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MEMEX - Measure Real-Time OEE

MEMEX Launches MERLIN OPTime — a FREE Real-Time Dashboard for Manufacturing Analytics

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – Apr 26, 2016) – MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) announces the launch of MERLIN OPTime, a free Real-Time dashboard application for MTConnect® enabled devices. Connecting MERLIN OPTime to MTConnect® enabled machines on the shop floor will allow manufacturers to receive Real-Time manufacturing analytics on an informative, dynamic dashboard. With OEE becoming more critical, MERLIN OPTime offers manufacturers an opportunity to take their first step towards IIoT and smart manufacturing, seeding the market and subsequently driving demand for more feature rich paid versions of MERLIN, all in due course.
MERLIN OPTime is easy to install and use software that reads MTConnect® tags along with offering users the capability to add and display multiple devices/agents, and configure an event to reflect if a machine is running or not. The information rich dashboard also empowers users to assess machine utilization on an 8-hour rolling trend chart that can be viewed on any device such as a smartphone. MERLIN OPTime allows users to:

Assess Machine State: Provides dynamic color feedback on machines uptime and downtime states.
Measure Machine Utilization: Enables both current and trend machine utilization.
Identify Bottlenecks: Enables users the ability to quickly identify machine problems and potential bottlenecks by providing the current state of MTConnect® enabled devices.
Recognize Optimization Opportunities: Analysis of the utilization trends provide an objective comparison of operation time which can bring to light optimization opportunities that exist to boost productivity.

“With MERLIN OPTime, users can experience the potential of data-driven manufacturing with no initial monetary investment,” said Dave Edstrom, CTO at MEMEX Inc., “I believe MERLIN OPTime will dramatically shorten the time that manufacturers will spend learning to appreciate the importance of Real-Time shop-floor information, as well as the tremendous benefits of MTConnect® — the interconnectivity standard.”

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 rapid 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.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Media Contact:
David McPhail
CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

Rashi Rathore
Communication Coordinator
Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103
Email: Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com

MEMEX - Manufacturing Execution System

How the Industrial Internet of Things is Revolutionizing Manufacturing

We live in a data-driven society where we’re constantly connected to each other. Now the Internet of Things (IoT) is connecting “things” together. But one industry lags when it comes to connecting “things”. Most industrial plant managers, CEOs and CFOs don’t know what’s happening on their shop floors since their manufacturing machines are “islands of automation” that aren’t connected to each other, or able to report on their productivity in real-time. One public Canadian company has solved this problem. Leading manufacturers are purchasing this company’s “industrial” IoT, or IIoT, solution and seeing significant returns with an average Internal Rate of Return of 300%, which means payback in 4 months or less. Manufacturers aren’t the only ones recognizing this company; Cisco Systems and Mazak Corporation have formed alliances with it to conquer the IIoT opportunity.

Why You Need to Read this Report

  1. Discover the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and find out how big the long-term market opportunity could be – hint: not “billions” but “trillions”;
  2. Learn how manufacturing evolved from hand tools to big data on machine shop equipment;
  3. Unearth established technologies that will benefit from the next industrial revolution;
  4. We reveal ways for investors to get exposure to IIoT, including a public Canadian company that not only is selling products but has also recently formed an alliance with a tech giant and one of the world’s biggest machine tool manufacturers, and;
  5. We look at some real world case studies and quantify the operational and financial benefits from adopting IIoT.

To read the full report, please click here.

MEMEX - IIoT

No Machine Left Behind – Analyst View of IIoT and MEMEX

No Machine Left Behind

How the Industrial Internet of Things is Revolutionizing Manufacturing.

March 3, 2016 – Sophic Capital – Sean Peasgood & Marcel Valentin

We live in a data-driven society where we’re constantly connected to each other. Now the Internet of Things (IoT) is connecting “things” together. But one industry lags when it comes to connecting “things”. Most industrial plant managers, CEOs and CFOs don’t know what’s happening on their shop floors since their manufacturing machines are “islands of automation” that aren’t connected to each other, or able to report on their productivity in real-time. One public Canadian company has solved this problem. Leading manufacturers are purchasing this company’s “industrial” IoT, or IIoT, solution and seeing significant returns with an average Internal Rate of Return of 300%, which means payback in 4 months or less. Manufacturers aren’t the only ones recognizing this company; Cisco Systems and Mazak Corporation have formed alliances with it to conquer the IIoT opportunity.

