God Bless Ian Murdock

My oldest son John, who works at Facebook, just asked me if I knew Ian Murdock.  I told John that I knew Ian from his days at Sun Microsystems when he was hired to come in to help guide the open Solaris movement.  He created the Debian Linux operating system that was named after his wife Debra and himself.  I was very saddened to hear of Ian's passing as he was only 42.  

As Ian stated at his blog:

"I worked at Sun Microsystems, where I led Project Indiana, the effort designed to lower barriers to adoption of the Solaris operating system that led to the OpenSolaris distribution. OpenSolaris, in turn, led to Solaris 11. (Alas, Oracle discontinued OpenSolaris itself in late 2010.) Later, I ran the developer program and worked on cloud computing."

Ian was brilliant and one of the nicest guys you would ever meet.  This is a big loss for all who knew Ian and for the Linux community.

What Went Wrong With The Z06 at Motor Trend’s “Driver’s Car” tests at Laguna Seca Raceway

The Z06 has been getting hammered ever since the Motor Trend’s “Driver’s Car” tests at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Tadge Junchter, Corvette Chief Engineer, addressed exactly what happened with Torque News.

I am going to have to start reading Torque News, because I was not aware how much this site digs into important issues.

Below is a snippet on Torque News and the article is well worth reading.

"General Motors has found that in many cases of 2015 Corvette Z06 owners having overheating issues, there is air in the cooling circuit of the intercooler unit. These air pockets can cause the intercooler to function less efficiently, so before sending the car off to Motor Trend for the driver’s car testing, the car was fully serviced and the intercooler’s coolant system was checked to be clear of air. However, when the technician hooked everything back up after completing the standard check-up, he or she did not correctly hook up the wiring harness for the intercooler unit. It was connected well enough that the Corvette Z06 ran fine leading up to the Motor Trend track tests, but it was loose enough that it caused the intercooler system to fail at times.

This caused the intercooler system of the new Corvette Z06 to stop functioning correctly and when intake air temperatures climbed through the roof, the LT4’s PCM cut power to protect the engine from the high temperatures. As a result, power was greatly reduced, leading to the decreased performance and Pobst comparing the most track capable Corvette to the 1962 Ford Falcon.

In short, because a technician didn’t plug in a harness correctly, the Corvette team got an unnecessary black eye via the poor performance of the C7 Z06 in the Motor Trend top driver’s car contest."

ITAMCO's Joel Neidig GREAT Presentation at Autodesk Conference in Las Vegas

I have known Joel Neidig of ITAMCO for seven years now and he just continues to impress me with his creative thinking and execution.  He is a true thought leader in manufacturing and ITAMCO is doing some amazing things with MTConnect and Google Glass.

Just one example is the industrial pump they made for New Orleans that can pump out an entire olympic size swimming pool in six seconds.  You read the right, six seconds!  Whey they first powered it on in the Indiana town it caused a brown out :-)

Below is a 13 minute video that shows what a leader is doing in manufacturing. You can tell by the crowd reaction that they were very impressed with Joel's talk!

Quantifying Fear

Thanks to DG for sending this to me when we were discussing how people do not do the math on what they should really fear in life.

The blog is titled: 

What Are You Afraid Of?

 

Published by Steven Novella under Neuroscience


Below is a snippet:

"What We Fear?

Psychologists have identified five basic fears, out of which most other fears are based. They are: fear of death, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and “ego death” which is the fear of humiliation or shame.
Despite the obvious adaptive function of fear, many people fear the wrong things, meaning that their fear and anxiety is not proportional to actual threat. This mismatch is maladaptive, so why is it the case?
For example, people generally fear flying more than driving.

Meanwhile, in the entire history of aviation about 13,000 people have lost their lives, the same amount as die on US roads every 4 months. Another way to look at the probability, which is perhaps a bit more intuitive, is that you would have to fly every day for about 14,000 years before having a greater than 50% chance of crashing. That’s pretty reassuring.

Why do so many people worry about the (statistically) wrong things? There are a couple of reasons."

