Dave Edstrom's Catalyst Edstrom Photons-Electrons

There is a GREAT Student Competition for MTConnect with the winner going to EMO Milano 2009!

Develop a novel application for MTConnect^SM , and you may win  a trip to the EMO Fair (Europe’s premier manufacturing show) in Milan, Italy next October 2009! 

Below are the Contest Details from the MTConnect site.  After you read the contest details you can click through to the MTConnect student competition site with lots and lots of details that can get you started!

Contest Details

Use MTConnect to develop and report on a novel application for intercommunication between manufacturing systems, machine tools, devices, sensors, software and have a chance to win a grand prize of a trip for your and your team to attend the EMO Fair in Milan, Italy, October, 2009 and display your work to the international manufacturing community. 

1. Go to MTConnect.org, and become a member of MTConnect^SM community (free) by following the login procedure. 

2. Go to the student competition area of the website for competition and entry procedures. Sign in and download information/resources including:

· MTConnectSM Draft Standard (0.9.11) (Final), 

· MTConnectSM Simple Client Application, 

· XML Schema, 

· MTConnectSM White Paper and 

· watch the Student Competition Video at YouTube (follow link) to get familiar with MTConnect. 

Sample project applications are also available on the MTConnectSM Student Competition Website.

3. Develop a cool MTConnect^SM application for manufacturing using MTConnect^SM.

4. Write a report documenting the details of your application (motivation, approach/procedure, results, future potential, etc.) of your application and send it in. See Judging Criteria below.

5. Do it before May 15, 2009. (See details below about concept paper submission by March 13th, 2009 – approved concepts will be able to submit a final competition entry).

6. Winners will be announced on June 1, 2009.

7. Winning entry team members will be invited to EMO Milano 2009 in Milan, Italy October 2009 to display their project at the MTConnect^SM Booth.

CLICK on this link to learn more about this GREAT Student Competition for MTConnect with the winner going to EMO Milano 2009!

Manufacturing Business Technology discusses Sun and MTConnect. Below are the first few paragraphs:

Sun Microsystems joins the MTConnect Technical Advisory Group (MTAG) to further define the open communication protocol standard it helped create for the manufacturing technology industry a year ago.

MTConnect is an open manufacturing technology standard that uses Internet communications technologies as its basis to allow manufacturing technology vendors and customers to safely and easily communicate.

"Sun Microsystems has a long history of working with the industry and academia to create and promote open technology standards that drive genuine innovation,” says Dave Edstrom, Chief Technologist of the Americas Software Practice for Sun Microsystems. “Open source and open standards are the keys to unlocking manufacturing innovation and efficiency around the world, particularly in growing emerging markets."

 The rest of the article can be found here.

I just heard an amazing statistic that since 2001, 3.5 MILLION manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States!  This is where standards such as MTConnect really matter for the United States.  We must increase the productivity for the manufacturing technology industry and MTConnect is the absolute first step because until manufacturing technology systems can speak the same language, the industry will continue to languish.   The great news is that, as you see below, MTConnect is doing tremendously well thanks the the huge success of IMTS 2008.

The most important group in any standards effort are the customers.  The customers are absolutely starting to demand MTConnect. Below are the MTConnect Participants who are the thought leaders in manufacturing technology and are changing the world in a very positive way by embracing open and royalty-free standards (the list below is as of September 26th, 2008) that came from the MTConnect homepage.

MT Connect Technical Advisory Group: Members Assembly & Test Worldwide, Inc. Digital Technology Laboratory Corporation FANUC Robotics America, Inc. GE Aviation GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, Inc. The Gleason Works I/Gear Software, Inc. LMAS, UC Berkeley MAG Industrial Automation Systems National Institute of Standards and Technology Mazak Corporation Parlect, Inc. Remmele Engineering, Inc. Bosch Rexroth Corporation Sun Microsystems, Inc. TechSolve, Inc. MT Connect Technical Advisory Group: Observers Hurco Companies, Inc. Okuma America Corporation Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. MT Connect Contributors/Implementers Agie Charmilles CNC Engineering CAMTEK Division of Vero CNC Engineering Drake Esprit Flow International GibbsCAM Haas Automation, Inc. Hardinge, Inc. Huffman Corporation Infimatic LNS America, Inc. Milltronics Manufacturing Corporation Mori Seiki, Inc. NUM Omax THINC Partners Refresh Your Memory Star-SU Sunnen

MTConnect at IMTS 2008 was a HUGE SUCCESS.    Above is the sign describing the approach to MTConnect based on open, royalty-free standards.

