Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn Article On Where The Internet Is Going



I had the privilege (just once) to  hear both Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn speak together on a panel in McLean, VA on an anniversary of the creation of the Internet.  Whenever I see either of them appear in an article, I take the time to read it.

The New York Times has a nice article titled, "Viewing Where the Internet Goes" by John Markoff.

Below is an opening snippet that gives you a flavor of the article:

"Dr. Cerf, 70, and Dr. Kahn, 75, have taken slightly different positions on the matter. Dr. Cerf, who was chairman of Icann from 2000-7, has become known as an informal “Internet ambassador” and a strong proponent of an Internet that remains independent of state control. He has been one of the major supporters of the idea of “network neutrality” — the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications, regardless of the source.
Dr. Kahn has made a determined effort to stay out of the network neutrality debate. Nevertheless, he has been more willing to work with the I.T.U., particularly in attempting to build support for a system, known as Digital Object Architecture, for tracking and authenticating all content distributed through the Internet. 

Both men agreed to sit down, in separate interviews, to talk about their views on the Internet’s future. The interviews were edited and condensed."

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Edstrom's At Wizards Pistons Game


John's last night in town was night.  I have Wizards seasons tickets with Peter Eelman.  Last night I had our two tickets and purchased three tickets four rows behind the visitors bench where John, Michael and Tim sat.  We had dinner at Clyde's before the game in DC.  Julie and I did sit down low for the 3rd quarter which was nice (especially since I paid for the tickets :)  It was a really fun night and the Wizards won.

Below is the five of us in front of the only championship trophy.


Below is the Wizard's John Wall who was the #1 overall pick in 2010.  It's a whole new game when you are four rows back from the action.


We parked near Union Station and walked back.  The nations Capitol is always impressive at night.


Saturday, December 21, 2013

Michael Edstrom's Graduation from Virginia Tech



Michael graduated Cum Laude with a 3.45 GPA from VT this past Friday with two degrees:

  • Professional Writing
  • Creative Writing
 Above is (left front - clockwise) John, Tim, Brad, Emile and Michael at Zeppoli's where we were celebrating Thursday night before graduation.  Below is me, my sister, my mother, Julie my wife and my father sitting at the table next to the boys.


Below is the family photo in the wine area after dinner.


Above is the sign at the auditorium where they held the ceremony and below is Michael's name in the official program with a asterisk in front of his name signifying he was Cum Laude.




I think this big smile on Michael's face says it all.  He was very happy to have accomplished what he did and we could not be more proud of him!

Below is Michael receiving his diploma for his Cum Laude  degrees in Professional Writing and Creative Writing


Above is grandma and grandpa with the new college graduate/


Above are the proud parents with Michael and below is the entire family.


Monday, December 16, 2013

MTInsight and GIE Ventures Announcement

AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, recently had the press release below. Just as a reminder, MTInsight is  a world class, award winning business intelligence tool.
MTInsight
 
 

MTInsight joined forces with GIE Ventures to arm your company with the information necessary to drive performance and maximize revenue amid the rapidly growing medical device and aerospace markets. GIE Ventures, a division of GIE Media, will integrate its Target Market Intelligence solutions into MTInsight’s cloud-based analytical platform.
Here’s what you can expect in the new GIE App:
  • Up-to-date: Continually refreshed with GIE’s most current circulation data
  • Key demographics: Includes company name, address, city, state, and zip code
  • Build client profiles: Filter out your most auspicious prospects with contact information, including: name, title, email, and phone number
  • Pick up where you left off: Save and access downloads and search results
  • Query your search by:
  • o   Primary business
    o   Job title
    o   Primary materials used in manufacturing operations
    o   Primary components used in manufacturing operations
    o   Number of employees
    o   Manufacturing process performed
    o   Capital equipment needs for the next 6 months
    AMT President Doug Woods states, “AMT is very excited to be collaborating with GIE and their focused market knowledge in the medical and aerospace industries. It’s a perfect pairing with our MTInsight business intelligence platform, which offers our members unique insights into these high growth markets. The ability to effectively utilize large amounts of industry-centric data with powerful analytics and easy-to-use visualization tools will enhance our members’ efficiency in assessing market potential for their products and alignment of their resources.”
    MTInsight’s new partnership will leverage the combined expertise and market intelligence of both organizations, providing custom marketing solutions to gain an edge on your competition. New tools and access to GIE Media’s comprehensive industry database will allow you to enhance your marketing efforts and direct your sales activities. Expected to be released in 2014, the GIE app makes targeting and growing your business easier than ever.  
    Early access to GIE data is now available! You can get a head start on utilizing GIE's Target Market Intelligence solutions by contacting GIE Media or Mike DiFranco at (330) 523.5360 ormdifranco@gie.net.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Manufacturing Augmented Reality (MAR) - December 2013 IMTS Insider

