Measuring Up

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Manufacturing Automation – October 2014

Case study on i-Mech of Edmonton, AB.

To see the full article, please click here, and go to page 20.

Memex showcases benefits of Merlin manufacturing tool together with client Mazak Optonics at FabTech

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Proactive Investors – October 17 – 2014 – Memex Automation (CVE:OEE), the maker of a tool that works to improve manufacturing efficiencies, says that Mazak Optonics has invited the company to jointly demonstrate its product’s ability to connect all manufacturing machines to management and increase income from operations in real time.

Mazak’s laser-cutting systems and Memex’s product Merlin will be demonstrated at FabTech in Atlanta, Georgia, from November 11 to 13.

Memex’s Merlin is a hardware and software tool that tracks a large number of data inputs that measure OEE [overall equipment effectiveness] in real-time, machine by machine, as well as other operational machine information.

It enables customers to address production bottlenecks as they happen, converting idle time back into production and ultimately improving throughput and increasing income from plant operations.

“We are very pleased to continue our collaboration with Mazak and to demonstrate our combined capabilities to their extensive customer base and distribution channels,” said chief executive officer, David McPhail.

“MERLIN, as a forward and backward compatible MTConnect-based solution, universally connects all machines to management in real-time, measures plant-wide capacity utilization and shows manufacturers how to make more production, generating IRRs of up to 400%.”

Mazak Optonics is the laser-cutting systems division of Yamazaki Mazak Corp, which designs and manufactures productive machine tools and automation systems.

Memex’s Merlin was also showcased by Mazak at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago in September, as well as at EMO in Hannover, Germany last year.

Mazak purchased Merlin to manage its plant in Florence, Kentucky, and has cited a 42 percent increase in equipment utilization.

“The availability of key data is crucial to managing operational performance. The combination of MTConnect and MERLIN will deliver performance details including dashboards that open up tremendous real-time visibility for both individual machines and the entire shop floor,” added Mazak’s general manager of sales support, Marc Lobit.

MTConnect is the open, royalty-free standard that is intended to foster greater interoperability between manufacturing devices and software applications. It is used with Memex’s new CNC hardware adapters, bringing OEE network connectivity from the shop floor to management, no matter the make, model or vintage of machine.

To see the full article, please click here.

Memex installs 34 new MTConnect hardware adapters for GE business, gets new order

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Proactive Investors – Octover 16, 2014 – Memex Automation (CVE:OEE), whose hardware and software solution works to improve manufacturing efficiencies, said it has completed the installation of 34 MTConnect-based universal machine interface boards at GE Power & Water in South Carolina, while also receiving an order for an installation from GE Aviation.

MTConnect is the open, royalty-free standard that is intended to foster greater interoperability between manufacturing devices and software applications. It is used with Memex’s new CNC hardware adapters, bringing OEE network connectivity from the shop floor to management, no matter the make, model or vintage of machine.

The result is a tool that allows Memex’s Merlin software to track a large number of MTConnect data inputs that measure OEE [overall equipment effectiveness] in real-time, machine by machine, as well as other operational machine information.

It enables customers to address production bottlenecks as they happen, converting idle time back into production and ultimately improving throughput and increasing income from plant operations.

The Memex hardware will allow GE to better measure and manage production, Memex said, as well as monetize improved processes.

“Our universal hardware solves the last meter problem with a plug-in adapter that generates MTConnect data,” said chief executive officer, David McPhail.

“Uniquely, because MTConnect as a protocol includes a data dictionary, our adapter enables all machines to talk XML in exactly the same way, which means the data can be consumed by GE’s business intelligence tools.”

Memex’s product was recently described in a case study by Mazak, which said that Merlin-related efforts to reduce downtime yielded a 42 percent improvement in utilization for the monitored machines.

In addition, Mazak also reduced operator downtime by 100 hours per month, while 400 hours per month of previously outsourced work was returned to the company.

