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MEMEX - IIoT

The IIoT or Industry 4.0: Who will win?

Written by Dave Edstrom & David McPhail, Memex | Tuesday October 11, 2016
Oct. 11, 2016 – At Memex, we are frequently asked questions about both the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0. The questions usually start off, “What do you see happening in [IIoT/Industry 4.0]?” The conversation will quickly zero in on their real concern, which is to find an answer to the question: “What and when should I be doing something with [IIoT/Industry 4.0]?”
Conceptually, are either IIoT or Industry 4.0 really new in manufacturing? The answer to that question is an emphatic “no.” One only needs to go back 36 years to the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) effort led by GM to see just one standardization attempt applied to manufacturing. For either to be successful, they must provide a net bottom line benefit for the dollars invested by delivering tangible and measurable business outcome(s).At Memex, we would argue what is changing even faster is that manufacturing is catching up, and even surpassing, other industries in truly understanding what is happening on the plant floor. Only two to four per cent of all shops or plants are monitored, a fact Dave Edstrom, Memex CTO, picked up when surveying the industry during his time as president and chairman of the board of the MTConnect Institute. When asked, most plant or shop managers will state their plant utilization is in the 65 to 75 per cent range. When hardware/software is deployed that can properly quantify this number, it is shown time and again to be actually 25 to 32 per cent. A significant inflection point for both IIoT and Industry 4.0 is MTConnect. A fact that cannot be overstated is that the open and royalty-free manufacturing interconnectivity standard MTConnect has been a huge enabler for manufacturing and provides the viable highway for information sharing from the shop floor to the top floor.

The evolution
Industry 4.0 first came to life in 2011. The name Industry 4.0 represents the fourth industrial revolution, with steam power being the first, mass production using electricity being the second, and digital computing being the third revolution for improving manufacturing. It is interesting to note in 1966, Karl Steinbuch, a German computer scientist, stated, “In a few decades’ time, computers will be interwoven into almost every industrial product.”

Industry 4.0 recognizes there are significant technical challenges that all come into play and the only way to address those are with a comprehensive framework. A key paper for Industry 4.0 is the Working Paper No. 01/2015, titled Design Principles for Industrie 4.0 Scenarios: A Literature Review by Mario Hermann, Tobias Pentek, and Boris Otto. In this paper, they bring out key design principles for Industry 4.0:

• Interoperability
• Virtualization
• Decentralization
• Real-time capability
• Service orientation
• Modularity

Interoperability is listed as the first design principle and this is where a standard, such as MTConnect, becomes critically important. While MTConnect is not yet part of Industry 4.0, there are conversations going on at very high levels. This fact was stated by Prof. Dr.- Ing. Dr. h.c. Detlef Zühlke when he sat on an Industry 4.0 panel with Dave Edstrom, Memex CTO, at McMaster University this past April.

GE is credited with coining the term IIoT, while Cisco is credited with coining the term IoT. By adding Industrial to Internet of Things, how does GE differentiate the two? We find the following on the GE Digital blog: “In today’s ever-changing and volatile market, manufacturers seek a single version of the truth that will help them make the right decisions for improving profitability, while at the same time mitigating risk as much as possible. They wish to grow their profits and their organization, while ensuring safety for employees, the general public and the environment. To obtain all of this, they need increased visibility and better insights into the performance of their equipment and assets.”

GE is positioning IIoT brilliantly in its commercials. In one, “Owen” is given a hammer by his father and is told it was his grandfathers. Owen’s father asks Owen to pick it up. Owen tells his parents that while GE builds industrial equipment, he will be writing software that will allow machines to speak to each other. These commercials are laying the groundwork for data-driven manufacturing.

Taking advantage of the platform
Now that we have provided the definitions directly from the sources and the relevant context, let’s look at how we would respond to the next question, “What does Memex see happening in [IIoT/Industry 4.0]?” For many, IIoT means that after a plant has attached all of their manufacturing equipment, they come to the conclusion that data analysis begets more data analysis and they want to start adding sensors — everywhere. These sensors include coolant, vibration, temperature, humidity, motion, current and amperage, to name just a few. These sensors come into play after shops have electronically connected to their major assets, such as machine tools and operators. This attention on connecting everything in manufacturing underscores the importance of interoperability, the first design principle of Industry 4.0.

