Your Manufacturing Check Engine Light is Broken

Aug 22, 2012

-Dave Edstrom

NOTE:  This was written for the IMTS Insider on August 22nd, 2012

We have all seen the check engine light come on in the car. Often, it’s because someone didn’t properly put the gas cap on. However, there are times when it is more serious and even times when it’s extremely serious. The check engine light is also sometimes called an “idiot light” because it comes on and provides no real concrete information.

Typically, the check engine light is amber. If it comes up in a red color, you are likely in a world of engine trouble. The check engine light is just an indicator of a problem. It comes on when the system determines a problem. In manufacturing, the check engine light is typically the stack light. If the operator can control the stack light, then that makes about as much sense as having a toggle switch on your dash for the driver of the car to turn on the engine light when he or she thinks or knows there is some type of problem. Think about that for a second. There is absolutely no difference between having the driver turn on a toggle switch and an operator of a machine tool turn a stack light from green to yellow or red. If the stack light is supposed to be an indicator of what is really going on with that particular machine tool, for all practical purposes your manufacturing check engine light is broken. So what do you do about it?

Just as President Ronald Reagan said at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12th, 1987, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear DOWN this wall!” As President and Chairman of the Board for the MTConnect Institute, I am saying to manufacturing shops and plants around the globe, “Manufacturing plants and shops, tear DOWN these stack lights!” The wall that separated East Germany from West Germany kept people and ideas apart. The stack lights in plants are just as dated, remind me of the Cold War time and keeping real information from reaching those who need to know it. When I walk into a plant and see stack lights I always just roll me eyes thinking to myself, “what year is this anyway — 1912 or 2012?”

Many drivers do not realize that on every car made since 1996, there is a connector or port that is typically right below the steering wheel on all cars. This port is called the On Board Diagnostics II port or OBD-II. What is very important about the OBD-II is that it is the same physical connector and same protocol (how you speak to the OBD-II electronically) for all cars. This means that if your check engine light comes on, instead of just tightening the gas cap and hoping the light goes off after a few cold starts, you now have the ability to find out what is really going on.

There are OB-II scanners on the market that allow you to plug into the OBD-II port to find out in much more detail exactly what is going on with your engine. These typically go from $70 to $200 if you want to buy one or many times you can borrow one from your local auto parts store. How these work is that you plug them in, turn on your car and then retrieve information from the OBD-II. Many of these scanners allow you to capture data while your car is running. After driving your car, you can then download this information to your computer for further analysis or replay what your engine did while you were driving. What these scanners can do varies on the price, but typically the first test users will run is scanning for codes. Scanning for codes means going through each of the subsystems of your car looking for an error code that might have been set. The scanners do not tell what to fix, but they typically narrow down significantly the areas where you should be looking.

Manufacturing also has its own OBD-II — and it is MTConnect.

MTConnect is an open and royalty-free standard for manufacturing that is connecting manufacturing equipment with applications by using proven Internet protocols. Think of MTConnect as the “Bluetooth for manufacturing”. With Bluetooth, both devices must speak Bluetooth for anything useful to happen. Just as simply having an OBD-II port on your car does not provide you with any more data unless you have an OBD-II scanner, the same “pairing” principle applies to MTConnect and software applications. You can have an MTConnect enabled machine tool or piece of manufacturing equipment, but without the software to read and analyze the data you do not have both sides of the equation.

The OBD-II scanner is really the application or the tool that you use to help you understand what is happening with your engine. In manufacturing, it is software applications, such as shop floor monitoring, that are the applications that speak to an MTConnect enabled piece of manufacturing equipment on the shop floor.

Sets of questions that I like to ask at the beginnings of my talks when I speak about MTConnect are the following:

1. Who here is doing lean manufacturing? Please raise your right hand and keep it up.
2. If you are doing shop floor monitoring, please raise your left hand.

I then tell the crowd, unless you have both hands up, you are not doing lean manufacturing. You might think you are doing lean or even have convinced yourself that you are doing lean, but unless you are first monitoring what happens on the shop or plant floor, you are just fooling yourself. As Lord Kelvin once said:

"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."

If you are an IMTS exhibitor, you should be educating your customers about MTConnect. The other important question to ask yourself is during the end of August when this article comes out is, “Am I doing everything I can to have the BEST IMTS EVER?” If you have not purchased the IMTS 2012 app from MTInsight.org, you are not giving yourself the true opportunity to achieve that. Remember what Peter Eelman, AMT Vice President-Exhibitions & Communications said: "MTInsight IMTS 2012 is the type of app that can pay for itself many times over — with just one extra sale. I would encourage all IMTS exhibitors to check out this app at MTInsight.org. We designed this app to help IMTS exhibitors have their best year ever at IMTS."