Note:  I wrote this article for the December 2013 IMTS Insider


 Manufacturing Augmented Reality (MAR)


By Dave Edstrom

While working at Sun Microsystems, I had the privilege of hearing firsthand from Steve Jobs the story when he was given a tour of Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). As the story went, Jobs was in his mid-twenties and knew PARC’s reputation for amazing technology and had offered a trade of stock for a tour of PARC’s famous facility. Jobs saw the mouse and Graphical User Interface (GUI) demonstrated. I remember Jobs said to us, “Any of you who saw what I had seen would realize that this was the future of personal computing.” I remember whispering to my friend and fellow employee, “Probably not, that’s why he’s Steve Jobs and we’re not.” What happened next with the Macintosh and the GUI with a mouse is a significant event in computer history. Sometimes when you see a demonstration, it hits you completely over the head, just like when Jobs saw the mouse and GUI demonstrated at PARC. When Joel Neidig, technology manager at ITAMCO, showed me what he was doing with Google Glass, it was a similar feeling that this was not just a cool demonstration of technology, but has real practical use on the shop and plant floor. Let’s explore what Joel is up to now and how he is reinventing manufacturing.

For those not familiar with Google Glass, it is quite amazing technology in a very streamlined package. It is not a new idea, but it is certainly the most famous at this point. At a quick glance, Google Glass appears to be a typical set of glasses, albeit without lenses, with a thicker temple frame on the right-hand side which houses the computer. Currently, Google Glass is limited to those who are in the Google Glass Explorer program, which is a beta program for early adopters. According to Wikipedia, Google Glass sells for less than $1,500 and has a bone conduction transducer, voice command through microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, touchpad, 5 MB camera, 720p video recorder, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and micro USB. According to Tech Radar’s article on Google Glass by Stuart Houghton on November 7, 2013, “The rechargeable battery last for roughly a day, although that's with the standard "typical use" caveat, which probably excludes a lot of video capture or playback. There's 16GB of flash memory built into the device, although only 12GB is currently available for user storage. The device will sync to your Google Drive, giving you both a place to stash your photos and video clips as well as a stash of documents and files you can call up from the cloud.” This is not a commercial for Google Glass, but I list these features to illustrate the many new and impressive capabilities that are now available to augment reality on the shop floor.



At the MTConnect Technical Group (MTCTAG) meeting in St. Louis, Joel brought his Google Glass to show off the technology. It is very impressive technology that I first, incorrectly, thought fell in the “cool, but not yet practical” category. My view changed entirely when Joel explained to me how he was going to use Google Glass in a very creative and pragmatic fashion. A few weeks later, Joel sent me a note with a link to a video that he created. The video starts out with Joel saying, “OK Glass, let’s revolutionize manufacturing.” The video (http://tinyurl.com/JoelsGlassVideo) is of Joel walking through one of his plants at ITAMCO wearing his Google Glass. As Joel moves through the plant Google Glass augments to what he is seeing. When he is in front of different machine tools, he sees the MTConnect data on what the machine is doing; as he looks at newly-completed parts, the CAD diagrams appear in his view; and he reaches out in real time to ask his cousin, Ben, for his opinion on a particular part. This is an excellent example of augmented reality because, as Joel is walking through the plant, his Google Glass is communicating via Wi-Fi to get specific information on what he is seeing, as well as getting real time information by asking questions and communicating with others in the plant.


