MachineMetrics vs Fabrico: Machine Data Platform vs Light MES for OEE

MachineMetrics runs on real-time machine data. Its site lists native connections over MTConnect, FANUC FOCAS, OPC-UA, Siemens S7, Modbus TCP and MQTT. Today it also offers production scheduling, work order management and maintenance alerts that open work orders in your CMMS.

Strengths:

• Native connections over machine protocols, including FANUC FOCAS and MTConnect.

• Use cases for machining, such as tool life management.

Trade-off: its site centres on discrete manufacturing. If your plant also runs packaging, process or manual stations, ask in the demo how those machines are connected and where the maintenance work is recorded.

Where Fabrico fits

Fabrico is a light MES: machine data collection, production monitoring, OEE and downtime analytics, and a connection to SAP or another ERP that can be scoped per customer, with maintenance built in. Stops are recorded from the PLC, IoT devices or a camera, operators add the reason, and a stop reason can be configured to open a maintenance task automatically on the same machine record. Supervisors and technicians can also create tasks by hand.

Strengths:

• Production and maintenance work from one asset registry, so a stop and its repair are on the same machine.

• Machines without a readable PLC, and manual stations, can be covered by IoT devices or cameras.

• A REST API and webhooks, and a connection to SAP or another ERP that can be scoped per customer.

Trade-off: Fabrico is built for the whole line, CNC cells included, not for machining depth alone. FANUC FOCAS and MTConnect aren't on our published protocol list, so if raw controller depth for machining is your main criterion, put the signal list for your own controllers side by side in both demos. As a light MES, Fabrico also leaves genealogy, routings and bills of materials in your ERP.

Installing the devices and connecting the machines takes about one month. Full rollout across the lines you choose takes 3 to 4 months.

Side by side

Neither platform has one price for every plant, so compare quotes for the same scope: the subscriptions you need, any integration you would build between tools, and who maintains that integration after go live.

• Your operation is mainly machining, and tool life and machine data analytics are the core requirement.

• You already run a CMMS you want to keep and connect.

• Raw CNC protocol depth (FANUC FOCAS, MTConnect, Heidenhain LSV-2) is the main evaluation criterion.

Choose Fabrico when

• Your plant mixes CNC cells with assembly, packaging, injection molding or manual stations.

• You want OEE, downtime and the maintenance work on the same machine record.

• Some machines or stations have no usable signal and a camera has to cover them.

Questions to ask in both demos

• Which of our machines can you connect first, and how?

• Where does the reason for a stop come from, and who confirms it?

• How does a stop become maintenance work, and where is that work recorded?

• What stays in our ERP?

Request a demo to see OEE and downtime on your own lines.