Memex to Exhibit Integrated OEE + DNC Machine Monitoring & Control at CMTS 2009
A truly unique step forward in manufacturing productivity will be demonstrated by Memex Automation Inc. at the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show to be held in Toronto, October 19-22, 2009. Memex Automation will be at Booth 2023.
The ability to integrate OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) machine monitoring and DNC program control in real-time provides significant increases in efficiency and profitability. Memex Automation’s mainstay product, the Ax9150 Universal Machine Interface for DNC connectivity, has been expanded with OEE capabilities. The OEE+DNC product is attached directly to the machine and provides local memory, embedded software, high speed network connectivity, and adaptive control that will enhance and improve legacy machine tools, delivering higher efficiency and increased productivity. This hardware and software toolset can connect to any machine in a plant including CNC machine tools, conventional or hydraulic punch presses, injection moulding machines, and manual processes or machines.
“If you can measure it, then you can manage it.” Now manufacturing managers can monitor the status of every machine in their plant, giving real-time visibility of production and the ability to adapt and control the machine. “The benefits of machine monitoring lead directly to increased productivity. Our customers have seen up to a 20% increase in shop floor efficiency, delivering more value than the cost of a new machine.” says Memex President & CEO Dave McPhail. Large multi-national manufacturers and leading companies in many industries such as aerospace have adopted this technology.
To deliver real-time machine monitoring and control, the OEE+DNC product effectively listens to the heartbeat of the machine, reporting and logging what is happening inside. Because it has both data inputs and outputs, the Ax9150 UMI can pre-process machine instructions and post-process real-time machining data in order to adapt to changing conditions at the machine. “Memex has succeeded in performing adaptive control in parallel with programs running on the existing machine – it’s like a low cost retrofit. In effect, we Automate the Automation,” said McPhail.
About Memex Automation Inc.
Memex Automation Inc., a unit of Astrix Networks Inc., was created to leverage the research and development of Memex Electronics, which was founded in 1992. Memex continues its tradition of serving the discrete manufacturing sector, providing electronic components such as advanced memory upgrades for CNC’s, BTR’s, handheld devices, and PC cards. A focus on visionary shop floor communication technology helps customers to Automate the Automation so as to increase productivity and decrease cost. Memex has developed Dynamic Computer Aided Machining technology that delivers value with real-time production machine monitoring and control utilizes OEE+DNC software solutions. Expert service is delivered remotely from its head office in Burlington, Ontario including a large dealer network for local on-site service. More information can be found at www.memex.ca or by email to salesgroup@memex.ca
“Automate the Automation”™ and “Dynamic Computer Aided Machining”™ are trademarks of Memex Automation Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings described in this document are produced by Memex Automation Inc. © Memex Automation Inc., a unit of Astrix Networks Inc.
CMTS October 19 – 22, 2009
/in Events/by MemexMemex to Exhibit Integrated OEE + DNC Machine Monitoring & Control at CMTS 2009
A truly unique step forward in manufacturing productivity will be demonstrated by Memex Automation Inc. at the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show to be held in Toronto, October 19-22, 2009. Memex Automation will be at Booth 2023.
The ability to integrate OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) machine monitoring and DNC program control in real-time provides significant increases in efficiency and profitability. Memex Automation’s mainstay product, the Ax9150 Universal Machine Interface for DNC connectivity, has been expanded with OEE capabilities. The OEE+DNC product is attached directly to the machine and provides local memory, embedded software, high speed network connectivity, and adaptive control that will enhance and improve legacy machine tools, delivering higher efficiency and increased productivity. This hardware and software toolset can connect to any machine in a plant including CNC machine tools, conventional or hydraulic punch presses, injection moulding machines, and manual processes or machines.
“If you can measure it, then you can manage it.” Now manufacturing managers can monitor the status of every machine in their plant, giving real-time visibility of production and the ability to adapt and control the machine. “The benefits of machine monitoring lead directly to increased productivity. Our customers have seen up to a 20% increase in shop floor efficiency, delivering more value than the cost of a new machine.” says Memex President & CEO Dave McPhail. Large multi-national manufacturers and leading companies in many industries such as aerospace have adopted this technology.