I spoke with Diyana Hrzic of AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, who made some very interesting and compelling points (she always does) regarding this technology and where to take it next. As Diyana pointed out, there are situations in manufacturing where, in addition to the MTConnect data, the possibilities exist of incorporating information other than shop floor data. For example, imagine when you walk through the plant that you also have access to the business intelligence of your company, industry trends, marketing data, customer information and a myriad of other data that could transform into actionable intelligence. Imagine as you walk through IMTS 2014, the exhibitor information that is important to you appears in your view and you hear the specifics of a particular piece of equipment. Yes, you could stop and pull it up on your smartphone, but the point is that you did not have to – the information you need appears when and where you needed it. Imagine your marketing team working with the MTInsight Team at AMT, so your sales reps can have access to the market data they need in real time. Imagine that as your sales rep is walking up to a customer, the important information regarding the customer pops up instantly. Imagine what happens when you say, “it would be really nice to have this information available as part of my day and not have to stop to access it.” This may see like Tomorrow Land, but the technology is here today for practical uses.

Google Glass is not without controversy. There are privacy concerns because it is not obvious if the person wearing Glass is taking pictures or recording a video. According to “The Week,” on October 29th of this year a woman in San Diego was ticketed for wearing Google Glass and had violated California Vehicle Code 27602a. Basically, this law states a driver cannot watch TV while driving. But, how is looking at a map on a small screen attached to your glasses different than looking at a smartphone? This appears to the classic case of new technology not fitting neatly into old laws. Today, we do not need to turn our phones off in planes. I would imagine that states will figure out the laws for Internet-enabled glasses too.

Are you ready for manufacturing augmented reality? If you’re Joel Neidig, you know what the future holds because you are inventing it! You can read more about what ITAMCO is doing with Google Glass here on their homepage. Google Glass could be a game-changer for manufacturing because this technology lends itself to the person on-the-go who does not want to stop and look at their smartphone, tablet or computer. The possibilities are truly endless with Google Glass for manufacturing and we will see these new applications in the next few years.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Great Review of 2014 Corvette Stingray by the IndyStar



I really liked this review and the video of the new 2014 Corvette Stingray by Casey Williams of the IndyStar.

Mr. Williams nails it when he says, "No decision was made lightly. No decision on a Corvette is ever.  The result: Amazing. Beautiful. Breathless."

Great review Mr. Williams!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Dinner With John and Janet in San Francisco Celebrating Their Recent Engagement



After I spoke at DMG MORI MDays in Davis, I went to SF to have a very nice dinner with John and Janet.

John had recently asked Janet to marry him while they were vacationing together in Maui and we were celebrating their engagement at Cafe Claude in the city.  Janet picked out the restaurant and it was a fantastic choice.  Below we are enjoying a bottle of wine and some appetizers before dinner.


Mori-Seiki MDays in Davis, CA


The DMG MORI MDays was a big success thanks to the great folks who I had the privilege of being on the panel with:

We were quite honored to come on directly after Dr. Mori gave his keynote.  As I joked, "if you are ever going to speak at DMG MORI MDays, make sure you come right after Dr. Mori!" :)  It was standing room only.


Above is Mark Albert.  Mark was the chair of the MTConnect Panel at MDays.  Mark has been and is a tremendous friend  and supporter of MTConnect.  Mark gave the opening talk and did a fantastic job as usual.  Mark also wrote about MDays here at his great Modern Machine Shop Blog.





Shannon wowed the crowd by showing specific examples of what can be gathered, monitored and analyzed once you have MTConnect enabled your shop.  You could see the standing room only crowd have looks on their face like "I would LOVE to be able to monitor my shop at that level!"


 Joel blew the crowds mind by showing what happens when you combine MTConnect and Google Glass together. You can read more about what ITAMCO is doing with Google Glass here at their homepage under innovation.  You can think of this as augmented reality because as Joel is walking through the plant, his Google Glass is talking via Wi-Fi to get specific information on what he is seeing as well as Joel is using Google Glass as the vehicle to get real time information.




I gave a talk on MTConnect and the pragmatic way to approach introducing MTConnect to a shop or plant.

We had lots of great questions and tremendous amount of interest in MTConnect.

I have had the privilege of working with Mark, Joel and Shannon for a number of years now and this was my last speaking event as President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute.  I cannot think of a better group to end my tenure with then these three great folks.  We all went out for dinner the night after our panel in Davis and had a wonderful time.

Thanks Mark, Joel, Shannon and the great folks at DMG MORI!