What both of these efforts are trying to establish is to be the platform for manufacturing. What is a platform? Microsoft Windows, Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Apple’s OS X are all examples of platforms. A platform is not just the operating system, but it is also the rules of the road in terms of interoperability between systems, security, licensing, interfaces, reference implementations, working groups and countless other critical aspects of a platform. Building a platform that becomes an industry standard is extremely difficult and expensive.

What should a shop owner or plant manager being doing today with either IIoT or Industry 4.0?

The tremendous interest in both Industry 4.0 and IIoT are proving the point that many of us in manufacturing have known for years manufacturing is ripe for analytics. Both Industry 4.0 and IIoT fall into the data-driven manufacturing camp. Woody Allen once said, “If you live in a country run by a committee, make sure you are on the committee.” Your level of involvement today with these efforts should directly reflect the possible outcomes and the tangible net business benefits to your business. If you are running a large plant with many software developers, you might want to invest some of a software developer’s time into either investigating these efforts or possibly joining Industry 4.0.

What steps should a plant manager take with either IIoT or Industry 4.0?

• Realize these efforts are a means to an end, not an end in itself.
• The bottom line with any effort in manufacturing should answer the fundamental question, “How does this help me improve my efficiency so I can make more parts and more profits with less resources in less time?”
• Far and away, the best investment of time is to truly understand what is happening on your plant floor. The way to accomplish this is with a shop floor monitoring system. The ROI of shop floor monitoring is measured in weeks and months, delivering an average of 300 per cent Internal Return Rate of capital — the percentage is based on the information we track from our customers.
• When it comes time to connect your assets on your shop floor, use MTConnect as the interconnectivity standard.
• If you are one of the less than five per cent who have completely connected your plant floor and can see exactly what is happening on any given manufacturing asset at anytime and from anywhere, then you should start looking into where it makes sense to work with Industry 4.0.

In our opinion, IIoT for manufacturing is really about adding sensors to manufacturing and the basic challenge is interoperability; interoperability is always the challenge in computers.

Will IIoT or Industry 4.0 be the MAP of the 21st century and end up in the graveyard of industrial standards initiatives that promised much but didn’t deliver, or will both truly be worthy of the term “revolution?” Only time will tell, but our bet is it doesn’t matter what you call it, if you are not connecting your plant’s assets to be monitored, then it is not if you will go out of business, but when.

David McPhail is the CEO and president of Memex, and a current member of Manufacturing AUTOMATION’s editorial advisory board. He has chaired several working groups of U.S.-based MTConnect Institute. Dave Edstrom is the CTO for Memex, as well as the former president and chairman of the board for the MTConnect Institute. Based in Burlington, Ont., Memex is the global leader of M2M manufacturing productivity solutions. Its connectivity technologies bridge the shop floor to the top floor and provide machine efficiencies, maintenance savings, and eradicate productivity gaps.

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of Manufacturing AUTOMATION

To read the complete article click here 
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Memex Inc. Gains Industry Attention at IMTS 2016

$500,000 of New Orders Received Since the Show

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – Oct 5, 2016) – Memex Inc. (“MEMEX” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: OEE) announces that in the two weeks since the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2016, MEMEX has secured an aggregate of half a million dollars in new purchase orders. Purchase orders were received  from a combination of new customers to MEMEX, as well as follow-on orders from existing MEMEX customers.

IMTS is the largest trade show of its kind in North America with over 115,000+ attendees and was held in Chicago, between September 12th to the 17th. Many large businesses shop for the best solution at IMTS and hold-off making any large capital purchases until after the trade show.

“MEMEX’s attendance at IMTS generated quality leads with the potential to connect thousands of machines for MEMEX over the next several years,” said David McPhail, MEMEX’s President and CEO. “We also had meaningful discussions with many potential industry leading partners, wanting to leverage the value offered by high-quality IIoT software, where we could jointly work with their salespeople to drive our products into major accounts.”

“We’ve seen a major transition within the manufacturing community that shows technology adoption future,” said John Rattray, Vice President of Sales. “At the last IMTS show two years ago, most manufacturers did not quite grasp the concepts of Real-Time OEE or Data-Driven Manufacturing. This year, prospects that visited our booth seemed to be far more in tune with the business value of Smart Manufacturing. The industry appears to be recognizing that IIoT technology is ‘game-changing,’ and they need it to stay competitive.”

About MEMEX

MEMEX, the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of “Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future” and encouraged by the accelerating adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate networks, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX’s customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement.