To see the full article please click here

MEMEX - Shareholder

MEMEX Continues Revenue Growth

Their Industrial Internet of Things manufacturing productivity software generates record quarterly revenue.

Memex Inc. (Burlington, ON), a global leader in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) manufacturing productivity software, has released their financial results and operational highlights for its first quarter of fiscal 2016, which ended December 31, 2015. All results are reported in Canadian dollars. Financial Highlights for the first quarter ended December 31, 2015:

  • The company generated record quarterly revenue of $614 thousand, $113 thousand higher than the same period in the prior year, and 7 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2015. The company also marked its fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth.
  • Memex produced gross margin of $375 thousand, 27 percent higher than the same quarter in the prior year.
  • Unearned revenue of $482 thousand closed the quarter down $100 thousand from the company’s record high of $582 thousand at the end of Q4 2015.
  • The sales force turned in $876 thousand in product bookings for the quarter, 58 percent or $320 thousand more than Q4 2015.
  • The company showed a $641 thousand net and comprehensive loss for the quarter equating to a $0.007 loss per share. This compares with a $461 thousand net and comprehensive loss in the same quarter last year, and a similar $0.007 loss per share.

Q1 Fiscal 2016 and subsequent operational highlights include:

  • The company bolstered its sales and marketing infrastructure with the addition of a vice president of marketing and three new U.S.-based sales representatives. In January 2016 the company also added a director of manufacturing excellence to accelerate MERLIN software adoption by larger high-potential existing customers.
  • On October 27-29 and November 3-5 at DISCOVER 2015 (Mazak Corporation’s technology and education event), MERLIN software along with hardware from information technology (IT) leader Cisco Systems, Inc. (San Francisco, CA) was showcased in an industry-first collaborative platform called SmartBox. The launch took place in front of metalworking managers and C-level executives. The co-promotion with Mazak and Cisco led to multiple media stories, blogs, and videos mainly in manufacturing trade press.
  • In December, Memex received significant new orders from Aero Pacific Corporation (Placentia, CA), (30 MERLIN licenses and 28 MTConnect hardware adapters), and Homeyer Precision Manufacturing (Marthasville, MO), (23 licenses and 9 hardware adapters).
  • On January 18, the company was profiled in the National Post’s Entrepreneur section with the headline “Memex Wins Over Industry Giants.” The article explained how eight focused years of work on strategic partnerships resulted in successes with multinational giants Cisco and Mazak.
  • In February the company received a substantial follow-on order from Kuss Filtration Inc. for 43 MERLIN licenses as part of a multi-plant roll-out in the U.S., China, and Brazil. 

Management Commentary
The president and chief executive officer of Memex, David McPhail, stated, “The IIoT, represents the next industrial revolution, and our flagship software product MERLIN is planted squarely in the middle of this manufacturing mega-trend. Our latest quarterly results, representing our fourth consecutive quarter of growth strongly indicate that manufacturers around the world see the value of our unique combination of industrial connectivity and analytics to drive productivity and profit. I want to thank our customers for their trust and our employees for their hard work to achieve these results.”

www.MemexOEE.com

To see the full article click here.

 

MEMEX - Measuring Manufacturing Excellence Logo

How MEMEX got two industry giants to endorse its manufacturing connectivity platform–National Post

Rick Spence | January 18, 2016 | Last Updated: Jan 18 9:00 AM ET

The endorsement of networking giant Cisco and Japanese manufacturing titan Mazak took MEMEX Inc. CEO David McPhail and his team eight years to forge.

David McPhail, the CEO of Burlington, Ont.-based MEMEX Inc., loves showing off a new white paper from Mazak, the Japan-based machine-tool giant. Even though its title, “Complete Digital Factory Integration and the IIOT” (Industrial Internet of Things) suggests most people will find it less than a thrilling reading.

But McPhail cares mostly about the cover, and its three company logos. The stylized word mark of Mazak, with 7,800 employees and 10 factories worldwide, appears on the left side; on the right, inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge, sits the logo of Cisco, the San Francisco networking giant with 72,000 employees; and tucked proudly between the two is the logo of tiny MEMEX, with 39 employees and sales of $2.1 million.