IMTS is an amazing show to attend.  As the good folks at AMT like to say, machine tools are the "things that make the things".  What you see above is an engine block that is approximately 16 FEET in length and made with a machine tool.  Machine tools are just one example of the manufacturing technology that is shown at ITMS.

Above is Dr. Dave Patterson (second from the left) and three members of the AMT Board of Directors watching the MTConnect video at the MTConnect display at the Emerging Technology Center.

Above Dr. Armando Fox and Dr. Dave Patterson discuss MTConnect during the private executive tour.

Andy Dugenske of Georgia Institute of Technology, sent me this photo when we were watching one of the MTConnect videos when I happened to be on the video stating that "MTConnect will be a revolution and not an evolution in the manufacturing technology sector".

Above was the most popular screen at the MTConnect area at the Emerging Technology Center where you could select one of the 25 companies listed and get real time data on what the machine tool was dolng at the exact second.  A great example of how easy MTConnect can be to implement is the lower right LNS selection.  LNS asked if they could be part of MTConnect on a Tuesday evening.  Will Sobel, Consultant and Adjunct Professor at UCB pointed them at the MTConnect homepage where the MTConnect SDK lives.  They spent that evening writing the adapter.  The next morning Will Sobel went to their display and had them up and running in less than a 1/2 an hour.

Above John Turner of GE FANUC shows of GE FANUC's MTConnect GE FANUC PC8 (that is a black box that makes it extremely easy to plug multiple types of machine tools on one side and ethernet ports on the other) to Dr. Dave Patterson of UCB.  We believe it was the PC8 first MTConnect sale EVER and it happened at IMTS 2008.

Above is the close up of GE FANUC's PC8 MTConnect device.

MTConnect and specifically AMT is sponsoring an MTConnect Student Competition where the winner(s) will receive a trip to Milan, Italy to attend  EMO MILANO!

You can see that all of us are extremely happy that MTConnect was such a huge success.  From left to right, Dave Edstrom, Dr. Armando Fox of UCB, Dr. Dave Patterson of UCB, Dr. Dave Dornfield of UCB, Will Sobel, Consultant and Adjunct Professor of UCB, Andy Dugenske of Georgia Institute of Technology and Athulan Vijayaraghavan, Ph.D. student at UCB.  This is the most fun and most technically satisfying experience I have had in my 30 years in the computer industry....

 Above is the invitation to Dr. David A. Patterson's Dinner in Chicago honoring Dave for his tremendous contributions to MTConnect.

Above,  Armando is making a point to Dave Patterson while I concentrate on feeding my face :-)

Above John Byrd is presenting Dave Patterson with a special MTConnect gift.

Above is Dr. Dave Patterson, Will Sobel (Consultant and Adjunct Professor at UCB, John Byrd (President of AMT), Dr. Armando Fox of UCB, Dave Edstrom and Paul Warndorf (CTO of AMT) after Dave Patterson's Dinner.

MTConnect at IMTS was a HUGE success and the dinner was fantastic.  Leaders in the manufacturing industry also attended this dinner in Chicago.

Coming up -- specifics on the huge success of MTConnect at IMTS in Chicago.....

Sun's CTO, Greg Papadopoulos, has coined the terms Red Shift and Blue Shift as it relates to applications that customers have  that are growing faster or slower than Moore's Law. 

But to steal from Senator Barack Obama, we do not have Blue Customers, we do not have Red Customers, we have Sun Microsystems Customers who have a variety of computing needs - some blue and some red.  I am going to discuss what I call BlueRed Application Shift.

Red Shift, of course, comes from the astronomy definition of a shift in the spectra of very distant galaxies toward longer wavelengths (toward the red end of the spectrum) which is generally interpreted as evidence that the universe is expanding.

 Please note that the "Universe is expanding" is the same reason the young Alvy Singer in Woody Allen's 1977 picture of the year "Annie Hall" gave for not studying at school. "If the Universe is expanding, what's the point?" he told his mom and the school official :-)  But I digress...

Blue Shift  from an astronomy definition (this is from Wikepedia) is the shortening of a transmitted signal's wavelength, and/or an increase in its frequency, due to the Doppler Effect, which indicates that the object is moving toward the observer.

 As Greg defined it, "Red Shift" are those applications that customers a have  that are growing faster than Moore's Law - ie Web 2.0 companies.  Greg also defined "Blue Shift" as those applications that companies have that are  not growing as fast as Moore's Law, so by definition, those companies need less  square feet of computers because speed of computer processing is faster than their business is growing.  

