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Sales and customersQuotes and costingA price per recipe, the same day.Orders and customer contactFrom quote to shipment, customer informed.Customer portalOrders, stock and certificates, for your customer.
ProductionPlanningOne current plan for the office and the floor.Production and operatorsWork instructions, scans and shift handover on the tablet.Quality and batch recordChecks, deviations and release without paper.
Warehouse and insightWarehouse and stockPer lot and location, picking by shelf life.PerformanceDowntime, OEE and what an order really cost.
How it worksFrom quote to shipment

Follow one order through your factory and warehouse, in eight steps.

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Contract manufacturing and private labelYour customers are brands with high expectations.Co-packing and fillingFood and supplementsLot numbers, shelf life and labels per order.FoodSupplementsBakery and confectioneryBeveragesAnimal feed and pet foodChemicals and cosmeticsMixing and filling to order, documents per batch.Cosmetics and personal careCleaning productsPaints, coatings and adhesivesFlavours and fragrancesMake-to-order manufacturingMetal, plastics and assembly.Printing, packaging and labelsPlastics processingMetalworkingMachine and equipment buildingFurniture and interior fittings
Industry not listed?Do you produce to order?

Then Frontlink fits. Tell us which process takes you the most time.

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IntegrationsYour ERP, email, Excel and databases, connected.Shop floor and machinesMachines, tablets and scanners, also when the internet drops out.AI and agentsAgents on your live production data. You approve.SecurityWhere your data lives and who can access it.
For your IT teamAPI and developer docs

How Frontlink connects, with an API for your own tools.

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OPC UA

Machines over OPC UA, counted live.

Most modern machines and PLCs speak OPC UA. The edge gateway in your factory reads their counters, states and process values and turns them into output, downtime and measurements per order in Frontlink.

Book a callAll integrations

OPC UA and Frontlink.

OPC UA (Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture) is the standard way modern machines, PLCs and SCADA systems share data. The Frontlink edge gateway connects as an OPC UA client to your machines, or to an OPC UA server you already run, such as Kepware.

The gateway reads the nodes you choose, such as counters, machine states, alarms and set points, and links them to the order running at that moment. It only reads, and it buffers everything when the internet drops out.

Direction
Read
Data exchanged
Counters, machine states, alarms, process values and set points
How it connects
OPC UA client on the edge gateway in your factory
Access
An OPC UA user or certificate per machine or server
Typical setup time
About a day per machine type, often in one visit

What moves between them.

  1. Counts and states per order

    Every count and every state change lands on the order running at that moment, so output per batch is known without a tally sheet.

  2. Stops with a reason

    A stop or alarm is detected automatically. The operator only picks the reason on the screen at the line.

  3. Process values with the batch

    Temperatures, pressures, speeds and set points are stored with the batch they belong to.

How we connect it.

  1. We pick the nodes with you

    We browse the machine's OPC UA address space together and choose the values that matter.

  2. Secured connections

    The gateway uses OPC UA security with certificates and a dedicated user wherever the machine supports it.

  3. Read only

    Frontlink reads values. The machine's control and program are not changed.

Other integrations.

Where you see it in Frontlink.

  1. PerformanceFrontlink measures rate, downtime and scrap per line, per order and per shift. So you see where things go wrong while it still matters, and what an order really cost.
  2. Production and operatorsAt the line, operators see the order, the steps and the instruction for each step. Materials are scanned, checks recorded and the shift hands over digitally. No paper, no retyping.

Frequently asked questions.

Which machines support OPC UA?

Most PLCs from the last ten years, such as Siemens S7-1200 and S7-1500, Beckhoff and B&R, and many machine builders' own controls. Older machines can often be connected through Modbus.

Do we need Kepware or another OPC server?

No. The edge gateway connects directly to machines with a built-in OPC UA server. An existing server can be used as well.

Can Frontlink control the machine?

No. Frontlink reads what the machine does. Control stays with the machine and the operator.

Is the gateway reachable from the internet?

No. It only connects outward to Frontlink, over an encrypted connection.

Using something else? Tell us.

In a 30-minute call we look at your systems and machines and tell you which connections make sense to start with.

Book a call