One of the super cool things that was shown was the new DMG MORI Additive/Subractive Hybrid machine tool. This certainly appears to be a game-changer for manufacturing.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Ocean City, MD in the Fall



Hotels.com sent us a $100 gift certificate because our room in Blacksburg, VA did not have a tub.  Like anyone would ever sit in a hotel tub at the low end place we stayed when we visited our middle son Michael who graduates next month with two degrees - Professional Writing and Creative Writing.

We used the gift certificate to stay at a nice hotel at Ocean City, MD for the weekend.  We left in the Grand Sport on a Saturday morning and came back Sunday.  I had always wanted to take one of my Corvettes to OC, but we always had too much junk to haul.  This was a great and fun fall weekend at OC, MD.

Julie loves to walk and I love to ride a bike.  With no bike, we walked from one end of the boardwalk to the other and back on Saturday and Sunday.  2 1/2 miles one way meant we did 10 miles of walking just on the boardwalk.  Julie had new walking shoes and I had 12 year basketball high tops.  Take a guess whose feet were blistered :)

Below is near the inlet on the southern most tip of the boardwalk.


You don't see photos like this very often from OC.  Middle of the morning, not a cloud in the sky and the boardwalk is completely empty.  Two of our favorite places to eat at OC, Dayton Brothers Chicken and Dumser's Dairyland.


Below is the northern most tip of the boardwalk.


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Congratulations to Tadge Juechter - Automobile Magazine's Man of the Year


Below is me on the right and on the left is Tadge Juechter, Chief Engineer of Corvette and Automobile Magazine of the Year   What an incredible engineer and just a great guy!  I spoke to Tadge for 15 minutes at Corvettes at Carlisle which I was a thrill of a lifetime for me.

 

Saturday, November 23, 2013

50th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy's Fateful Day In Dallas


Went out with my parents, my wife, Michael and Tim last night for dinner.  I asked my parents what they were doing 50 years ago when Kennedy was shot.  My mother said she was shopping at the Base Exchange (BX) and hear the news.  She put down all the stuff she was getting ready to purchase and went home to be with my father who was watching on our black and white TV in Rapid City, South Dakota.  They did what the rest of the nation did that day, they all watched TV in disbelief.  My memories at age 4 1/2 were less of the horrible nature and more of the "this is the most I have ever seen my parents watch TV".

This two minute video of Clint Hill, the Secret Service Agent who jumped on the back of the Presidential limo in Dallas is an unbelievable first hand account on what happened.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Myth of Lean Manufacturing

NOTE: I wrote this for the Nov 13, 2013 IMTS Insider
 

The Myth of Lean Manufacturing
By: Dave Edstrom

For the vast majority of manufacturers who say they are doing “lean”, or lean manufacturing, it is an absolute myth. They are either kidding themselves or are clueless on what lean manufacturing actually means. Let’s take a look at why the title of this IMTS Insider story is absolutely true.

When I speak to audiences on MTConnect, I like to ask a number of questions. I do this to learn more about the audience, as well as to engage the participants to think about their own plants or shops. Where there might be multiple choices, I need to properly define exactly the definition of the words I am using before I ask an audience question.

An example of this is shop floor monitoring. What I explain is that shop floor monitoring is not someone walking around with a clipboard, writing down the status of the stack lights and then returning to his desk to put that information into a spreadsheet and finally email it to management.

Shop floor monitoring is the ability to know exactly what is happening on your shop floor, anytime, anyplace and on any device. If you cannot pickup your smart phone and immediately see what is happening that femtosecond on your plant floor, then you are not monitoring your shop.

One of the audience participation questions that I ask is, “raise your left hand if you are doing lean manufacturing.” Invariably, 70 to 80 percent of the hands go up. The next question I ask is “put your left hands back up if you are doing lean and keep them up while I ask the second question. If you are monitoring your shop floor please also raise your right hand.” Invariably, only 1 to 2 percent of the right hands go up. I then say, “unless you have both hands up right now, you might think you are doing lean, but you are not. You are kidding yourselves because you simply cannot be doing lean manufacturing because you do not know what is really happening on your shop floor.” I have never been challenged on this because it is simply a fact.

