The company that has already revolutionized the CNC industry by proving that manufacturers can control a complete range of CNC machine tools entirely from unbundled software is once again setting a new CNC standard -- this time for machine tool builders.

With the introduction of OpenCNC(R)/OEM, Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. (MDSI) presents the same high-performance, open-architecture software CNC technology that has already enabled the company to dominate the software CNC market -- now packaged at a price/performance point designed for volume OEM sales.

OpenCNC/OEM includes the OpenCNC/OEM Software Developer Kit (SDK) and OpenCNC/OEM Runtime. The SDK enables engineers to design, build, test and simulate the CNC application offline, in software, before installing it on the machine tool. The Runtime is the hard real-time kernel that controls the machine tool. The package provides a common control technology across a full range of machine tools, including mills, lathes, drills, routers, mills, grinders, gear hobs, dial machines, and laser manufacturing systems.

"OpenCNC(R)/OEM is MDSI's response to demand from OEMs and end-user manufacturers who are already specifying us on their new machine orders," said James R. Fall, MDSI president and CEO. "We're pleased to provide an industry-leading software CNC solution to the full spectrum of machine tools, from entry level knee mills up to complex, high-precision, multi-axis machining centers."

OpenCNC/OEM reduces engineering costs and enables Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to bring products to market faster, because it leverages standard software development tools and standard off-the-shelf hardware. Because the CNC is open-architecture software running on Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R), OEMs can integrate third-party technologies and provide value-added competitive features of their own to customers.

In today's manufacturing industries, OEMs increasingly recognize the value of a renewable CNC -- an upgradeable software CNC that will not become obsolete before the machine tool does. "OpenCNC/OEM has established a new benchmark in all-software, high-performance, high-volume CNC solutions for OEMs," Fall said.