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Two New Devices Focus on Securely Accessing Data in Legacy Machines

April 202016 | Brett Brune | Smart Manufacturing magazine

A trio of Mazak, Memex and Cisco is beginning to sell SmartBox, a device meant to securely manage manufacturing data—information on axes, spindles, temperatures, cutting times, downtimes and part counts, for starters—culled from machines that have been laboring in a sort of silence for decades. At the same time, a pairing of Forcam and Wago plans to release a similar device it calls the PFC100 Industrial MTConnect device before July.

SmartBox uses I/O links to connect machines and produces MTConnect code in real time. It can use an adapter board from Memex and must be connected to a Cisco router, John Rattray, VP of sales and marketing at Memex, said in an interview with Smart Manufacturing magazine at the MC2 conference in Dallas. It can also use Memex’s factory- and machine-shop-floor-monitoring software, Merlin, to map existing signals and analyze and correlate the data so shops and plants can use it to improve productions.

Companies in the aerospace, defense and medical industries welcome the Cisco router requirement because it assuages their network security concerns, he added.

“We’re talking about IP connections in terms of Ethernet connections,” Rattray said. “You don’t need to have all the security in there to make the connection work. However, one customer of ours, DP Tool in New York, had experienced a situation where a guy who was maintaining a machine put in a USB stick into it and a virus on this USB stick spread to the company’s manufacturing network and whole admin network. It cost the company an enormous amount of effort and grief to get that fixed. You can run without security switches. But smart manufacturers are recognizing we need to secure and lock down our shop floor networks.”

The SmartBox has a “level three” managed switch that will shut the device down automatically if a USB stick comes its way or someone unplugs a particular Ethernet connection, Rattray added.

The emerging device from Forcam and Wago has a combined MTConnect adapter and agent inside the device, as well as a built-in security firewall for cybersecurity, Forcam USA Inc. CEO Mohamed Abuali said. He demonstrated a simulation model at MC2, saying it cost less than the trio’s device.

The Forcam/Wago product will cost less than $1,000, he said. And the Mazak/Memex/Cisco device will cost $4,000 on the low end but could be used on four machines, Mazak President Brian Papke said.

Companies using legacy CNCs will soon be able to choose between bolting their new data-retrieving device together with a Cisco network router or a “quicker solution that can connect to any network,” Abuali said. “The alternative [to these two options] is you have to retrofit the machine and upgrade the controller, which can cost thousands of dollars. In many cases, you cannot even retrofit.”

Both devices are intended to help manufacturers around the world connect their machines securely to a network. About 14.5 million machines still lack connectivity, Rattray said.

Of course, the idea is to then analyze the data to make the best decisions possible about manufacturing and machining processes. And some of those decisions can be made without human involvement, to be sure: “For instance, if a temperature sensor starts to rise above a threshold limit, the machine can send an alert and notify people before it fails,” he added.

Merlin lets companies “take data and make it manageable,” said Papke, who serves on the board for MTConnect. Otherwise, companies end up with “digital exhaust.”

“Forcam wants to define real-time production—from any machine of any age,” Abuali said. “That’s a critical state.”

Memex Chief Technology Officer Dave Edstrom is “very pleased to see more of these type boxes come out—because, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships,” he said.

But he couldn’t stop himself from making a quick comparison with the offering from Forcam/Wago: “The integration of what Mazak is doing with the SmartBox, with Memex and Cisco—making it easier to connect—will resonate very well with manufacturing. You don’t have to sell someone on Memex’s ability to connect anything. And you don’t have to sell anyone on Cisco’s ability to network a lot of devices together and do it securely. So that’s why we think SmartBox is a game-changer.”

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

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Kuss Filtration Purchases MERLIN IIoT Manufacturing Software for Factories in USA, China and Brazil

Findlay, OH, USA February 10, 2016 – MEMEX Inc. (TSX-V: OEE) is proud to announce that Kuss Filtration Inc., a global filtration product OEM, has purchased MERLIN Enterprise Edition for a multi-plant roll-out of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) software for manufacturing facilities in the USA, China, and Brazil. This sale includes 43 licenses of MERLIN and is a follow-on to a 10-license sale in June of 2015.

“Kuss is committed to quality through our operating management system and use of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing techniques, which has earned us the ISO/TS 16949 certification in addition to many awards and recognitions for design, innovation and product excellence,” said Kuss Filtration’s President and CEO Hasnain Merchant. “MEMEX’s MERLIN has proven itself, and now we intend to enhance our manufacturing excellence and profitability with MERLIN in three of our factories.”

“Kuss Filtration is a great example of a world-class company embracing the power of our MERLIN communications platform,” said MEMEX CEO David McPhail. “MERLIN proves that the Industrial Internet of Things isn’t a theory. IIoT is an implement-now competitive advantage for the smartest factories on the planet.”

MERLIN is an IIoT shop-floor-to-top-floor communications platform that connects industrial machines and provides manufacturing analytics in real time. Specifically, MERLIN delivers a 10%-50% average productivity increase, and earns 20%-plus profit improvement based on just a 10% increase in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). It consistently achieves payback in less than four months with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) greater than 300%, and connects to any machine, old or new, utilizing native MTConnect, other protocols, or MERLIN hardware adapters for older machines.

About Kuss Filtration Inc.

Kuss Filtration manufactures exceptional filtration products with unparalleled quality and innovation. The company has over 60 years of experience providing air and liquid filtration solutions to a diverse global market. Today Kuss Filtration is comprised of six locations in the U.S. Brazil, Europe and China strategically placed to service its growing global customer base.

About MEMEX Inc.

MEMEX is a leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology platform provider that delivers manufacturing productivity analytics. MERLIN software provides Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) efficiency metrics in real time, from shop-floor-to-top-floor. Specifically, MERLIN delivers a 10%-50% average productivity increase, and earns 20%-plus profit improvement based on just a 10% increase in Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). It consistently achieves payback in less than four months with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) greater than 300%, and connects to any machine, old or new, utilizing native MTConnect, other protocols or MERLIN hardware adapters for older machines. For more information, please visit: www.MemexOEE.com.

Media Contacts

Kuss Filtration Inc.

Hasnain Merchant, President & CEO

Phone: +1 (419) 425-7233

Email: Hasnain.Merchant@KussFiltration.com

MEMEX Inc.
David McPhail, CEO

Phone: +1 (519) 993-1114

Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com

Nathan Rudyk VP Marketing

Phone: +1 (905) 635-1540 ext. 216

Email: nathan.rudyk@MemexOEE.com

Sophic Capital Inc.                                                                                                          

Sean Peasgood, Investor Relations

Phone: +1 (416) 565-2805

Email: sean@sophiccapital.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.