To deliver real-time machine monitoring and control, the OEE+DNC product effectively listens to the heartbeat of the machine, reporting and logging what is happening inside. Because it has both data inputs and outputs, the Ax9150 UMI can pre-process machine instructions and post-process real-time machining data in order to adapt to changing conditions at the machine. “Memex has succeeded in performing adaptive control in parallel with programs running on the existing machine – it’s like a low cost retrofit. In effect, we Automate the Automation,” said McPhail.
About Memex Automation Inc.
Memex Automation Inc., a unit of Astrix Networks Inc., was created to leverage the research and development of Memex Electronics, which was founded in 1992. Memex continues its tradition of serving the discrete manufacturing sector, providing electronic components such as advanced memory upgrades for CNC’s, BTR’s, handheld devices, and PC cards. A focus on visionary shop floor communication technology helps customers to Automate the Automation so as to increase productivity and decrease cost. Memex has developed Dynamic Computer Aided Machining technology that delivers value with real-time production machine monitoring and control utilizes OEE+DNC software solutions. Expert service is delivered remotely from its head office in Burlington, Ontario including a large dealer network for local on-site service. More information can be found at www.memex.ca or by email to salesgroup@memex.ca
“Automate the Automation”™ and “Dynamic Computer Aided Machining”™ are trademarks of Memex Automation Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings described in this document are produced by Memex Automation Inc. © Memex Automation Inc., a unit of Astrix Networks Inc.
CMTS 2009
/in Events/by MemexCanada’s National Manufacturing Event.
CMTS is Canada’s largest manufacturing event for buyers and sellers to come-together under one roof to evaluate new products and solutions and learn about hot topics currently impacting the industry.
Thousands of manufacturing professionals rely this biennial event to assess potential suppliers big and small, far and wide. Over 500 companies in manufacturing are represented during all four days of this event, giving attending professionals an extensive reach and allowing them to find solutions to improve and/or enhance their operations.
The hundreds of exhibitors participate at CMTS to meet a wide range of audiences in numerous industries. From engineers to c-level decision makers, exhibiting companies look forward to CMTS to showcase the latest technologies and solutions in the machine tool, tooling, metal forming and fabricating, automation, design engineering and plant management segments.
Aerospace Customer Chooses Memex Complete OEE+DNC System
/in Blog, Recent News/by MemexMemex announces a new aerospace customer that has gone live in production to monitor and control the machines on the shop floor in its plants in North America. They are utilizing Memex’s complete system to address their OEE and DNC requirements. This gives them the ability to monitor production status, run time, down time reasons, reject causes in real time and automatically report on OEE accurately. In addition, they have control of their part programs with Memex’s completely re-designed, state of the art, new DNC software, called AxDNC. Work orders on the floor are managed through Memex’s OEE+DNC and are integrated to their Baan ERP system as well as their CAD/CAM part programs and HR reporting.
This project has taken over 1 year to deploy due to the number of plants and machines as well as the development of enhanced integrated OEE+DNC functionality. This customer uses Memex’s entire mainstay solution of hardware, firmware and software system, including configuration utilities, to monitor their plant and depends on Memex’s file transfer capabilities to reliably transfer all of their metal cutting programs to the shop floor. The benefits to the customer are significant in terms of efficiency of operations, with potential improvements at the shop floor of up to 20%. Connectivity of their machines to the enterprise network allows them to do many more operations as well as the machines now have on-board OEE+DNC with additional memory and functionality. Corporate level visibility of OEE and production ensures effective management of operations assisting in delivering quality products on time for their customers.
Machine Monitoring & Control with OEE+DNC Enables Flexibility for Manufacturing Productivity
/in Articles/by MemexIntegrated machine monitoring and adaptive control with OEE+DNC has been demonstrated using a robot to aid loading a CNC machine, offering automation for manufacturing flexibility and productivity that can increase profitability.