 So, what am I calling a BlueRed shift?  A BlueRed shift are those applications that companies that have been historically blue shift and now because of a significant event,  have moved quickly out of Blue part of the spectrum, raced through green and yellow and orange part of spectrum heading towards Red.  I expect that with MTConnect, we will see companies that have been historically classic blue shift applications, will become BlueRed shift applications as they see their compute and storage needs start to take off.  This is not a risky prediction as we have seen this happen again and again when markets embrace open and royalty-free standards.

Why do we need the term BlueRed Shift? Because we need to indicate that Blue Shift applications with customers do not have to be slow growing forever and events do change industries.

More on this as I attend the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) 2008 this week in Chicago.

Below is the offiical announcement where Sun announces we are joining  MTConnect Technical Advisory Group (MTAG)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - (Business Wire) Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq:JAVA) announced today that it will join the MTConnect Technical Advisory Group (MTAG) to further define the open communication protocol standard it helped create for the manufacturing technology industry a year ago.

MTConnect is an open manufacturing technology standard that uses proven, royalty free Internet communications technologies as its basis to allow manufacturing technology vendors and customers to safely and easily communicate.

"Sun Microsystems has a very long history of working with the industry and academia to create and promote open technology standards that drive genuine innovation,” said Dave Edstrom, Chief Technologist of the Americas Software Practice for Sun Microsystems. “Open source and open standards are the keys to unlocking manufacturing innovation and efficiency around the world, particularly in growing emerging markets. I am thrilled Sun has been able to play a pivotal role in the development of such an important initiative as MTConnect."

The Challenge in Today's Manufacturing Facilities and Machine Shops

A typical manufacturing facility includes hundreds, if not thousands, of machines and autonomous systems that must operate together to produce high-quality products in a timely and cost-effective manner. While each of these machines and systems accumulates information on its operation, this data cannot usually be shared, which makes it difficult to track machine efficiency, process flow, energy usage, toolpath validation and other metrics. As a result, manufacturers are challenged to coordinate and optimize machines and systems to ensure that these individual components and the factory as a whole are operating at acceptable levels.

Interoperability from Design Studio to Shop Floor

MTConnect is an essential first step to connect these production islands and will open up new markets and opportunities for the manufacturing technology industry. Bringing unprecedented interoperability from design studio to shop floor, MTConnect helps enable third-party solution providers to develop software and hardware that make the entire manufacturing enterprise much more productive.

With MTConnect, the manufacturing technology industry can mirror the success of the information technology industry, where common, open industry standards are used to design hardware and software technology to enable different manufacturers’ products to work with each other. Just as large compute farms are used to accurately model microprocessors today, MTConnect should help enable the vision of "art to part, first-time correct" by taking advantage of large compute clusters.

Sun’s Leadership

As a leader in creating open standards for the IT industry, Sun is in a strong position to help the manufacturing industry create a common, open standard. The Solaris™ Operating System, Java™ technology, the Sun Java Real-Time System, Sun™ SPOT, Sun™ xVM software and MySQL™ software are among the innovative technologies that will help enable MTConnect to deliver complete and open interoperability on the manufacturing floor, seamlessly connecting to the enterprise as well as to technology manufacturing partners in ways that were previously impossible.

Sun’s long history of innovation in CAD/CAM, HPC, grid computing, simulation, real-time and modeling technology provides the ideal platform for MTConnect. Indeed, manufacturing technology companies could have immediate access to Sun computing resources via the Network.com Software Catalogue platform, allowing them to easily build, test, and deploy MTConnect enabled applications on-demand over the Internet.

MTConnect History

Although developed through an open collaborative effort, the MTConnect initiative was initially led by Dr. Dave Patterson, Professor in Computer Science of the University of California at Berkeley, and Sun’s Dave Edstrom.

Edstrom was inspired to approach Dr. Patterson after attending the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in September 2006. “I was absolutely convinced that creating a manufacturing technology standard using proven, open and royalty-free Internet technologies was an imperative effort in which Sun must invest,” he said. “The expected impact of MTConnect on the manufacturing sector is analogous to the effect that the browser had on the development of the Internet: MTConnect will revolutionize the manufacturing technology industry by providing a common, open platform which, in turn, will revolutionize manufacturing.”

Dr. Patterson commented, “It is great news for the manufacturing technology industry that MTConnect is becoming real, and that Sun Microsystems will be officially joining the MTConnect Advisory Group."

"Sun recognized the potential of utilizing the power of information technology to move manufacturing to levels of productivity never seen before,” added John Byrd, President of the Association for Manufacturing Technology. "When the history of MTConnect is written, Sun Microsystems will be recognized as having played a critical role in the development of the initial concept. Dave Edstrom's vision and foresight enabled thought leaders of our industry to step out of their comfort zone and tackle the most significant issue the manufacturing technology industry will face in the 21st Century."

