David McPhail Inteviewed at FabTech on Manufacturing Talk Radio - Discusses MTConnect and Memex Automation

David McPhail did a great interview at FabTech last week on Wednesday the 12th on Manufacturing Talk Radio! 

David does a fantastic job educating the hosts on MTConnect as well as Memex Automation's ability to talk to ANYTHING on the shop floor. David puts everything in the language that everyone inside or outside of manufacturing can easily understand and appreciate.  David talks about MTConnect at the beginning and really gets into specifics at the end of the interview.

I thought the interviewers did an outstanding job in the types of questions asked as well as the follow up questions.


David starts speaking at the 129 minute mark on Wednesday.  David's segment is about 25 minutes in length.

David brings out a very important metric.  If you ask a shop or plant what their utilization is, invariably they will state something in the area of 65%.  When you actually come in and measure it, the number is more like 27% to 32%  That is a HUGE difference! As David states, "if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it."

David McPhail and Dave Edstrom on IMTS TV

This interview at IMTS 2014 was done by Whitney Brown of AMT with David McPhail and me.  Whitney always does a great job in her interviews and her writing.

MES Increases Machine Availability for Mazak in American Machinist

This is a great article  by David McPhail, President and CEO of Memex Automation, in American Machinist titled, "MES Increases Machine Availability for Mazak" and I especially like Brian Papke's quote below:

http://americanmachinist.com/enterprise-software/mes-increases-machine-availability-mazak?page=1

"Mazak’s IT department started the efficiency drive by implementing the MTConnect protocol to determine machine availability with maximum accuracy, using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) as a standard measurement. “This total embrace of MTConnect is intended to make a statement,” stated Mazak president Brian Papke, who personally drove the project. “We want to be a leader in both promoting and implementing MTConnect. We want our example to show the importance of moving toward data-driven manufacturing.  MTConnect is an essential part of what makes data-driven manufacturing possible.”

At the end of the article, Brian Papke has an incredible quote on the importance of MTConnect:

"In remarks at IMTS 2014, Brian Papke once again emphasized the importance of data availability to the success of the enterprise: "The implementation of MTConnect is one of the simplest and fastest ways to improve productivity and increase machine utilization,” he said. “Mazak's MTConnect implementation provided the highest ROI for any capital investment because of the significant increase in utilization of equipment for a very moderate expenditure.”
 

 Mr. McPhail brings out the long history that I have had with the great folks at Mazak. It has been a real honor and privilege to work with Mazak.

"Memex Automation’s Dave Edstrom, who was instrumental in creating the MTConnect vision in 2006, as well as was being the president and chairman of the MTConnect Institute for three-and-a-half years, joined Memex in January 2014 as its first chief technology officer and has worked with Mazak for years on MTConnect."

The numbers are extremely impressive:

With MERLIN, the machine tool builder’s manufacturing complex quickly and cost-effectively isolates productivity issues, maximizing efficiency

• +42% OEE
• -100 hours overtime
• +400 hrs/month more throughput