I really enjoyed this article and here is a final snippet below.  If more of us followed this advice, there would be a lot less worry and a lot less power that politicians would have talking nonsense on what people should fear.

"Optimally our fears would be proportional to the actual risk they pose. Actually I think there are three basic factors that should be taken explicitly into account when considering the appropriate level of fear and what to do about it. The first is the probability of the negative even occurring. The second is the consequences of the negative event. The third is the cost (expense, inconvenience, trade-offs) of taking steps to prevent or mitigate the negative event."

Manufacturing's Game Changer - The SmartBox - Securely Connecting Legacy Manufacturing Equipment

Mazak, Cisco and Memex teamed up to create the SmartBox. 

The SmartBox addresses the three big problem that manufacturing has today:

• The ability to connect legacy machine tools, sensors, (turn it into MTConnect), do it securely and provide award-winning software to view what's happening on the plant floor. 

Mazak is the world's largest machine tool maker, Cisco is the world's leader in networking and Memex is a recognized global leader in measuring manufacturing excellence.

Memex has hardware and software in the SmartBox.  We have our Ax760-MTC and MERLIN (our shop floor monitoring platform).  At Memex, we refer the ability to connect to anything on the shop floor as addressing "the last meter" and we are recognized experts in this area. Memex's MERLIN is award winning - Manufacturing Execution Real-time Lean Information Network - is what turns this into actionable intelligence for manufacturing operators, manages and CxOs.

Below is a photo of the SmartBox that appeared on Mark Albert's (Modern Machine Shop Editor) blog on October 30th, 2015.  The title of Mark's blog is appropriately titled, "What's So Smart about the SmartBox?"  Mark does a great job discussing what makes up the SmartBox.

 Mark brings out five key points in his blog about the SmartBox and is well worth reading.

The SmartBox is about the size of a medicine cabinet.

I am just writing about SmartBox now, while it was announced in October, because I wanted to wait until I had time to give more justice to this huge announcement and it was a little closer to the time it would be shipping.  I am sure I will be writing more about this exciting product.

Below is our (Memex Inc.) announcement in October on a game changing technology called SmartBox.  I highlighted the many key points of the SmartBox.

"The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) just got real for manufacturing productivity. Later this month, Mazak Corporation will showcase MERLIN software from MEMEX Inc. (TSX-V: OEE) with hardware from information technology (IT) leader Cisco in what is described as a collaborative platform called SmartBox.

Developed by Mazak, SmartBox will launch in front of metalworking managers and C-level executives on October 27-29 and November 3-5 at DISCOVER 2015. This Mazak Technology and Education event takes place at the company’s North American Manufacturing Headquarters in Florence, KY. Click here for Mazak’s October 15 press release on SmartBox.

Mazak is an industry-first launch platform for easy and highly secure entrance into the Industrial Internet of Things. SmartBox builds on MEMEX’s strategic partnership with Mazak Corp., which earlier this year named MEMEX to its exclusive Value Inspired Partner (VIP) program.

“The SmartBox collaboration realizes the IIoT vision on the factory floor,” said MEMEX’s CEO David McPhail. “We’re thrilled to be participating in this powerful combination with Mazak and Cisco. As well as MERLIN software, we are contributing our easy-to-deploy Ax760 hardware adapters to SmartBox. They enable every machine on the shop floor, old or new, to become web servers that utilize the MTConnect® manufacturing communication standard.”

Using MTConnect® as its foundation, SmartBox connectivity of machines and devices allows for enhanced monitoring and analytical capabilities including advanced cyber security protection. SmartBox represents a huge leap in digital integration across manufacturing.

“With the development of SmartBox, Mazak continues to drive toward its iSMART Factory concept and connecting today’s shops to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to achieve levels of efficiency and productivity never before realized,” said Brian Papke, President of Mazak. “And while our concept centers around open connectivity and the Internet, we at Mazak believe it is our moral obligation to also provide customers the highest level of security possible with SmartBox. As with all the technology we develop, Mazak has first implemented SmartBox into our own operations before expecting customers to wholeheartedly embrace the system.”