MTConnect will be demonstrated at next week’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2008).

About Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation, community development, and open source leadership. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris, MySQL, Network.com and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Rebecca Lui, 650-786-8365
rebecca.lui@sun.com

 

On March 6th, 2008 I gave the keynote at the AMT-NCMS Manufacturing Technology Forum.

This was a global two day conference where I spoke about the importance of standards and MTConnect.  The slides below provide a highlight of my keynote.  To drive home the importance of MTConnect, I used Sun's historical tagline to frame my talk.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a very cool video at MTConnect that does a great job describing the historical challenges with standards in the machine tool industry and laying out where MTConnect will address these important challenges.  Plus, I am in the video is another reason to watch this :-)

By far the most fun and most satisfaction that I have had in my 29+ years in the computer industry and my 20 1/2 years at Sun Microsystems has been working with the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT).

AMT's membership includes machine tool and software companies used in the CAD/CAM industry.   Machine tools are the large machines that are used to create a variety of parts such as engine blocks out of raw materials typically by using a variety of cutting devices.   AMT's membership also includes software companies used in the CAD/CAM industry.  This is a classic American industry.  This industry employees many of my relatives who live in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Back to the beginning of the story.  I was ask to line up a Sun Manufacturing Executive to speak at AMT's Annual Member Meeting in October 2006.  When my third contact at Sun was no longer available to speak, I called the President of AMT, John Byrd, to apologize that we had let AMT down.  After finishing the half-hour long conversation with Mr. Byrd,  Peter Eelman, VP of Marketing for AMT,  called me and asked if I would like to do the keynote.  While I was flattered that I would be asked to give this keynote, I explained I would Need to get up to speed on the machine tool industry.

To prepare for the Annual Meeting, I spent two days in Chicago at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) meeting with a number of companies in mid September.  IMTS is the world's largest trade show of machine tool companies.  I was very fortunate to have Paul Warndorf, ATM's CTO, taking me through IMTS introducing me to the largest as well as the most influential hardware and software machine tool-CAD/CAM companies.

At the end of the second day I met with John Byrd, along with a number of his VPs, to discuss what he learned.  I told them I felt the machine tool industry did not have a manufacturing problem, but a computer science collaboration problem.  When I inquired on the economics of our industry, I was told that the American machine tool companies have seen their domestic market share go from 70% in 1986 to 15% in 2006.

I made two suggestions for the machine tool industry:

        1) They needed a wakeup call to start a revolution.
        2) They needed to hear from someone who has led technology revolutions.

I said that I could, with proper preparation, do the wakeup call.  The real challenge was that I knew of only one person who had the credentials to discuss the technology revolution that our machine tool industry CEOs would be able to relate to.  That person was Dr. Dave Patterson of University California at Berkeley.  I told AMT about Dr. Patterson's leadership with RISC and RAID.  I said I would reach out to Dr. Patterson, but I felt the odds that Dr. Patterson would be available to do this, in a little over five weeks time, would be a long shot at best.

Fortunately for the American machine tool industry, Dr.  Patterson agreed to change his busy schedule to come to speak at our member meeting.

There were numerous emails, con calls and meetings during that brief five week period to bring both  Dr.  Patterson and me up to speed as well as to collaborate on the wake up call and the revolution or "moon shot" as I called it.

The title of my talk was, "How The Internet's Participation Age Will Drive Dramatic Changes In The Machine Tool Industry".

 

Historically, the Machine Tool industry has been very Microsoft centric from the developer tools to the systems running the actual machine tools on the shop floor.  I drove home the importance of open systems and open standards to AMT's members.  I discussed the importance of taking advantage of the grid to reduce costs.   Embracing standards has been a huge problem for our industry.  In 2005, the manufacturing industry lost $90 billion dollars in data incompatibility costs.  I discussed Sun's  NFS Connectathons as a viable mechanism we could model to take standards from theory to reality.

The title of Dr. Patterson's talk was "Creating a Thriving Manufacturing Base in 21st Century America".

Dr.  Patterson explained the "miracle" of university research.  Dr. Patterson pointed to one example after another of university research efforts that turned into multi-billion dollar a year companies and industries.  As he summarized his presentation, Dr. Patterson issued a set of challenges to the CEOs in attendance to start the revolution. There was a lengthy Q&A session after Dr. Patterson's talk.

 

The meeting was a tremendous success.  Dr. Patterson were brilliant and I was not too bad myself in providing a wakeup call and issuing a set of challenges to our industry with a clear framework to accomplish these very important goals.

 

Next I will blog about what has happened in the past year since Dr. Patterson and I spoke in Lake Las Vegas at AMT's Annual Members Meeting.....