Tuesday, November 24, 2009

First Day of 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES Conference In Nurnberg

Yesterday was my first day in Nurnberg, Germany and I had a very nice dinner at a restaurant that first opened in 1331.  I think that is a couple of years older than McDonalds in the US :-)

This is a recap of the first day of the conference is the 2009 SPS/IPC/DRIVES for automation technology.    Just as a reminder, John Byrd, former President of AMT, has stated on many occasions that  MTConnect will be the most important change to the machine tool industry since CNC.

When  I met with customers and prospects today, I had a basic format that I followed to make my points in a clear, concise and compelling fashion. 

  • Introduce myself, Sun Microsystems, AMT, MTConnect Institute and MTConnect
  • I asked how they provided information about their device to the outside world.
  • I listened carefully, then when they were finished I asked if they ever heard of Java.  Everyone, of course, has heard of Java.
  • I then asked if they heard of MTConnect.  No one had.  I then said that MTConnect will do for controllers and machine tools what Java did for computers.  This got their attention :-
  • I then explained why they should care about MTConnect for their business.
  • I explained how customers could taken advantage of MTConnect with their specific set of products/technologies.
  • I then went into the brief history of MTConnect so they understood the context of where, when, why, what and how this is important for customers, integrators, software and vendors at this Nurnberg Conference.
  • After they understood everything above, I gave them my business card and the sheet Paul Warndorf gave me on MTConnect and said I would follow up with them.
  • I typically spent about 15 minutes with each vendor/customer/prospect.
I spent most of the day talking with the very nice and interesting vendors that I met with on Tuesday the 24th of November:
  • Bonfiglioli
  • Schneider Electric
  • ART - Applied Robot & Technologies
  • Reliance Precision Mechatronics LLP
  • DAC Electric
  • Lenze
  • isel
  • Carpanelli Motori electrici
  • WEIS GmbH
  • ISG Industrielle Steurungstechnik GmbH
  • POLARIS Motion Control Systems
  • YASKAWA
  • Baumuller
  • Mattke Servotechnik
  • VISPA
  • THK
  • Bosch
    • already a member, but felt I should stop by
  • RS Components GmbH
    • An Electrocomponents Company
  • SEW EURODRIV