What's New With XL?

2.23 (Development)

These are currently completed features. Additional features in this release will be added as they are finished.

Historical Changeover Analytics

Right on Target

We added four metrics that enable you to retrospectively analyze how Changeovers perform to expectations:

• Event Target (target time for the Changeover)
• Event Efficiency (how the changeover went as compared to expectations, where 100% or better means your team met or exceeded expectations)
• Event Variance (how the changeover went as compared to expectations in terms of a variance percentage, where a positive percentage means your team “earned” that proportion of time and beat expectations)
• Event Time Variance (how the changeover went as compared to expectations in terms of time, where a positive duration represents time your team “earned” by beating expectations)

We also updated the built-in Changeover report to include the new metrics. The KPI bar includes Event Efficiency and Time Variance as KPIs and we added all four of the new metrics to the tables. The new feature also automatically extends the selected time range when needed to ensure you are always looking at complete changeover events.

Unified Touch UI

Even More at Your Fingertips

Introducing the unified Touch UI. All of the XL touch interfaces (e.g., XL Sidekick and XL Touch) are now built on the same foundation, and as part of that, we have added many "quality of life" enhancements.

Search If you have many parts or reasons, you will really appreciate this one. Type into the new search bar and XL will filter what you see to only include items that contain the typed sequence of characters.

Scroll You can now "momentum" scroll through long lists (rather than swipe between pages). It's much faster, and paging is now reserved for viewing different types of information.

Buttons If a button has a special function (e.g., End Part Run), it now has a background color to distinguish it from other buttons on the page (e.g., selecting a Part). If a button represents an "active" item (e.g., the currently running Part), it now is highlighted with a border color. Buttons that are known to not be relevant in a specific application (typically due to configuration) are automatically removed, and buttons that are not relevant at the moment are shown as disabled.

Down A popular feature of the Touch UI is that it automatically navigates to the Down page when XL detects that the line is down. Now, it will wait to auto-navigate if it would otherwise interrupt an interaction. It also displays a red Down strip above the Down buttons to remind you of the current state.

Confirmation Dialogs Any action you select that cannot easily be changed now has an extra confirmation step, and other actions show a confirmation that automatically disappears.

2.22 (Preview)

Power Core

The Fourth Generation of XL

Welcome to the Power Core. It’s our next generation hardware platform, designed and purpose-built by Vorne for edge computing and digital transformation in manufacturing environments.

The XL Power Core outperforms the previous generation of XL by providing:

• An 8 times more performant, double-width, quad-core CPU for pure raw power;
• 10 times the onboard storage for longer historical data horizons;
• and 8x the RAM to bind it all together.

Though the hardware on new XL products has been significantly upgraded, the software base is entirely the same. That means our new products fit seamlessly into your existing XL deployments.

Category	2nd Generation	3rd Generation	4th Generation
Models	XL400, XL600, XL800	XL410, XL610, XL810, XL HD	XL HD+, XL Touch
Architecture	32-bit	32-bit	64-bit
Core	ARM 920T	ARM Cortex-A8	(4) ARM Cortex-A53
DMIPS	220	2,000	16,800
RAM	32 MB	512 MB	4 GB
Flash Memory	32 MB	4 GB	40 GB

XL HD+

The Most Cost Effective Solution for Monitoring Production

If you’re a fan of the XL HD, you’re going to love the XL HD+.

It introduces the Power Core to the HD you know and love for an even more robust, future-proof device.

Our entry level XL model continues to be the most cost effective solution for monitoring production and it is our fastest growing product ever.

XL Touch

Operator Interactions Via Touchscreen

With the same core functionality and compact footprint as the XL HD+, XL Touch adds an industrial touchscreen for faster and easier operator interactions.

Your operators can quickly and easily select down reasons, start part runs, initiate changeovers, view real-time data for the shift, part, or hour, and more right from the XL device itself.

Plus, the Scoreboard view echoes exactly what you see on your HDMI-connected plant-floor scoreboard.

XL Sidekick

Real-Time Visibility Anywhere in Your Plant

XL Sidekick is a free app for Android and iOS that enables you to access XL from anywhere in your plant using your phone or a tablet.