A showcase hosted by the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association at the New Age Robotics site, demonstrated an ABB robot loading and unloading various materials integrated with a CNC machine to manufacture several discrete parts. The two machines were controlled by one Memex Ax9150 Universal Machine Interface (UMI) board. The Memex ProductionACE OEE+DNC (Overall Equipment Effectiveness + Digital Numerical Control) server software was connected to the UMI board, which in turn was connected to the robot and the CNC machine. OEE software monitored the machines in real-time and determined production status linked to the scheduled work orders. When the CNC machine was ready, the command was given to the robot to begin the load sequence for the material defined in the work order. The CNC machine was then given the specific DNC part program to be loaded, also referenced in the work order, and the command to begin machining. The mixed production material was loaded by the robot and the different parts were dynamically machined by the CNC. It was a masterful demonstration of flexible manufacturing, with all the benefits of an expensive FMS system done on a budget.
Manufacturing today demands both the adoption of new practices and new technology. “In order to improve productivity, including unmanned production shifts, machines on the shop floor need to be analyzed continuously and adapted to real-time conditions. If you can measure it, then you can manage it. This plug-and-play technology reduces the cost of integration.” said Memex President & CEO Dave McPhail. The Ax9150 UMI offers CNC machines real-time OEE machine monitoring and DNC control. As a co-processor installed next to the CNC control, the Ax9150 UMI provides local memory, on-board DNC and embedded OEE, and effectively “listens” to the heartbeat of the machines, reporting and logging what is happening inside. Because it has both data inputs and outputs, the Ax9150 UMI can pre-process machine instructions (G-Code) and then post-process real-time machining data in order to adapt to changing conditions at the machine. In short, Memex has succeeded in implementing adaptive control on existing CNC machines – a low cost upgrade that offers significant productivity improvements.
Flexible Manufacturing with Robot and CNC
/in Press Releases, Recent News, Webinars & Videos/by MemexMachine Monitoring & Control with OEE + DNC Enables Flexibility for Manufacturing Productivity
For the first time, integrated machine monitoring and adaptive control with OEE+DNC has been demonstrated using a robot to aid loading a CNC machine, offering automation for manufacturing flexibility and productivity that can increase profitability.
A showcase, hosted by the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association at the New Age Robotics site, demonstrated an ABB robot loading and unloading various materials integrated with a CNC machine to manufacture several discrete parts. The two machines were controlled by one Memex Ax9150 Universal Machine Interface (UMI) board. The Memex ProductionACE OEE+DNC (Overall Equipment Effectiveness + Digital Numerical Control) server software was connected to the UMI board, which in turn was connected to the robot and the CNC machine. OEE software monitored the machines in real-time and determined production status linked to the scheduled work orders. When the CNC machine was ready, the command was given to the robot to begin the load sequence for the material defined in the work order. The CNC machine was then given the specific DNC part program to be loaded, also referenced in the work order, and the command to begin machining. The mixed production material was loaded by the robot and the different parts were dynamically machined by the CNC. It was a masterful demonstration of flexible manufacturing, with all the benefits of an expensive FMS system done on a budget.
Manufacturing today demands both the adoption of new practices and new technology. “In order to improve productivity, including unmanned production shifts, machines on the shop floor need to be analyzed continuously and adapted to real-time conditions. If you can measure it, then you can manage it. This plug-and-play technology reduces the cost of integration.” said Memex President & CEO Dave McPhail. The Ax9150 UMI offers CNC machines real-time OEE machine monitoring and DNC control. As a co-processor installed next to the CNC control, the Ax9150 UMI provides local memory, onboard DNC and embedded OEE, and effectively “listens” to the heartbeat of the machines, reporting and logging what is happening inside. Because it has both data inputs and outputs, the Ax9150 UMI can pre-process machine instructions (G-Code) and then post-process real-time machining data in order to adapt to changing conditions at the machine. In short, Memex has succeeded in implementing adaptive control on existing CNC machines – a low cost upgrade that offers significant productivity improvements.