A method for controlling a virtual assistant for an industrial plant includes receiving by an input interface an information request, wherein the information request comprises at least one request for receiving information about at least part of the industrial plant; determining by a control unit a model specification using the received information request; determining by a model manager a machine learning model using the model specification; and providing by the control unit a response to the information request using the determined machine learning model.

A numerical control device as a machining operation assisting device extracts an operation item whose necessity changes depending on the operating state of a machine tool, determines the necessity of the operation item based on the operating condition of the machine tool, adds the necessity to the operation item, and determines the presence or absence of an operation to be executed by an operator based on the necessity added to the operation item. Then, a screen of a display unit of the numerical control device as the machining assisting device, a terminal device of the operator, or a computer managing the machine tool in a factory, for example, is informed of the determined necessity of the operation item.

A machining system which includes a plurality of machine tools each having an independent operation part and controller, and shared peripheral equipment associated with all of the plurality of machine tools, includes a shared controller for the shared peripheral equipment which is operable by each of the operation parts of the plurality of machine tools, wherein the shared controller includes an authorization part for granting operation authority to one of the operation parts of the plurality of the machine tools.