Lean manufacturing is a very broad term, but at its core it involves a set of practices that emphasizes reducing waste and doing more with less in all aspects of the business. You can only know if you are wasting resources if you know what is happening on your shop or plant floor.  Without data you can’t be doing lean. Many also believe lean manufacturing is much more and that it includes  customers, employees, managers, it is a business strategy, reducing development costs, increasing productivity, using the minimal number of resources, creating value streams, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), creating future state implementations, Kaizen, Hoshin, mura, muda, muri, 5S, six sigma, etc.

One of my favorite quotes is from Lord Kelvin: "in physical science the first essential step in the direction of learning any subject is to find principles of numerical reckoning and practicable methods for measuring some quality connected with it. I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be." Stated more succinctly, "if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” Stated in just five words, "to measure is to know."

In internationally known manufacturing and OEE expert Bob Hansen’s seminal book, “Overall Equipment Effectiveness – A Powerful Production/Maintenance Tool for Increased Profits”, he discusses world-class manufacturing. Specifically, Hansen says, “World-class manufacturing areas share two characteristics. They are data driven and they are led by synergistic multi-function leadership teams. Accurately measuring and driving key success parameters contributes to higher productivity for both the area and the plant.” You cannot do OEE with quantifying metrics.

If you want to do lean manufacturing, then the first thing you need to do, as a manufacturer is to measure and monitor what is happening on the shop floor.  MTConnect is how you enable manufacturing equipment to make data available in an easy to read format using standard Internet protocols. After you MTConnect your shop floor, the next logical step is acquire a shop floor monitoring program so you can know what is happening and making changes accordingly to reduce costs and improve production. There are white papers at MTConnect.org that can help you get started. Specifically, there are three white papers you should read if you truly want to do lean manufacturing by quantifying what is on your shop floor.
  • Getting Started With MTConnect Guide: Connectivity Guide
  • Getting Started With MTConnect:  Shop Floor Monitoring, What’s In It For Me?
  • Getting Started With MTConnect:  Writing Client Applications

In summary, don’t kid yourself into believing that you are doing lean manufacturing if you are not monitoring your shop floor.  Get started with MTConnect today if you are serious about lean manufacturing.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

MTInsight Development Team West



AMT's ISP went down, so we made the decision to move the MTInsight Development Team west to my house.  Within one hour of making the decision, we left AMT, went to my house and everyone was back up with ethernet connections continuing MTInsight development!  We have 60Mbs down 25Mbs up.


From right to left, me, Steve, Kevin and Kalesh above.


Larry and Alka above.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Southern Manufacturing Technologies (SMT) Manufacturing Day for Students


Roy and Shannon Sweatman of Southern Manufacturing Technologies (SMT) have been tremendous supporters of MTConnect and this is a great video where they bring in the local high school to show them how cool it can be to work in manufacturing!


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Joel Neidig of ITAMCO's Amazing MTConnect Google Glass



This shows what a true thought leader Joel Neidig of ITAMCO really is in manufacturing.  I showed this video below at Mazak Discover 2013 and the audience was blown away!

It's important to understand what you are seeing, so let me give you some background on Joel.  Joel Neidig is the most creative person I have met in manufacturing (here is an IMTS Insider article on Joel). Joel is the first person to create an app for MTConnect and he open sourced.  Since then, Joel has released an incredible 50 ITAMCO apps for manufacturing.  You read that right, 50 apps - one a week.  That is amazing.

What you see below is Joel walking through his plant wearing Google Glass.  You can read more about what ITAMCO is doing with Google Glass here at their homepage under innovation.  You can think of this as augmented reality because as Joel is walking through the plant, his Google Glass is talking via Wi-Fi to get specific information on what he is seeing as well as Joel is using Google Glass as the vehicle to get real time information.

Speaking with Diyana Hrzic of AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology - she made some very interesting and compelling points (she always does) regarding this technology and where to take it next.  After you watch the video below, imagine other situations in manufacturing where in addition to the information that is possible with MTConnect, also imagine having real time information to the intelligence of your business, industry trends, marketing data, customer information and a myriad of other types of needed data could help turn data into actionable intelligence.

What you see in the upper right hand corner is what Google Glass is showing Joel.  This is not fantasy, this is what is happening today at ITAMCO.

Check out the video.  Joel's right, this is awesome!


Saturday, November 2, 2013

Dave Edstrom's Update on the MTConnect Institute Announces New Leadership Team






































































This press release just hit the wire the past couple of days.   Courtney Hill is going to be a fantastic President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute.  I honestly can not think of a better choice than Courtney Hill.  I will do whatever Courtney asks to help him with the transition.