This kind of exposure doesn’t happen by accident. The eight-page brochure promoting a new “Smart Box” that enables digital connectivity between manufacturing tools represents eight years of work by McPhail and his team. Their MERLIN communications platform collects operating data from each piece of equipment and displays it in a dashboard that lets manufacturers boost efficiency by monitoring performance, maintenance and inventory in real time.

McPhail’s solution is easy to implement, and half the price of alternative solutions. But it’s only in recent months that MEMEX has secured the endorsement of two industry giants, which should at last give the company a competitive advantage as more manufacturers embrace connectivity “from shop floor to top floor.” McPhail says MEMEX’s systems can deliver a 300 per cent ROI in the first year alone — but product excellence isn’t always enough.

MEMEX’s efforts illustrate the problems experienced by many business innovators, even when all the trends run in their direction. There’s no doubt that manufacturers around the world need MEMEX’s solution. Factories normally have a wide range of machines on their floors, from different brands and different eras, making it difficult to integrate operating data. McPhail’s unofficial motto is “No machine left behind.”

But MEMEX has had to work hard to convince prospects that data collection should no longer be done with people walking around carrying clipboards. “This is a conservative industry,” he says. “Most manufacturers are followers, not creators of trends.”

The company has been pushing the Digital Factory since 1992, but struggled at a time when machine memory was limited, and manufacturers were still sanguine about productivity. “The product was way ahead of its time,” McPhail says. “People didn’t understand what computing would mean to manufacturing. They’re still waking up to it now.”

MEMEX endured a series of jarring changes — becoming an acquisitor, going public, and going private again — before McPhail, a longtime manufacturing entrepreneur, bought the company out of receivership in 2007. Since then, it has benefited from manufacturers’ growing obsession with productivity, especially those adopting Lean production systems. “Without real-time data, you’re not really doing lean,” McPhail says.

In 2011, MEMEX released MERLIN, a data-collection platform that hooks equipment together at a cost of $5,000 to $6,000 per machine. Developed at an internal marketing meeting fuelled by $70 worth of pizza, “MERLIN” is an act of savvy branding — being the name of both a wizard and a fierce bird of prey.

MEMEX got its wings 2013, when Mazak selected MERLIN out of seven competitors to monitor its 800,000-sq.-ft. U.S. factory in Florence, Ky. It was a shootout, McPhail says. “Mazak asked for a 10 per cent productivity increase. We gave them 42 per cent.”

People didn’t understand what computing would mean to manufacturing. They’re still waking up to it now
Soon after, MEMEX went public on the TSX Venture Exchange, largely so it could raise funds and issue options to attract top talent. One of its key wins: chief technology officer Dave Edstrom, who helped develop the open-source standard for machine-to-machine communications as president and chairman of the MTConnect Institute.

The company hasn’t looked back since. In fiscal 2015, MEMEX doubled sales, to $2.1 million, and McPhail expects them to grow another 100 per cent this year. Most excitingly, last year Mazak asked MEMEX to be one of just 13 VIP partners in its worldwide iSmart manufacturing push. And in October the two companies joined with Cisco to introduce the SmartBox platform, which adds Cisco security to factories’ growing cloud-based networks.

The SmartBox, scheduled to launch in March, is the culmination of another five years of relationship-building, McPhail says. When he first met Cisco brass, they were mainly interested in selling discounted routers to MEMEX. McPhail had his eyes on a bigger prize, and in October 2014, at an Internet of Things conference in Chicago, he finally got to sell his secure-connectivity vision to Cisco executives. “I had seven people around the bar and 45 minutes to make my pitch,” he says. “We call it McPhail’s last stand.”

Cisco agreed to co-develop a product, and tested the SmartBox through 2015 at Mazak’s Florence plant. Last fall’s white paper documented how the system helped Mazak achieve an immediate 6 per cent productivity increase, as well as bring 400 hours of work back “in-house” that had previously been contracted out.

Despite the years those relationships took to build, McPhail says “It couldn’t have happened any faster. We needed to develop the technology and a value equation. I haven’t found any way to short-circuit the process.”

McPhail offers some advice to entrepreneurs looking to create dream alliances with bigger partners. First, understand your value proposition. “We kept telling Cisco, ‘we create 300 per cent internal rate of return everyplace we go.’” And secondly, never think you’re too small.

Rick Spence is a writer, consultant and speaker specializing in entrepreneurship.

rick@rickspence.ca

To see the National Post article click here