← All case studies
MFG-001 Manufacturing Protocol bridge · Industrial IoT
Legacy CNC meets modern MES — protocol bridge in 8 weeks.
75%
cost savings
€ 362,000
saved
8 weeks
implementation
12 ms
avg. latency
Baseline
A legacy CNC machine from 1998 had to be integrated into a modern MES. The protocol was proprietary, undocumented, and only accessible via RS‑232.
Replacing the machine was priced at €480,000 and would have caused long lead times, downtime, and risk to production commitments.
The goal was a drop‑in bridge: full command compatibility, reliable telemetry, and measurable KPIs — without touching the CNC controller.
Approach
1
Analysis 14 days
Protocol capture & pattern extraction
- 72h passive traffic monitoring (RS‑232)
- Identify start sequences, checksums, commands
- Review available manuals (built 1998)
- Document all 47 command types
2
Build 5 weeks
Custom protocol bridge
- Node.js adapter with full protocol support
- Custom parser for proprietary ASCII frame format
- Fault tolerance & automatic reconnect
- MQTT integration into existing MES
3
Integration 2 weeks
Cloud & dashboard
- RabbitMQ MQTT broker setup
- TimescaleDB time-series database
- React real‑time dashboard (OEE, utilization, alarms)
- Full audit trail of all CNC commands
4
Acceptance 1 week
Test & go‑live
- 100% protocol compatibility verified
- Latency: avg. 12 ms (requirement: < 50 ms)
- 99.97% uptime in 4‑week test
- 0 packets lost in > 2M transactions
Architecture
Legacy CNC (RS‑232 · proprietary · built 1998)
↓
Protocol Bridge (Node.js · custom parser)
↓
RabbitMQ (MQTT broker)
↓
TimescaleDB + PostgreSQL (KPIs · OEE · history)
↓
React dashboard (real‑time · alarms · reports)
Cost savings
Cost savings
Direct comparison
New purchase (replacement)
€ 480.000
Solvetronix
€ 118.000
You save
€ 362.000
Savings
75 %
Typical ROI: < 14 months
Results
100% protocol compatibility — all 47 command types translated correctly
Avg. latency 12 ms (requirement: < 50 ms)
99.97% uptime in 4-week test operation
0 packets lost in > 2 million transactions
Eliminated 12 h/week of manual work
OEE measurable for the first time in 22 years of operation
Predictive maintenance becomes possible as a next step
Implementation time: 8 weeks instead of 6+ months
Technologies
Passive Protocol AnalysisTraffic CaptureNode.jsMQTTRabbitMQTimescaleDBPostgreSQLReactTailwind CSSDockerNginx
Similar constraints in your production?
We analyze your protocol and tell you in 30 minutes whether a bridge is feasible.
Request a free call Reply within 24 hours No commitment Confidential