It features the same UX as XL Touch, making it intuitive for operators to access XL from anywhere along the line, and for supervisors to access XL from anywhere in the plant. Simply ensure your device is connected to the same network as your XL devices, and your XL devices are running version 2.21 or later.

You can download Sidekick now to your phone or tablet from the Apple App Store or from Google Play.

In case apps are not allowed in your facility, in 2.22 the same interface is available through your web browser by adding “/sidekick” to any XL URL.

Manual Run Detection Enhancements

Hide Irrelevant Reports

Manual Run Detection is typically used for processes such as cutting, blending or welding where there are no regular cycles, parts take minutes to manufacture, and an external signal informs XL when the process is running.

In these applications, some built-in reports may not be relevant, and you now have the option to remove them.

Apply Down Threshold as Minimum Duration

Our second enhancement to Manual Run Detection is an option to apply minimum thresholds for down events.

This is particularly useful for equipment that repositions while running, like laser cutters. If a run signal is no longer sensed, the process will still be considered running until the threshold is met. After the threshold has passed, a Down event is logged, mirroring what is truly happening on the factory floor.

2.21 (Cloud)

Run Event End Adjustment

Your data. Clean and pristine.

We’ve been doing lots of behind-the-scenes work with the XL production monitor - architecting and building a very powerful next-generation engine to support new features. One such feature is a new form of automatic data adjustment - transferring down detection time from the Run event to the Down event. Let’s explore this in depth!

This feature automatically adjusts the boundary between each Run and Down event, such that the Down event starts after the last cycle of the Run event. In other words, the down detection time (down threshold) is moved from the Run event to the Down event.

XL intelligently leaves enough time at the end of the Run event to ensure the partial cycles at the beginning and end of the Run event are always at least equal to one ICT (one cycle). In the diagram, this is represented by ICT Adjustment. The ICT Adjustment is always between 0 and the ICT (depending on how much time there is before the first cycle of the Run event).

This feature does not change your overall OEE score. It simply recategorizes time from an OEE Performance loss (the Run event) to an OEE Availability loss (the Down event) to better model what is actually happening on the production line.

Run Event End Adjustment (REEA) is automatically enabled for new units and can be optionally turned on for existing units at Settings > Parts and Run States > Run States.

TV Mode

Your favorite report on the big screen.

Many XL users already show their favorite report or dashboard on a TV for all to see. Now we have made it even easier with the all-new TV Mode. Display a focused, extra high-resolution view of the XL web page interface on a TV to see the data you want, where you want, with no distractions. Craft your ideal dashboard, choose your most used built-in reports, or simply showcase a web-based view of your scoreboard to align your entire team with what’s happening on your shop floor.

Simply type “?tv_mode=1” after the IP address in your browser to switch the WPI into a streamlined view ideal for display. TV Mode hides the App and Page Bars, alerts, footer, and most controls.

HD Scoreboard Anywhere

More of what you love.

Users love the XL HD scoreboard - so much that they want to see more of it. Now you can see it in your browser, and with the new TV Mode, on network-connected TVs. Simply navigate to Reports > Scoreboard to see it in action!

Reuse Dimensions in KPI Groups

One dimension. Many metrics.

Visualize multiple metrics for the same dimension within a single KPI Group. For example, compare each of the Six Big Losses by Shift, or OEE Factors by Part, all within the same KPI Group widget. Understand the context of your data in an instant.

Celebrate Wins

Visualize a job well done.

By popular request we added an XL800 (prior generation) feature to the XL810. Fireworks!

Motivate your plant floor team by celebrating success. If Efficiency meets the “good threshold” at any point during the last ten minutes of the shift, you can show congratulatory fireworks and “Great Job, Team!" on the XL810 scoreboard to recognize your team for their win!

Defects per Million

A new perspective on defective.

Let’s welcome a new metric to our 140+ member family - Defects per Million. This is especially useful in industries where defect counts are typically very low, but still of paramount importance, such as PCB assembly. Defects per Million provides an additional perspective on quality by presenting it in terms of reject pieces per million total pieces. Technically this feature snuck its way into XL 2.20 - but we didn’t tell you about it!