Forward-Looking Statements

The statement “MEMEX’s attendance at IMTS generated quality leads with the potential to connect thousands of machines for MEMEX over the next several years,” is a forward-looking statement. This statement represents the number of manufacturing machines operated by the ‘quality leads’ generated from the IMTS Show. However, there is no guarantee that the quality leads will proceed with the purchase of MEMEX’s MERLIN communications platform. The aforementioned forward-looking statement is made as of the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable securities legislation, MEMEX assumes no obligation to update publicly or revise this forward-looking statement to reflect subsequent information, events, or circumstances.

Media Contact

Memex Inc.:

David McPhail, CEO

Phone: 519-993-1114

Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

 

Rashi Rathore, Marketing Specialist

Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103

Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com

 

Investor Relations

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

Phone: 416-565-2805

Email: Sean@SophicCapital.com

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MEMEX Inc. to Unveil and Demonstrate MERLIN Financial Overall Equipment Effectiveness (FOEE)™, MERLIN DNC and MERLIN Continuous Improvement Professional Services

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – Sep 14, 2016) – Memex Inc.(“MEMEX”) (TSX VENTURE: OEE) announced today it will be unveiling and demonstrating two new modules to the MERLIN open platform — MERLIN Financial Overall Equipment Effectiveness (FOEE) and MERLIN DNC. MEMEX is also introducing MERLIN Continuous Improvement Professional Services (CI-PS) at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago.

It is a fact that most manufacturers are totally in the dark in terms of knowing in real-time if they are making or losing money on a given machine tool, shift or plant. Now with the introduction of MERLIN FOEE, we address this critical issue by combining OEE with financials.

Bob Hansen, long time manufacturing consultant and author of OVERALL Equipment “Effectiveness – A Powerful Maintenance/Production Tool For Increased Profits”, stated, “while OEE is an excellent metric, the truth is OEE tells you nothing about your profitability or more important, your potential profitability and this why I created Financial Overall Equipment Effectiveness. MERLIN FOEE is a new tool for leadership teams to visualize hourly profit contribution by product on constraint machines versus world class performance results. Key components of FOEE information can improve prioritization of product /machine scheduling, re-order Continuous Improvement projects, and reset sales and marketing strategies for better cash flow and higher profits. What is the value of an accelerating competitive advantage such as FOEE? Priceless.”

John Rattray, VP of Sales for MEMEX, stated, “FOEE is a game-changer because it provides the ability to visualize real-time financial profit contribution on a per machine/product basis giving management the ability to direct teams with the information to drive profitable scheduling and machine utilization.”

David McPhail, President and CEO for MEMEX, stated, “We acquired the rights to FOEE because we knew that this will completely change analytics for manufacturing. Imagine knowing in real-time if you are making or losing money at any given standalone machine tool or at any one of your plants. What was only a dream in manufacturing, is now a reality with MERLIN FOEE.”

The Direct/Distributed Numerical Control (DNC) market has been flat in terms of growth. With the full embrace of platforms such as MEMEX’s MERLIN this has caused countless manufacturing plants and shops to re-evaluate their DNC solutions. MEMEX made a strategic decision to purchase Dostek in 2015 because of their exceptional reputation in the industry.

Doug Struthers, MEMEX DNC Architect, stated, “After 30 years at Dostek, I joined MEMEX for one primary reason — to create the most comprehensive, flexible, easy to use and easy to troubleshoot DNC software using the MERLIN platform. This was my opportunity to take my many decades of DNC experience to create the absolute best DNC software. MERLIN DNC will absolutely cause manufacturing to rethink their entire DNC strategy.”

The key high-level steps for successful implementation of Management Execution Systems (MES) such as MERLIN Tempus are measure, monitor and manage. Nigel Southway, international consultant, coach for Operational Continuous Improvement & LEAN Thinking and author of CYCLE TIME MANAGEMENT… Fast Track to Productivity Improvement, stated, “we have developed the MERLIN Continuous Improvement Professional Services (CI-PS) program to couple the power of the MERLIN Tempus platform with a comprehensive implementation process that enables organizations to embrace the CI culture. Utilizing time-tested, integrated templates, reporting methodology and advanced problem solving tools the MERLIN CI roadmap drives productivity improvement to achieve benchmark operating effectiveness.”

About MEMEX:
MEMEX, the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of “Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future” and encouraged by the accelerating adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate networks, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX’s customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement.

