for a stop opens from the shift timeline. By default it is streamed on request, not stored (camera add-on details).
• Maintenance built in. A stop that keeps coming back can become a work order filed against that machine.
• Integrations. REST API and webhooks, plus Excel and CSV export. SAP or another ERP can be linked, scoped per customer.
• Rollout. Devices connected in about a month; full rollout in 3 to 4 months.
• Left to other systems: DNC and program revisions, which stay in your DNC, and job dispatching, routings and genealogy, which stay in your ERP.

Suits shops that trust their DNC and want OEE by cause, priced in money, across CNC and non-CNC machines, with no server to run. EU customers are hosted on AWS in Frankfurt. Most shops begin with a pilot on one line, and our guide to OEE software covers the basics.

CIMCO: MDC-Max and DNC-Max as a pair

CIMCO sells data collection and program transfer as two products that work together. Its MDC-Max page says, as of 13.11.2026:

• MDC-Max collects data from machines and operators, and operators enter shift, job, downtime and scrap reasons at the machine.
• It drives stack lights, buzzers and Andon boards, and sends text and email alerts on machine and operator events, such as during unattended runs.
• A newer add-on, CIMCO Scheduler, plans machines and work orders on live shop data.

Its DNC-Max page describes up to 4000 simultaneous ports per server and version control with a quarantine for programs changed at the control.

Compared with FactoryWiz: both pair DNC with monitoring, operator reasons and alerts. CIMCO's pages also name stack light control and a scheduler; FactoryWiz's also name a PM module and direct database access.

Fits shops that want to swap both halves at once and keep them with one vendor.

Predator: DNC and MDC with barcode-driven workflows

Predator Software sells Predator DNC and Predator MDC side by side. Its DNC page says, as of 13.11.2026, that Predator DNC supports 50+ industrial protocols and up to 4096 devices per PC, server or virtual machine, from CNCs to CMMs, PLCs and tool presetters. A barcode or RFID scan at the machine can download the right programs, and as-built records log the file transfers.

Its MDC page adds:

• Automatic collection of job, setup and cycle events, plus manual entry of downtimes and scrap reasons by barcode, tablet or Remote Request.
• DIN rail MDC Adapters wired into signal lamps or light towers on older and manual machines.

Compared with FactoryWiz: both run on Windows and pair program transfer with monitoring. Predator's pages put more weight on scanning to call programs and on as-built records for audits.

Fits shops that want program calls driven by barcodes or RFID and an audit trail of every transfer.

MachineMetrics: an operations platform on machine data

The MachineMetrics home page calls it an AI-powered manufacturing operations platform for discrete manufacturing. As of 13.11.2026, it says:

• MaximaOS links machines, operators and the ERP, then runs job execution on that data, covering the schedule, work orders, labor, tooling and quality.
• Stoppages of any length are captured, sorted into categories from the machine signals, and ranked by what they cost.
• An assistant, Max AI, takes questions in plain language and replies with a chart built from live data.

Compared with FactoryWiz: FactoryWiz describes software on your server with a DNC included; MachineMetrics describes a platform that reaches into scheduling and job execution. Our MachineMetrics alternatives page goes further.

Suits a shop looking for one platform across machine data, the schedule and job tracking, with the DNC left as it is.

Scytec DataXchange: monitoring, cloud or on-premise

Scytec's DataXchange highlights page says, as of 13.11.2026, that DataXchange collects utilization, part counts and downtime using Modbus TCP, OPC UA, MTConnect and the proprietary protocols from FANUC, Haas, Heidenhain, Mazak, OKUMA, Siemens and others. Older and manual machines connect through the DataXchange SRC, a PLC-based module. It runs on the Scytec Commercial Cloud or on-premise, and its Operator Data Interface lets operators categorize downtime and trigger email and text notices.

Compared with FactoryWiz: both connect to old and new controls and both offer on-premise installs. Scytec's pages name a vendor-hosted cloud option; FactoryWiz's name a DNC.

Fits shops that keep their DNC and want the choice of hosting monitoring in the cloud or in-house.

