At a glance
- The machine went from fixed-length only to cutting variable lengths on its own.
- A crop-mark sensor tells the cutter exactly where to cut.
- The machine is run from a phone or a web browser, not only from its own panel.
- Saves the prep time and the material swaps that every length change used to cost.
The situation
The client's machine cut to one fixed length and nothing else. So producing anything with varying lengths meant working around it — plotting how to lay everything out to fit the fixed cut, and changing material every time a job called for a different length. The machine dictated how they produced, rather than the other way round.
What we did
We added crop-mark sensing to the machine. A sensor detects the printed crop marks, so the cutter knows exactly where each piece ends and cuts variable lengths automatically — no fixed-length workaround, no re-planning each layout. We built it with an Arduino reading the sensor, a custom HMI for the operator, and the control logic in C++.
We also moved the controls off the machine. Before, everything was set at the machine itself; now the operator can run it from a phone or a web browser.
What changed
The machine now cuts whatever length the job needs, reading the marks instead of being told one length. The prep time that went into plotting layouts to fit a fixed cut is saved, and so is the swap time lost to changing material for every different length — production stops bending around the machine's one trick. And the operator no longer has to be standing at the panel to run it.
Why it worked
This is the kind of work we come from: getting a real machine on the floor to do more by adding the right sensing and control, instead of replacing it. A sensor and some control logic turned a single-purpose cutter into a flexible one.