EtherMark Explained | Simplifying Marking Equipment Integration
MECCO has introduced a patent-pending technology solution that facilitates integration of marking systems into factory automation networks using EtherNet/IP protocol.
https://www.mecco.com/Product-EtherMark
The industry is really geared around proprietary interfacing and every time the customer purchases a marking unit, they have to then learn that proprietary code.Traditionally, talking from a PLC to a controller for a laser or a dot peen device would require
many, many rungs of code sticking together long strings of information to send over to
the marker, and it could take anywhere from 30 to 80 hours of programming to come up with that code.
And so they came to us and said, "Hey, we're already using PLC's (or programmable logic
controllers). We already know that software. Why can't we have an interface using that
type of software? Mecco was the company that said, "Hey, we are going to solve that. It's an industry problem. Let's put the best minds in the industry on it, and we'll come up with a solution. And we did."
And that's where we started to develop the framework, the structure, of what we now have, which is EtherMark software.
We do direct communication right from the PLC to the marker over an EtherNet/IP connection. Doing this provides direct communication between the two in a very redundant and fast way, and provides the customer with the ability to diagnose the connection while it's occurring.
Mecco is the only provider of native EtherNet/IP communication to either the laser or the dot peen controller. We're very proud of that.
Other providers will give you adapters, which still use their native communication protocols, but really translate them to EtherNet/IP. Not true native EtherNet/IP.
Our customers' feedback so far has been fantastic. They love the technology, they appreciate that Mecco was the company that actually went out and did it, and now it makes their life easier. It's now they are not having to learn custom code, they can do it all with the same software that they currently use today, they can use with both our laser and our dot peen markers.
We've seen customers who have had problems communicating their information or having wrong information printed onto their part, migrate to using EtherMark because of the assuredness that they get knowing that the correct mark is going to be placed on the
part every time.
Customers who are used to using compact or control logix Allen-Bradley PLC's will love
using EtherMark on their line because it really is drag and drop, plug and play capable with those products.
One interface for multiple different types of marking technologies.