Fastems Releases Manufacturing Management Software Version 8.2 to Help CNC Manufacturers to Measure, Report and Optimize Their Sustainability

[Tampere, Finland – April 30, 2024] The new version MMS 8.2, the control software of Fastems automation systems, helps CNC manufacturers utilize automation to measure, report and optimize their production sustainability. The users can measure the energy consumption of their NC programs, minimize power usage during machine idle times, and dedicate specific machine tools to process certain metals for high-quality chip recycling. MMS version 8.2 will be available to new and as an upgrade to existing Fastems automation systems during the summer of 2024.

CNC manufacturers all over the world are looking for ways to measure, report and optimize their sustainability since the demand for sustainability actions grows. For example, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the European Union requires all companies to report their sustainability at latest from 2028 onward. To help manufacturers take their practical sustainability steps, Fastems is launching a new version 8.2 of their automation control software MMS that is focused on sustainable high-mix manufacturing.

Automating CNC machines has always been a sustainability-enhancing choice. It generates safer and more meaningful jobs, ensures manufacturing profitability, and cuts over half of manufacturing emissions by reducing machining and facility energy consumption, scrap, outsourcing and logistics. Having over 5,000 installed automation systems globally and learning from customers, Fastems has developed a bunch of new features into their automation systems that also help the manufacturers fulfill their sustainability measuring and reporting obligations.

One of the most important requirements for a manufacturer is to begin measuring and reporting the carbon footprint of their produced parts. MMS 8.2 measures and reports the machine tool energy consumption per each NC program, allowing the manufacturers calculate the energy usage in part level. The information can also be utilized to adjust the inefficient NC programs, or running certain parts overnight when the electricity demand is lower.

For minimizing unnecessary energy usage, the new “Auto-Power On/Off” function turns machine tool off automatically when there are no planned NC-programs to run. With the automatic wake-up function, the machine starts and warms up before by the next NC-program begin time.​

Since metal is a non-renewable and valuable resource, recycling is an extremely important sustainability action. MMS 8.2 comes with a material dedicating feature that allows routing the jobs with specific material to specific machine tools. This way high-quality chips can be easily separated and recycled.

 “When it comes to CNC automation, sustainability and profitability go hand in hand. The idea of automation is to remove the unnecessary, frustrating, and repeating work – and our goal is to also make the sustainability work as easy as possible for our customers. These are our very first sustainability-reporting features which we are extremely proud of, and we already are working on the next developments regarding sustainability,” said Heikki Hallila, Vice President of Digital Manufacturing and Automation at Fastems.

To learn more about the new features, the availability for your machine tool, and how CNC automation helps in measuring, reporting, and developing sustainability on shop floor level, watch Fastems webinar “5 Steps Toward More Sustainable & Competitive Machining” at https://www.fastems.com/sustainable-webinar-recording.

For more information on Fastems and the company’s own sustainability initiatives, visit fastems.com/sustainability.