Dawson Controls Optimizing System

This system was designed by Dawson Controls in cooperation with Grecon Dimter to replace the obsolete Intel 8086 based computer systems that were supplied with the pre - 1995 Grecon optimizing saws, and also replaces the later VME Bus computer systems. It was also designed to be able to run any known optimizing saw that's on the market.

The Hardware:

The system replaces the original computer system and much of the wiring in the computer cabinet, and includes an Intel Pentium 4 computer with the following minimums: 1.5 GHz processor, 128 meg memory, 10 gig hard drive, CD drive, floppy drive, network card, 56K modem, industrial rack mount 4U case, keyboard, mouse, and 17 inch monitor. Due to the frequency of new computer hardware being updated in the marketplace, it is not possible to tell you exactly what computer hardware you will get with this system; we will supply the latest computer hardware commonly available. In addition, interface cards are installed in the computer to communicate with the I/O devices necessary to operate the saw. The system also includes the necessary wiring, cables, and interface devices. The Galil Motion Control interface devices used in this system are off the shelf, current state of the art, and readily available from vendors in North America.

Installed Operating System:

Our systems currently run on Window's 2000 Pro, however we are testing Window's new XP Pro platform. On request, we will provide Windows 98.

Supported Hardware:

This system will run on any of the older Grecon 1000, 2000, and 3000 saws as well as the 7, 8, & 900 series saws. The system has been designed to operate on all other known optimizing saws also. The system is designed to operate with 1 or 2 LUT cameras, or Lucidyne grade readers. We are no longer supporting the old push-pull width-measuring system and the obsolete Allen Bradley camera width-measuring system, these will be replaced by our new Width-Scan system or for greater accuracy our Laser-Scan width measuring system. Up to 8 kickers is standard (more can be added for an additional charge for the hardware). In addition, scanners and product printers are also supported, but not tested in production. Other hardware can be interfaced for an additional charge for programming. Your saw must be in reasonably good mechanical condition for the system to operate at maximum accuracy, this system cannot fix mechanical problems.

Cut Lists and Optimizing:

The Optimizing Software is designed to do full length optimizations and is value based. In the current version of the Optimizing Software, if a board is longer than the photo eye to the saw blade, the program treats the leftover board as a second board. Using the Downgrade function the program can look across all grades in a cut list to find the best value solution for a given board. There are 10 grades available for each cut list, with 200 individual cut lengths available in each grade. If width measuring is installed on the machine, up to 8 different widths can be run simultaneously. Other features include Cut on the Mark, Single Mark Cut, and No Cut Zone. The cut lists are stored on the on the local hard drive, or can be stored on the network drive if the system is connected to a LAN. The number of cut lists that can be stored on the system is limited only by the amount of available hard drive space.

Networking:

If there is phone line (customer provided) available, we can connect to the computer to do software updates and troubleshooting. If the computer can be connected to the Internet we can provide the same support services over the Internet. We also have 24/7 telephone voice support.

Telephone and Internet Support

If the system is connected to a LAN, the cut lists may be created on an office computer running our Order Editor Software and downloaded to the saw computer. It is possible for us to write interface software that will allow your current electronic method of generating orders to directly export to our Optimizing Software for an additional programming charge. The office version of the Order Editor Software is included in the package. The system can be monitored in real time from an office computer, or over the Internet if an Internet connection is available.

Reports and Data Logging

The software tracks the amount of Input Wood, Fixed Lengths and Finger joint by grade, Waste, Percent Yield, Value of Pieces Cut. The output from the reports are in a HTML format and may be printed from the optimizing program, or may be exported directly to an MS Excel spreadsheet, or if connect to your network, can be exported to any office computer, or may be directly accessed from the Order Editor Program.

Please contact us for more information.