My concern, that I stated to the MTConnect Board of Directors and in my last blog post:

"It is very important for the MTConnect Institute that the President and Chairman of the Board have the time to take MTConnect to even greater heights.  My hope is that the next President and Chairman of the Board will have the support needed to work full time as this is what is absolutely needed to take MTConnect to the next level."

 In the announcement below from the MTConnect Institute, it is stated, "Mr. Hill replaces David A. Edstrom, CEO/CTO Virtual Photons Electrons, LLC. who has completed his term and is leaving the management team to pursue development of MTConnect-related products and services in the private sector, as well as supporting AMT’s MTInsight business intelligence platform and other projects."

Questions started to come in about this announcement and in anticipation of more questions by friends, MTCTAG members, manufacturers and family members that basically went, "well, which is it Dave - are you leaving because you believe that the next President and Chairman should be full time or you want to get into the MTConnect market?"   

Let me be very clear.  The number one reason I tendered my resignation is that the next President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute absolutely needs to be a full time position.  Today, it is a part time job.  Having been in the computer industry for over 35 years, 23 years at the most innovative and standard creating company ever in mankind's history for the computer industry - Sun Microsystems - and having been President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute since May 2010, and finally as the person who worked with Dr. David Patterson of University of California of Berkeley to lay out the foundation of MTConnect, I have a very good idea on what it takes to truly grow a successful standard.   

The secondary reason is that I do honestly believe the MTConnect market is prime for takeoff.  There are a few companies that are really taking off and it is quite exciting! My company, Virtual Photons Electrons, I believe, can be a part of the commercial aspect of MTConnect and therefore contribute to the MTConnect standard.  

In summary, the primary reason I resigned was I do not believe that anyone can do justice to the position of President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute if it is part time and I personally felt ineffective doing the job part-time.  I loved being President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute, so this was a very difficult decision. The secondary reason is that I believe the business opportunity has never been better for those companies that can execute in the MTConnect marketplace.  I believe Virtual Photons Electrons can be one of those companies.

Below is the announcement:





For Immediate Release: October 31, 2013

Contact:
Paul Warndorf
Secretary
MTConnect Institute



MTConnect Institute Announces New Leadership Team


McLean, Va. … The MTConnect Institute, the developer and administrator of MTConnect, the open-source standard for communication and interconnectivity between manufacturing equipment and devices, has today announced its new leadership team, which will take effect at the Annual Meeting of the MTConnect Institute Board of Directors on December 11, 2013.

Courtney Hill, President, CJ Hill Consulting Services and retired General Manager, Manufacturing & Quality at GE Aviation, will become President and Chairman of the Board.  Mr. Hill, who has been involved in the standard from its origins and most recently was the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), brings continuity and industry experience to the leadership of the Institute.

“I am gratified and honored for the opportunity to chair the MTConnect Board,” Mr. Hill commented.  “With a long-held passion for advanced manufacturing technology, I've had the privilege of participating in the MTConnect journey since its launch and continue to be impressed by the results achieved by the entire MTConnect community.  MTConnect is truly transformational and a key enabler to next generation digital manufacturing and sustained U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.  The future of manufacturing and MTConnect is bright.”

Mr. Hill replaces David A. Edstrom, CEO/CTO Virtual Photons Electrons, LLC. who has completed his term and is leaving the management team to pursue development of MTConnect-related products and services in the private sector, as well as supporting AMT’s MTInsight business intelligence platform and other projects.  Mr. Edstrom, author of the book “MTConnect: To Measure Is To Know,” which documents the development of the MTConnect standard, stated “It has been a highlight of my career to be involved in the development of MTConnect. This standard has truly contributed to the transformation of the manufacturing industry and individual manufacturing plants from an information-starved situation to an information rich position, which will allow future manufacturing decisions to be based on knowledge and data, not assumptions.  I have enjoyed my tenure as President and Chairman of the Board and look forward to working with companies to take advantage of the MTConnect standard in their operations.”

Mr. Hill commented “On behalf of the entire MTConnect community, we would like to thank Dave for his tireless support of MTConnect and manufacturing and wish him well in his future plans; we know he will be in our community and continue to advance the standard in the future.”

