Tag Archives: ethernet

Digital Scales For WinSPC Real-Time Statistical Process Control Software

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Today more and more customers want to not only measure the weight of their products, but they also want to capture that information and send it to their laptop computer for data collection and further analysis. There are several ways to do this, and various software programs to help accomplish this as well. We offer various communication types like USB and ethernet and we offer some of the software as well, such as Doran Excelerator.

But today we wanted to mention the WinSPC software. Quite a few customers over the years have been interested in having their digital scales be able to connect to this real time statistical process control software.

WinSPC basically allows companies to compete in today’s worldwide economy since many manufacturers must constantly discover new and innovative ways to cut costs while consistently delivering the highest quality products for their customers. Now it’s important to note up front that we don’t sell WinSPC. The product does seem to be a really nice software though.

WinSPC provides a proven, effective way for manufacturers to quickly improve quality, reduce variation, monitor production or process changes, increase profitability and more. Best of all, WinSPC runs in real-time, collecting data to deliver real meaningful process information directly to operators or to quality engineers, supervisors, and management. WinSPC is a very popular real-time process control tool of choice for manufacturers that need a top of the line solution because WinSPC provides real time SPC capability than quality modules or other process control software products.

A key requirement of most continuous improvement, Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma programs is the ability to access timely manufacturing data. WinSPC’s data collection software enable manufacturers to quickly obtain product and process data from nearly any shop floor source, including: serial devices, text files, machines, gauges, databases, and other manufacturing systems. WinSPC’s data collection features offer the fastest, easiest way for quality engineers to quickly gather manual input, connect to devices, and capture data from other manufacturing sources.

The reason we’re mentioning all of this is that if you’re currently using WinSPC (or you’re thinking of purchasing it) and you need to add some digital scales to your company, give us a call at (919) 776-7737.

Our outstanding selection of Doran Scales can be setup to communicate effortlessly with the WinSPC software. Doran Scales offers RS-232 serial, usb, and ethernet connectivity. Many of these scales are NTEP legal for trade and many of the scales are available in stainless steel washdown capability if needed.

With Doran’s Excel Series Indicators line comes an array of “Value Added Standard Features and Options” for a wide variety of applications. In the scale industry, the RS232 Serial Port has been used for communications between scales, computers, or printers since the introduction of the personal computer. In 2002, PC manufacturers agreed to obsolete Serial Ports over time and replace them with USB communication ports.

Doran 2200CW stainless steel checkweigher

Therefore, today’s computers are not always equipped with an RS-232 port, which makes the use of USB absolutely necessary. There are several benefits to using USB communications over RS232 Serial Ports. These include ease of use, reliability, flexibility, and compatibility.

Virtually every company today has an Ethernet network to distribute email, provide Internet access, share printers, and run enterprise wide software. Customers both large and small can leverage their existing Ethernet and PC hardware infrastructure and extend it to the factory floor. The merging of the administrative, control level, and device level networks makes for a less expensive and more connected data network. The result is an efficient end-to-end flow of data from the plant floor to the front office network, where it can be used to better manage operations.

Adding scales to an existing Ethernet network will not adversely affect the network speeds for existing devices. The speed of 10/100Base-T Ethernet networks that provide up to 100 Mbps communication bandwidth clearly eclipses the requirements for scale communications. A typical scale data string only requires about 200 bits, a tiny fraction of the available bandwidth for Ethernet.

As an example of the speed of Doran’s Ethernet option; The Excelerator Data collection software can monitor up to 20 scales with continuous print into one spreadsheet workbook in real time, while only utilizing 0.004% of the total network’s Ethernet bandwidth. Compare this to loading Google on Internet Explorer, which requires quite a bit more network bandwidth! Utilizing the existing Ethernet network without affecting existing devices makes Doran’s Ethernet communications option extremely cost effective.

The point of this article is to simply let you know that if you currently use WinSPC, or are considering purchasing the software, please keep us in mind when it comes to purchasing new digital scales that can connect to WinSPC software. You can reach our sales team at (919) 776-7737 or fill out our RFQ on the website.