Which FactoryWiz alternative fits your shop

• Programs and monitoring from one vendor, on your own server: FactoryWiz or CIMCO.
• Program calls by barcode or RFID with as-built records: Predator.
• Scheduling, jobs and machine data on one platform: MachineMetrics.
• Monitoring hosted by the vendor or in-house, DNC unchanged: Scytec DataXchange.
• OEE and downtime priced in money across CNC and other machines, DNC unchanged: Fabrico.

For the wider picture, compare MES vs machine monitoring and read MES for metal fabrication and job shops. Plants packing food or consumer goods will get more from our guide to computer vision in FMCG plants.

Worked example: what one alert is worth on a lights-out night

Sample numbers for a single unattended night on one CNC lathe; no customer data and no product screen. The plan covers 600 minutes, from 22:00 to 08:00, and the ideal cycle is 6 minutes a part. At 01:00 a tool breaks and the machine stops in alarm.

No alert. The lathe sits in alarm until the morning shift. It ran 180 minutes, so availability is 30.0%. In that time the ideal is 30 parts; it made 28, so performance is 93.3%. One part failed inspection, leaving 27 good: quality is 96.4%. OEE is 30.0% x 93.3% x 96.4% = 27.0%, the same as 27 good parts x 6 minutes over 600 minutes.

Text alert. The on-call setter gets a message, changes the tool and restarts after 45 minutes. Run time is 555 minutes and availability 92.5%. It made 88 parts against an ideal of 92.5, so performance is 95.1%. Two scrapped parts leave 86 good, quality 97.7%, and OEE 86.0%.

The difference is 59 good parts from one alert. Alerts show up across this list, so the real test is routing: who gets the message at 01:00, and does the reason land in the record afterwards. The OEE calculation guide walks through the formula, and we also wrote about alerts that drive action.

Six questions for each vendor on this list

Ask them all, us included, about one cell of machines.

• Who sends the programs? Their DNC, your current DNC, or something else, and does anything change at the control.
• Where do part numbers come from? The control, the DNC, a barcode or the operator, when one program runs several parts.
• How does each control connect? Make, model, options and age, including RS232 machines and anything without a control.
• Where do the software and data live? Your server, their cloud or both, and who patches it.
• Who names the stop? The operator, machine signals or both, and the minimum length before anyone is asked.
• What leaves the system? API, database access or export, and in which format.

For FOCAS, MTConnect and the other control protocols, see our CNC machine monitoring guide.

What people ask next

Who makes FactoryWiz?

FactoryWiz began at Refresh Your Memory, Inc., founded in 1983 to link CNCs to PCs. After a merger with MaintiMizer it is now sold under Celsus Software, and the head office listed on its site is in Corvallis, Oregon.

Does FactoryWiz include DNC?

Yes. Its own description is monitoring software plus DNC. The DNC side handles RS232 and Ethernet transfers, drip-feeding, version compare and a quarantine for returned files, and it can pass the real part number to the monitoring side.

Is FactoryWiz cloud software?

Its about page describes FactoryWiz Monitoring as intranet web-based software on a physical or virtual Windows server, and its home page offers the option to store everything locally. Ask FactoryWiz about remote access for your setup.

Can I replace FactoryWiz monitoring and keep a DNC?

Usually, yes, as long as the new system reads the machine controls without the DNC in the path. Before you switch, list which data the DNC feeds the monitoring today, such as part numbers from macro programs or probe results, and ask the new vendor how it gets the same data.

How is Fabrico different from FactoryWiz?

FactoryWiz pairs program transfer with machine monitoring on a server you run. Fabrico is cloud-hosted OEE software and a light MES: it times stops and counts parts from the machine's own signal, asks the operator why it stopped, puts a money value on the lost time per line and shift, and leaves programs to your DNC.

Does Fabrico send programs to CNC machines?

No. Fabrico does not transfer part programs. It runs next to the DNC you choose, so the DNC keeps programs and revisions while Fabrico keeps stops, reasons, counts and OEE.

Want to see Fabrico running beside a DNC? Book a demo, or ask us anything.