The power of SmartBox will be demonstrated at DISCOVER 2015 in one of the automated cells as part of Mazak’s own manufacturing operations. Each of the cell’s four machines are outfitted with a SmartBox and sensor array package, giving event attendees a firsthand look at the device in action within an actual manufacturing environment and network.

Mazak developed SmartBox to work with any machine regardless of make, model or age and will offer it in various configurations/kits based on the scenarios and challenges in which the units will be used. The device physically mounts to the side of machines without having to integrate into a machine’s electrical cabinet. With several standard input/output connecting ports, SmartBox lets users quickly and easily connect any standard off-the-shelf sensors to the system for machine data gathering and condition monitoring. One SmartBox may service several machine tools along with other associated manufacturing equipment, depending on the application.

At the heart of SmartBox is Cisco’s Connected Machines solution, based on the IoT System, designed specifically for industrial environments and equipped with an MTConnect software agent. Using a fog computing model, MTConnect runs directly on the ruggedized Cisco Industrial Ethernet (IE) 4000 switch, providing MERLIN software’s real-time visibility and insights into data right on the factory floor.

MEMEX’s MERLIN software installed in Mazak’s factory allows for monitoring analytics of machines, test stands and other equipment within the plant. The Cisco hardware is designed to help prevent any issues with unauthorized access from both directions – to or from the machines and equipment within a network. SmartBox satisfies the highly critical security concerns of IT departments when connecting legacy equipment to a plant’s main network for the purpose of gathering manufacturing data via the MTConnect protocol.

About the Company

MEMEX Inc. is a leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology platform provider that connects to any machine and delivers real-time manufacturing productivity metrics. Industrial strength MERLIN software provides Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) efficiency metrics in real time, from shop floor to top floor. MERLIN connects to any machine, old or new, utilizing MTConnect, other protocols or hardware adapters. The MERLIN magic delivers a 10% to 50% average productivity increase so that any manufacturer can achieve world-class standards of excellence. Based on just a 10% increase in OEE, customers see profit improvements of 20%-plus and payback in less than four months. For more information, please visit: www.memex-inc.com."

Aero Pacific Initiates Plant-Wide Purchase of MERLIN Enterprise Edition Software From MEMEX

/EINPresswire.com/ -- BURLINGTON, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 12/22/15 -- MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) is pleased to announce that Aero Pacific Corporation, a U.S. manufacturer of aircraft parts and equipment, has purchased MERLIN Enterprise Edition for a plant-wide implementation in Placentia, CA. 30 licenses of MERLIN Enterprise Edition for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and Direct Numerical Control (DNC), plus 28 MERLIN MTConnect hardware adapters for CNC manufacturing machines will be deployed.

"MERLIN's ability to connect every CNC machine on our factory floor despite make or origin utilizing the MTConnect communications standard for industrial equipment is integral to our efforts to further improve our quality and productivity," said Mark Heasley, President at Aero Pacific. "Direct, real-time communication from our production equipment will give us a strategic advantage with our customers. We are deploying MERLIN in all three of our plant facilities and look forward to seeing its impact."

MEMEX's flagship software product, MERLIN, is an industrial-strength shop-floor-to-top-floor communications platform that provides efficiency metrics 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 or hardware adapters for older machines.

"After more than 50 years in business, Aero Pacific is a legendary name in California's aerospace and advanced manufacturing industry," said John Rattray, MEMEX's Vice President of Sales. "We are proud to see them join more than 100 leading manufacturers like Mazak, Magellan Aerospace and Milwaukee Tool in recognizing MERLIN's unique ability to realize the promise of the Industrial Internet of Things by connecting the shop floor to the top floor."

About MEMEX Inc.
 
Memex is a leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology platform provider that connects to any machine and delivers real-time manufacturing productivity metrics. Industrial strength 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 or hardware adapters for older machines. For more information, please visit: www.memex.ca.
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.

