July / August - Minnesota Precision Manufacturing Association

BY PAUL WARNDORF
IMTS’ Emerging Technology Center (ETC) will be showcasing
MTConnect this year, a new communication protocol standard
for passing data between devices, equipment and higher level
applications. This will be demonstrated in a number of ways including
video presentation material, and an illustrative computer dashboard,
and by actually connecting exhibitors in the halls via the Internet.
But most exciting, will be an international student competition.
These students will challenge universities to demonstrate new and
innovative concepts using MTConnect.
To find out more about MTConnect, go to
www.MTConnect.org.
WHERE’S THE DATA?
In a typical day in a manufacturing facility, various pieces of
equipment are working to produce product in a timely and costeffective
manner. Or, more often than not, that is what we think
or hope is happening. But how does one know if and how does a
plant manager understand when there is an issue to be addressed?
How do you know when a piece of equipment is not functioning
properly or has just had an alert go off?
Is that fine-oiled machine
really running that way?
Enter into the world of systems, applications, communications,
“specially-designed” interfaces and software, and the term
“interoperability.” All of these concepts are fashioned together to
bring about knowledge to permit rational decisions to be made.
But then again, even if true, who has the resources to go through the
effort of trying to put all of this together to gain that knowledge? Why
does it seem that every new installation is a new design problem?
I don’t have design problems when I buy a new home computer,
no matter what I plug into it or the software I load into it. It seems
that the IT world has gotten over this problem. In this world at
least, a wide range of disparate devices communicate through
standard interfaces (like USB, for example). Using standardized
communication protocols, the printer plugs in and communicates
smoothly with the laptop and third-party sources create novel
products that seamlessly integrate to take advantage of this
interconnectability to add value.
Maybe then, the challenge for manufacturing is to understand
how to replicate the success and the interconnectability world of our
home computers and the rising backbone of the world, the Internet.
There have been initiatives started in the past to resolve this need,
but none have emerged as a common means for communication
in the manufacturing world. Some may have been too expensive to
implement and others too complex to adopt. But that was then,
before the technologies of today, and before open standards have
become the norm. Maybe now is the time to try again using the
lessons learned by IT?
A new project, MTConnect, is trying to do just that. MTConnect is
a program not aimed at creating hardware or special purpose software
to link machines and systems together. Instead, it is a program to
design an open communication standard for interconnectability that
mirrors the success occurring in the information technology world.
That is, MTConnect allows devices, equipment and systems to output
data in an understandable format that can be read by any other device
using the same standard format to read the data.
MTConnect is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML),
which offers a widely recognized and accepted flexible representation
for exchanging semi-structured machine-readable data. The standard
will be open and free to ensure the widest possible acceptance
and utility. That is, MTConnect will use open and royalty-free
technologies as its basis and will provide open and royalty-free
reference implementations of the example software which can be
used as is, modified to suit special needs, or reverse-engineered.
Or, users can create their own software that meets the requirements
of the MTConnect standard. This approach allows connectivity from
the lowest end of the process chain, nearest the work piece or shop
floor, to the highest design or process planning tool.
The expectation is that the interoperability offered by MTConnect
will enable a host of third-party solution providers to develop software
and hardware to make the entire manufacturing enterprise more
productive.
This is the goal: a move to a plug-and-play scenario, allowing
manufacturers to purchase technologies without the major cost of
integration. MTConnect is a start and has a long way to go. But the
designers of the standard who have traveled this road already in the
IT world believe that without it, we will remain limited on acquiring
the knowledge needed to take full advantage of the ability to “produce
product in a timely and cost-effective manner.” PM
Paul R. Warndorf is vice president-technology for the Association for
Manufacturing Technology (AMT). He is responsible for activities related
to research and development, standards and review of machine tool
industry technology needs.
Mr. Warndorf has diverse experience as technical director and
manufacturing and engineering manager in corporate and government
environments. His experience includes designing manufacturing systems,
managing technical investigations, and creating development plans.
Mr. Warndorf graduated from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio
with a degree in electrical engineering and received an MBA from
Xavier.