To see the full article, please click here.

Taking the Factory’s Pulse with Shop-Floor Monitoring

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Manufacturing Engineering – October 14, 2014 – by Patrick Waurzyniak

Memex Automation is featured in this article on implementing the latest machine tool data collection and monitoring systems.

To see the full article, please click here.

Memex Automation: M2M Platform Leader

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Canadian Tooling and Manufacturing Association – Winter 2014 edition – by Paul Adair

MEMEX AUTOMATION BEGAN OVER 20 years ago with an approach to better the interconnectivity of automated machine tools on the factory floor. Over the years, this vision evolved to include the intra-networking of all machine  tools, enabling communication bi-directionally between each other and with managements’ information systems in real-time.

“If you can measure it, you can manage it to be more efficient,” says David McPhail, President and CEO. “Our offerings enable manufacturers to improve production and income from operations through advanced machine  monitoring of overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and DNC in real-time.”

The Memex productivity approach within the manufacturing sector uses a backward compatible machine-to-machine hardware and software solution that operates on multiple protocols, including MTConnect standard,  OPC, Fanuc, Focas and others. The MERLIN system shows management where bottlenecks are occurring and why,  empowering them to react and not lose production time.

“We offer a solution that measures plant-wide capacity utilization as OEE, in real-time,” says McPhail. “It uncovers  the hidden plant and shows manufacturers how to make more production and income using the same labour,  equipment and time.”

Receiving the 2013 Technology Innovation Leadership Award for Machine Monitoring Systems from Frost &  Sullivan, MERLIN has been instrumental in helping companies in the discrete manufacturing sector realize their full profit-potential. In many cases, MERLIN has increased plant-wide efficiency—as measured by OEE—greater than 100 per cent. As an example, at Magellan Aerospace in Kitchener, ON, OEE was increased from 36.9 per cent to 85 per cent in a three-machine cell.

Following review at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (ITMS) 2012, Microsoft chose and endorsed MERLIN as its connectivity solution between the factory floor and its enterprise resource planning suite of business  intelligence tools.

“Microsoft completed a thorough review at IMTS. Then, our team did an integration of MERLIN into Microsoft  Dynamics management and planning software in two weeks, which blew them away,” says McPhail. “The Microsoft  leadership team told us we had done in two weeks what other solution teams hadn’t done in two years.”

Memex’s facilities measure over 4,100 square feet and the company presently employs 21 workers. After raising  $1.35 million in cash from its recent public listing (TSXV: OEE), the company has structured itself to address the  global market of machine-to-machine and machine-to-management manufacturing productivity. Memex also actively supports its employees in the giving of their time, talent and money in various charitable activities.

“Our team is dynamic at work and in their communities, and we fully support them in all endeavours,” says McPhail. “I think by doing so, it leads to more meaningful work and better retention.”

Memex values its membership with the CTMA, crediting the organization with helping the company better educate manufacturers in the use of their products and allowing them to compete within global markets. “It is our view that  Canadian-based technologies, such as MERLIN, explained through organizations like the CTMA, build a more prosperous manufacturing base,” says McPhail. “We view our CTMA membership as pivotal to our broader inclusion in CTMA-like organizations globally, where we can contribute to a better understanding of the power of productivity  solutions, the role productivity plays in viable manufacturing, and the role manufacturing plays in a viable economy.”

As manufacturers hunt for new efficiencies to maintain a competitive advantage, Memex’s vision and solution seem prophetic. The company has done its homework, understands its global market niche and has written both strategic and business plans to deliver MERLIN as the M2M communication platform of choice.

“The global market is very large,” says McPhail. “According to best estimates, there are 16 million machine tools  installed globally that are islands of technology, cut off from management and their business intelligence tools. Our  vision is to be the cell phone equivalent platform of that installed base, and to be the number one bi-directional  manufacturing productivity solution.”

To go to the CTMA homepage, please click here.