By Manufacturing Data SystemsIN RECENT YEARS, the world of CNC controls has seen a trend toward more open, PC-based architectures. Many of these control concepts, however, still require manufacturer-specific hardware such as axis controllers with their own intelligence or external, proprietary modules for positioning control or input/output. This White Paper contends that the dependence of machine builders and users on controls manufacturers has to-date largely prevented greater cost reduction in control integration and maintenance. New control concepts in the form of open software CNCs based on standardized, market-ready embedded PC platforms provide relief here and offer potential savings of more than 30 percent.For many machine builders, the emergence of open software CNCs on standardized embedded PC platforms provide three important advantages: minimized dependence on manufacturers and time and cost savings on integration and assembly all without having to accept reduced control performance. According to this White Paper, software CNCs on embedded PC platforms also satisfy high standardization and reliability requirements.