Monday, January 18, 2016

Financial Post Article--> How tiny Memex got two industry giants to endorse its manufacturing connectivity platform



This is a fantastic article in the Financial Post on how Memex got one of the largest machine tool companies in the world, Mazak, and the world's largest networking company, Cisco, to come together with this little company in Canada called Memex to create SmartBox.

The author, Rick Spence, absolutely nails it in his article:

How tiny Memex got two industry giants to endorse its manufacturing connectivity platform

The article by Mr. Spence starts out:

"David McPhail, the CEO of Burlington, Ont.-based Memex Inc., loves showing off a new white paper from Mazak, the Japan-based machine-tool giant. Even though its title, “Complete Digital Factory Integration and the IIOT” (Industrial Internet of Things) suggests most  people will find it less than a thrilling reading.

But McPhail cares mostly about the cover, and its three company logos. The stylized word mark of Mazak, with 7,800 employees and 10 factories worldwide, appears on the left side; on the right, inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge, sits the logo of Cisco, the San Francisco networking giant with 72,000 employees; and tucked proudly between the two is the logo of tiny Memex, with 39 employees and sales of $2.1 million.

This kind of exposure doesn’t happen by accident. The eight-page brochure promoting a new “Smart Box” that enables digital connectivity between manufacturing tools represents eight years of work by McPhail and his team. Their Merlin communications platform collects operating data from each piece of equipment and displays it in a dashboard that lets manufacturers boost efficiency by monitoring performance, maintenance and inventory in real time."

I also greatly appreciate the shout out by Dave in the article:

"Soon after, Memex went public on the TSX Venture Exchange, largely so it could raise funds and issue options to attract top talent. One of its key wins: chief technology officer Dave Edstrom, who helped develop the open-source standard for machine-to-machine communications as president and chairman of the MTConnect Institute."

This article really explains how Memex is putting a dent in the manufacturing universe!

American Manufacturing Leader Herb Homeyer Introduces IIoT Software to his factory with MERLIN Enterprise Edition


January 12, 2016   Press Releases, Recent News, Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marthasville, MO, USA  January 12, 2016 – MEMEX Inc. (TSX-V: OEE) is proud to announce that Homeyer Precision Manufacturing Co. has purchased MERLIN Enterprise Edition for a plant roll-out of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) software in Marthasville, MO. The sale includes 23 licenses of MERLIN for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and Direct Numerical Control (DNC), plus 9 MERLIN MTConnect hardware adapters for legacy CNC manufacturing machines.
Homeyer Precision Manufacturing is led by its President Herb Homeyer, who is also Chairman of the Board of The National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA). A passionate business leader, he founded his company in 1990 with a belief in the power of American manufacturing — and a commitment to bring a new level of service to his industry.

“The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, is a powerful trend, and MERLIN makes IIoT real by equipping industrial machines with the necessary interfaces for connecting, collecting, and analyzing manufacturing data in real-time,” said Homeyer. “Our manufacturing team did their homework before choosing MERLIN. One of the things that most impressed us is how no machine is left behind regardless of make or vintage, and MERLIN’s ability to implement quickly on our factory floor without costly integration services or associated time-lags. With this real-time visibility, we look forward to a significant boost in Overall Equipment Effectiveness, or OEE.”

“We are honored to be implementing MEMEX’s IIoT technology in the factory of a visionary manufacturing leader like Herb Homeyer,” said MEMEX CEO David McPhail. “With a correct focus on achieving business value versus simply counting connected devices, IIoT represents no less than the next industrial revolution. The previous three industrial revolutions were mechanization powered by steam engines in the 1800s, mass production powered by electricity and the assembly line in the early 1900s, and automation powered by computers in the late 1900s. Ushering in the fourth industrial revolution, IIoT is powered by the Internet and software applications like MERLIN.”

MEMEX’s flagship software product, MERLIN, is an IIoT shop-floor-to-top-floor communications platform that 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 Homeyer Precision Manufacturing Co.

Homeyer Precision Manufacturing serves many different industries from aerospace and defense to oil and gas and energy production. At a time when many high-tech jobs are moving overseas, the company continues to grow in the USA — delivering precision parts for some of the world’s most demanding advanced manufacturing companies for 25 years. Homeyer has achieved this thanks to its ongoing investments in leading edge manufacturing equipment and technology, and its commitment to bringing on the most talented, dedicated, and highly skilled employees for every job.

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

Homeyer Precision Manufacturing Co.
Gretchen Homeyer, Director of Employee, Customer, & Community Relations
Phone: +1 636-433-2244
Email: ghomeyer@homeyertool.com

MEMEX Inc. 
David McPhail, CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Email: david.mcphail@MemexOEE.com
Nathan Rudyk VP Marketing
Phone: 905-635-1540 ext. 216
Email: nathan.rudyk@MemexOEE.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.