Media Contact

Memex Inc.:

David McPhail, CEO

Phone: 519-993-1114

Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

 

Rashi Rathore, Marketing Specialist

Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103

Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com

 

Investor Relations

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

Phone: 416-565-2805

Email: Sean@SophicCapital.com

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MEMEX Inc. Showcases New World-Class IIoT Solutions at IMTS 2016

MEMEX’s Real-Time Machine Manufacturing Value Proposition Increases

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – Sep 1, 2016) – Memex Inc. (“MEMEX” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: OEE) will be unveiling and demonstrating the next generation of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) hardware and software solutions including the next release of MERLIN, the company’s core IIoT communication platform, at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago from September 12 to 17, located at booth E 3368.

Building upon the success of the current award-winning MERLIN platform, the next release of MERLIN allows manufacturers to take control of their shop floor and optimize efficiency at a whole new level. MERLIN has enabled manufacturers to achieve upwards of 50% increase in productivity and over 20% increase in profit based on a 10% increase in OEE. On average, over 100 MERLIN customers have secured payback in less than four months, which translates to an Internal Rate of Return greater than 300%.

“Our next release of MERLIN is designed to be the most scalable and powerful plant monitoring software in the company’s history,” said David McPhail, MEMEX’s CEO. “With this release we will expand MERLIN´s value proposition for our partners and our customers by giving manufacturers the option to move their real-time machine monitoring off-premise and to scale their Smart Manufacturing needs as required for IIoT centric business outcomes.”

New smart-edge IIoT hardware connectivity solutions by MEMEX will open up the world of IIoT for manufacturing by translating a wide variety of digital, analog and other signals/protocols into MTConnect® (the open source and royalty free interconnectivity communication standard).

With these announcements MEMEX is redefining what it means to truly know what is happening in your plant. Additionally, MEMEX will further itself as the leader in both shop floor monitoring, as well as providing MTConnect® software and hardware solutions for any machine on the plant floor.

David McPhail and Dave Edstrom, former President and Chairman of the MTConnect®Institute and the current CTO of MEMEX, will be in booth E3368 to demonstrate the new software and hardware platform along with other MEMEX industry experts. Both Mr. McPhail and Mr. Edstrom were recognized as two of the top 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries by Smart Manufacturing Magazine and can speak on a wide range of industry trends.

MEMEX’s IIoT specialists will be looking forward to your visit at IMTS Chicago. If you require any further information or would like to make an appointment for a personal interview, please let us know by emailing sales@memexOEE.com.

About IMTS

IMTS 2016 is the 31st edition of the premier manufacturing technology show in North America. More than 2,000 exhibiting companies will occupy 1.3 million net square feet of exhibit space at the McCormick Place complex in Chicago, Illinois. IMTS is held every even-numbered year in Chicago and attracts more than 114,000 buyers and sellers from over 112 countries.

About MEMEX

Memex Inc., the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of “Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future” and encouraged by the accelerating adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate network, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX’s customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement.

Media Contact:

David McPhail, CEO

Phone: 519-993-1114

Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

 

Rashi Rathore, Marketing Specialist

Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103

Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com

 

Investor Relations

Sean Peasgood

Phone: 416-565-2805

Email: Sean@SophicCapital.com

 

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Cisco in MEMEX Booth @ IMTS 2016

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – Aug 31, 2016) – MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) is proud to announce that Cisco will be exhibiting in the MEMEX booth E3368 at IMTS 2016, Chicago. MERLIN, MEMEX Inc.’s award-winning IIoT communication platform, is part of Cisco’s Connected Machine Strategy as a front end machine monitoring dashboard application delivering Data-Driven Manufacturing business value.

At IMTS, North America’s largest manufacturing show, MERLIN will be securely capturing and reporting Real-Time data from machines, both on-site and remotely connected, using Cisco’s newly released IE4K switch. The IE4K is compliant with MTConnect®, the open source and royalty free interconnectivity communication standard, which collectively form an integral part of any manufacturing company’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) strategy.

Present in the MEMEX booth will be IIoT specialists from MEMEX and representatives from Cisco Systems Inc. to further discuss Cisco’s Connected Machine Strategy and the benefits it offers.

About Cisco Connected Machines

The Cisco Connected Machine Solution is a digital solution portfolio, based on the Cisco IoT platform. The solution enables rapid and repeatable machine connectivity, providing business improvements such as: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and machine monitoring, Machine optimization Predictive maintenance, Process optimization, and Process health.

About MEMEX

Memex Inc., the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of “Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future” and encouraged by the accelerating adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate network, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX’s customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement.

Media Contact:

David McPhail

CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114

Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

Rashi Rathore
Marketing Specialist
Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103
Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com