Mr. Hill will be replaced as Chair of the TAG by Scott Hibbard, Vice President of Technology, Bosch Rexroth Corporation, who was previously Vice Chair.

Joining the MTConnect Board of Directors will be Thomas Kurfess – HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and Professor Mechanical Engineering Georgia Tech.  During 2012-2013 he was on leave serving as the Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States of America. In this position he had responsibility for engaging the Federal sector and the greater scientific community to identify possible areas for policy actions related to manufacturing.  Mr. Kurfess was elected to a 3-year term on the Board.

The Institute also announced that Paul Warndorf , Vice President – Manufacturing Technology, AMT- The Association For Manufacturing Technology, will continue his role as Secretary MTConnect Institute for an additional 3-year term and Ralph Resnick, President & Executive Director, NCDMM – National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, will extend his position as Director MTConnect Institute for an additional 3-year term.

They join Douglas K. Woods, President, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, Treasurer MTConnect Institute; Brian J. Papke, President, Mazak Corporation and Dean Bartles, Vice President - Large Caliber Ammunition General Dynamics – Ordnance and Technical Systems, as members of the MTConnect Institute Board.

#   #   #


MTConnect Institute

The MTConnect Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization established to further the development of the MTConnect standard and publish related materials.  The organization includes a Board of Directors, a Technical Advisory Group that’s also called MTCTAG, a Technical Steering Committee, as well as various working groups to further the standard in specific technology areas. 


How can I become a member?
Any company or organization can be a member and aid in furthering the development of the MTConnect standard by becoming a member of the MTCTAG. Membership is free, and it requires agreement to the MTConnect Intellectual Property Policy, which can be found on the MTConnect website’s “Institute” section.

#   #   #

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Dave Edstrom Announces Resignation as President and Chairman of the Board MTConnect Institutute



Below is what I sent out tonight to MTConnect community:

Yesterday, I notified the MTConnect Institute's Board of Directors that my last day as President and Chairman of the Board of the MTConnect Institute will be January 2, 2014.  
I have greatly enjoyed my tenure and could not have asked or dreamed of having a better experience.  I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the MTConnect Technical Advisory Group members, the MTConnect Board of Directors, the many supporters of MTConnect and most importantly working with those manufacturers who have embraced MTConnect. I am very proud of what we all accomplished during my term by the entire MTConnect team.

It is very important for the MTConnect Institute that the President and Chairman of the Board have the time to take MTConnect to even greater heights.  My hope is that the next President and Chairman of the Board will have the support needed to work full time as this is what is absolutely needed to take MTConnect to the next level. 

Post January 2014, my company, Virtual Photons Electrons, will be very busy with other commitments, but will continue to track MTConnect.

Best Regards,

--Dave

Dave Edstrom
President and Chairman of the Board  



 Below are a few highlights of my term as:

       [MC]2 2011
       This was our first MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference and it was a big success.
       [MC]2 2013
       Our second [MC]2 was another great success.  The foundation for doing successful MTConnect Conferences was validated and verified so the roadmap exists going forward.
       I put in over $52,000 of my own time that was “in kind” contribution so Virtual Photons Electrons (my company) became an MTConnect Institute Partner.
       I also gave away $6,000 worth of my book, MTConnect: To Measure Is To Know, to attendees and MTConnect members.
       Getting Started With MTConnect White Papers
       Connectivity Guide
       Shop Floor Monitoring, What’s In It For Me?
       Writing Client Applications
       MTConnect Challenge
       I had no involvement with this very cool effort, but it was certainly fun to watch all hard and creative work that went into this effort.
       MTConnect-OPC UA MoU and Companion Specification
       Tom Burke and I signed the agreement at IMTS 2010.
       MTConnect the Standard
       Thanks to Paul Warndorf, Will Sobel, John Turner and many others for driving new versions of our standard.
       I was very pleased to give away 200 copies of my book at the MTCTAG and [MC]2 2013 events.  I purposely priced the book at $9.99 for the electronic versions on Kindle, iTunes and Android to help get the word out on MTConnect.  The paperback version naturally would cost more, but I think it is fairly priced as well.  I do know that in a small way, the book has helped the MTConnect effort.  I thank the board again for allowing the use of the MTConnect logo in the title of my book.