Benefits of Cardinal Digital Truck Scales

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Cardinal Armor series Smartcell digital truck scales have several distinct benefits to you, the customer. First there is the heavy duty weighbridge design the Cardinal Armor digital truck scale uses. For example, the steel deck has (12) 12 inch eye beams across the scale but most important is there’s no moving parts under the scale.

ADVANTAGES OF A DIGITAL TRUCK SCALE

With a traditional truck scale, when it comes to debris build-up under the scale, that you typically see in landfills, quarries, sand and gravel businesses; all of that debris can cause problems under the scale and cause binding. Then you will be forced to have folks out there power washing the truck scale, trying to get the scale to work properly because safe linkage systems or load cells that are mounted to piers; the debris impedes on that critical weighing process.

This can often lead to down time for cleaning and can also lead to your scale being rejected when being tested by the State weights and measures inspector.

Another key element of the Cardinal Armor digital truck scale is simple connections which can also lead to limited downtime. Most important there is no power running to the scale other than the home run cable, that’s very important. Do you know what lightning, rain, and snow can do over time to the junction boxes of a traditional truck scale? There’s over a hundred and eight connection points in many standard analog truck scales.

digital truck scales

But, with the armor digital system, there’s ten. There’s five wires that plug into the terminal connector to go to the first load cell and there’s five that you simply wire into the weight indicator in fact Cardinal chooses 225 and the 825 as indicators of choice but most important for you; you want limited downtime for the life of the truck scale. Continue reading →

Looking For A Shipping Scale With Ethernet?

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Are you interested in a shipping scale with Ethernet? If so, please take a look at the information below. The Pennsylvania 7300 is a Made in the USA shipping scale that is designed for years of heavy duty use and loaded with features. These scales are extra rugged and dependable. Default settings for UPS Online, Clipper Ship, Fairbanks or Mettler Toledo emulation + option outputs for Ethernet, analog (0-10 VDC or 4-20 mA), standard RS-232, remote displays.

The scale itself is better than the competition because it isn’t made out of cheap plastic. The Pennsylvania 7300 features Heavy duty CAST base construction and standard resolution of 10,000 counts which make this shipping scale the standard of the industry. Below are just a few of the standard features.

pennsylvania 7300 shipping scale with ethernet

• Proven PLUS+ Series universal Main Board technology – consistent design
• 4 Year Limited Warranty
• Capacities from 2 lbs (8 x 8″ platform) to popular 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, and 200 lbs models with 10,000 standard display graduations
• Remote Displays – plug and play functionality
• Standard Lbs/Kgs or choose any 2 weighing units
• Programmable and flexible RS-232 (DB9 located in cavity under the scale) has default settings for UPS WorldShip and many other shipping systems
• Optional Ball tops for shipping applications

The ethernet module has an RJ45 mating port to accept the customer’s cable. The module is a name brand product that computer savvy people are comfortable with. It comes with an assigned IP address (modifiable) and software license. The Ethernet option is reasonably priced and lead time is usually about one business day.

No Network Available for Data Collection? No Problem.

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Over the past several years Doran Scale has become a leader in scale communication and data collection applications. With the new advanced features on the 2200 series this system now offers more flexibility in real world data collection applications. While collecting data using Ethernet and a Local Area Network (LAN) is ideal in many instances, there are times when this is not practical because of complexity, facility restrictions or cost. An ideal solution when a LAN is not available is the Doran 2200 Scale with the Bluetooth option utilizing data buffering.

The 2200 with the Bluetooth option (EXOPT205 ) is set up with an appropriate data string which could include Product ID, Description, User defined fields for Lot ID, Employee ID or Location and scale information. Data buffering is enabled in configuration and the data output method is selected. This could be a manual output by pressing the PRINT button or one of several automatic outputs. When weight is on the scale and data is output manually or automatically, the configured data string is Continue reading →