Media Contact

MEMEX Inc.
John Rattray
VP Sales
Phone: 905-635-1540 ext. 201
Email: Email Contact

MEMEX Inc.
Nathan Rudyk
VP Marketing
Phone: 905-635-1540 ext. 216
Email: Email Contact

December 17, 2015 06:30 ET

Memex Inc. Releases Fiscal 2015 Year End Results With Record Annual Revenue 115% Higher Than the Previous Year

 

BURLINGTON, ON--(Marketwired - Dec 17, 2015) - Memex Inc. ("Memex" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: OEE) a global leader in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) manufacturing productivity software, today released its financial results and operational highlights for its year ended September 30, 2015.

Financial Highlights for the Year Ended September 30, 2015:

• Memex generated record revenue of $2.1 million, $1.1 million or 115% higher than the prior year.
• Memex achieved record gross margin of $1.3 million, 200% higher than the prior year.
• Unearned revenue of $582 thousand closed the year at a record high, $129 thousand or 28.5% higher than the previous high at September 30^th 2014.
• The Company showed a $2.4 million net and comprehensive loss for the year equating to a $0.030 loss per share. This compares with a $2.1 million net and comprehensive loss and a $0.040 loss per share in 2014.
• Memex qualified for up to $800 thousand in Government of Canada funding through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation ("IBI") initiative.
•  

Financial Highlights for the Quarter Ended September 30, 2015:

• Memex generated quarterly revenue of $575 thousand, a $373 thousand or 179% increase when compared to Q4-2014, and $124 thousand more than Q3-2015.
• The quarterly loss from operations of $600 thousand was down $153 thousand from $753 thousand for the same period a year ago, and $266 thousand less than the $866 thousand reported Q3-2015.
•  

Operational Highlights for the Year:

• Memex sold its flagship software product, MERLIN, to 32 new manufacturing enterprise customers in Canada, Mexico, the United States and Australia including Lynch Fluid Controls Inc., Koss Aerospace Ltd., Industrial B&S de Mexico SA de CV, FM Industries Inc., ANCA Pty Ltd., The Oilgear Company and Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation.
• In August 2015 Memex was invited by Mazak Corporation, a global machine tool leader, to join its exclusive Value Inspired Partner (VIP) program. Memex is the only such partner offering software in its category.
• Memex acquired the intellectual property and other related assets of Dostek Incorporated and engaged its President, Doug Struthers, in the role of Merlin Direct Numerical Control (DNC) Architect to bolster Merlin's DNC product capabilities.
• Commencing January 2015 Memex focused its own Partner Channel program on relationships and future business potential with three of its largest partners: Mazak, Okuma, and Mazak Optonics.
•  

Management Commentary: Memex's President & CEO David McPhail stated, "We are very proud of our accomplishments during fiscal 2015, and our team is focused on achieving even greater growth. More than 90% of manufacturers today run their factories without IIoT software and our job is to turn them on to MERLIN's well-documented return on investment. I commend each and every one of our employees for their contributions to this record year. And all of us want to thank our new and existing manufacturing customers for placing their trust in us as they take advantage of MERLIN software's productivity promise."

Memex's Vice President of Sales John Rattray stated, "We have expanded MERLIN's global customer footprint, continued investment in the development of our direct sales and partner channels, and achieved success with key partners. As well as customer expansion, we have immense potential within our existing install base. All of this progress is reflected in the numbers reported. The Industrial Internet of Things is a desirable concept to many advanced manufacturing firms. To MERLIN customers however, it's an achievable, real-time reality with fast payback."

About Memex Inc.

Memex is a leading Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology platform provider that connects to any machine and delivers real-time manufacturing productivity metrics. Industrial strength 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 or hardware adapters for older machines. For more information, please visit: www.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.

CONTACT INFORMATION

• For investor inquiries please contact:
  
  David McPhail
  President & CEO
  519-993-1114
  Email Contact
  
  Ed Crymble
  Chief Financial Officer
  905-635-1540 ext. 110 
  Email Contact

Trump Needs To Listen To Malala Yousafzai - Youngest-Ever Nobel Laureate

(CNN) - "Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is speaking out about Donald Trump's stance on Muslims.

During an interview, she was asked about Trump's suggestion of a ban on all Muslims entering the United States.

Malala reacted saying, "The more you speak about Islam and against all Muslims, the more terrorists we create."

Trickle-Down Economics Must Die. Long Live Grow-Up Economics

Trickle-down economics is voodoo economics as the great George H.W. Bush once said.

I really enjoyed this article titled, "Trickle-Down Economics Must Die. Long Live Grow-Up Economics" by Scott Santens.

Below is a snippet:

"Every extra dollar going into the pockets of low-wage workers, standard economic multiplier models tell us, adds about $1.21 to the national economy. Every extra dollar going into the pockets of a high-income American, by contrast, only adds about 39 cents to the GDP. These pennies add up considerably on $26.7 billion in earnings. If the $26.7 billion Wall Streeters pulled in on bonuses in 2013 had gone to minimum wage workers instead, our GDP would have grown by about $32.3 billion, over triple the $10.4 billion boost expected from the Wall Street bonuses.

Yeah, you read that right. In 2013, by giving huge bonuses to those on Wall Street instead of low-wage workers, we actively prevented the creation of about $22 billion in additional national wealth. In 2014, we did the same thing, but to an even larger degree, preventing about $23 billion in additional national wealth that would have otherwise been created, had those billions in bonuses been distributed to low-income earners instead."

The Iraq War That Created ISIS

Matt Ferner nailed this in his article,

Former Military Chief: Iraq War Was A 'Failure' That Helped Create ISIS

"Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency who came up through intelligence positions in Iraq and Afghanistan, says that the George W. Bush administration's Iraq war was a tremendous blunder that helped to create the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.

"It was a huge error," Flynn said about the Iraq war in a detailed interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel published Sunday.
"As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him," Flynn went on to say. "The same is true for Moammar Gadhafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision."

The Best Advice To Give Your Kids From Steve Jobs

Do Nothing Politicians Meaningless "Thoughts and Prayers" After Mass Shootings

I am absolutely sick and tired of these politicians, who do NOTHING about the issue of mass shootings and come out after these terrible mass shootings and state, "our thoughts and prayers...."

IF these politicians actually have thoughts, then they should DO something about this and not JUST talk.

IF these politicians, who are doing NOTHING, then they should hope there is NO God, because IF there is a God, these politicians will be asked the question when they die, "you had the ability to change this and you did NOTHING?!?!" 

The New York Times has the article,

End the Gun Epidemic in America

As stated in this article:

"Opponents of gun control are saying, as they do after every killing, that no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal. That is true. They are talking, many with sincerity, about the constitutional challenges to effective gun regulation. Those challenges exist. They point out that determined killers obtained weapons illegally in places like France, England and Norway that have strict gun laws. Yes, they did.

But at least those countries are trying. The United States is not. Worse, politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs. It is past time to stop talking about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically — eliminating some large categories of weapons and ammunition."

As a father of a son who stood outside Norris Hall at Virginia Techn where he heard the shootings, it sickens me to see that mass shootings have become the norm in the United States of America.... 

Kelley Blue Book Names 2016 Corvette a Best Performance Car Buy

This is great news for someone who just bought a 2016 Stingray :-)

The article at Kelley Blue Book starts out:

"Still King of the Hill

This year's performance car category was crowded with a number of strong contenders ranging from the scrappy and much-anticipated 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata to the pavement pounding 2016 Ford Shelby GT 350. But it was last year's winner, the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, that carried the day on the strength of overall performance that compares favorably with sports cars costing tens of thousands of dollars more. But beyond stellar performance, the 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray offers the kind of comfort and drivability that takes it from a weekend- or special occasion-only fun car to a truly engaging vehicle perfectly suited as a daily driver."

I am really glad to see the Stingray to continue to win these types of awards as I have driven my 2016 Corvette Stingray for only 1,100 miles but I absolutely LOVE IT!