Also, don’t forget what Tom Snyder, AMT’s Exhibitions Sales Manager, thinks about this app for IMTS exhibitors. “I’ve been at AMT for 27 years and working with IMTS exhibitors for 22 years. I can think of no better investment for a successful IMTS than the MTInsight IMTS 2012 app.”

So, what can you do in the next six weeks to get into the 21st century of manufacturing? There are four key things you can do:

1. Come to IMTS 2012 and go to the Emerging Technology Center in the North Hall and stop by the MTConnect Software Applications area. Here you will see the following applications being demonstrated:
   • Efficiency
   • Utilization
   • Managing Your Shop/Plant From Anywhere
   • Shop Floor Monitoring
   • Sustainability
   There will be experts from a variety of companies and institutions discussing the business and technical benefits of these four different areas.
2. While you are at the ETC, pick up the MTConnect Institute’s [MC]2 2013 MTConnect Connecting Manufacturing Conference information sheet and register in the free [MC]2 2013 attendee raffle.
3. Go to the brand new MTConnectForum.com and join in all the conversations that are happening today about how companies and individuals are using MTConnect to save both time and money.
4. Walk over to the MTInsight Booth and get a demo. If you are an IMTS exhibitor and have NOT purchased the IMTS 2012, BUY IT! This will be the smartest thing you can do to get the maximum bang for your buck at IMTS. Go to MTInsight.org today to learn more!

As an IMTS exhibitor, tell your customers to tear down their stack lights, get MTConnect enabled and get into the 21st century! The only thing your customers have to lose is their old way of thinking and what they will likely gain is productivity in their shop or plant. Tell your customers to stop staring at their idiot lights, and get MTConnect enabled, so they will have the data to make intelligent decisions.

Finally, if you’re IMTS Exhibitor and you don’t have MTInsight’s IMTS 2012 app, you are making a huge mistake. Get it today at MTInsight.org

President Obama's National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII)

Obama Administration Announces New Public-Private Partnership to Support Manufacturing Innovation, Encourage Investment in America

As the release points out:

"Following through on our We Can’t Wait efforts, the Obama Administration today announced the launch of a new public-private institute for manufacturing innovation in Youngstown, Ohio as part of its ongoing efforts to help revitalize American manufacturing and encourage companies to invest in the United States.  This new partnership, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), was selected through a competitive process, led by the Department of Defense, to award an initial $30 million in federal funding, matched by $40 million from the winning consortium, which includes manufacturing firms, universities, community colleges, and non-profit organizations from the Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia ‘Tech Belt.'"

It is very cool that National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) won this!  Ralph Resnick, President of NCDMM and on the MTConnect Board of Directors is an amazing leader and it is a real honor to work with Ralph.  MTConnect is one of the 11 non-profits listed as supporters of this NAMII.

Romney's Tax Plan "Garbage"

Very interesting article by The Washington Post's Editorial Board titled:

Mr. Romney’s ‘garbage’

Below are two snippets from the article:

"Mr. Romney says that he can achieve this seemingly magical result by “broadening the base” for income tax collection. This, too, sounds great. In principle, everyone favors “broadening the base,” also known as closing loopholes. But everyone favors closing someone else’s loopholes: those of oil companies, say, or of plutocrats who park their money in the Cayman Islands. "

"Unfortunately, such inviting targets, to the extent they exist, don’t cost the government much in the overall scheme of things. The “loopholes” that cost most are deductions and other tax provisions that most Americans consider sensible, if not God-given, rights: tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, which according to the Congressional Budget Office will cost $2 trillion over the next 10 years; for pension and retirement savings ($1.8 trillion); for mortgage interest ($1.6 trillion) and charitable giving ($600 billion). Mr. Romney hasn’t said which of these he would trim or by how much."

Golfing at 1757 My Parents, TIm and Me

  Above is Tim, my youngest son, me and my father at 1757 Golf Course in Ashburn, VA.

Above is Tim, my mother and my father at 1757.   Tim and I lost 42 golf balls between in just 7  holes.

Mark Albert's Great Article on ITAMCO and Task Force Tips

MTConnect has no greater friend than Mark Albert, Editor-in-Chief at Modern Machine Shop Magazine.  Mark writes another great article titled:

MTConnect: Two Shops Share Their Experience

 

It is an excellent article that brings out many great examples of ITAMCO and Task Force Tips using MTConnect.  I really like how Mark brings out these common points:

"Here are some of the positive characteristics they have in common:

 

• A proactive, aggressive stance toward adopting new technology.

 

•  A commitment to participate in the development of new technology. (Both companies actively support the MTConnect Institute as members and working group participants.)

 

• The ability to imagine and create in-house their own uses and applications for emerging technology. (Having staff dedicated to promoting advanced technology is important.)

 

• The boldness to consider and develop applications that “get ahead” of the current version of MTConnect in anticipation of benefits to come.

 

• The openness to share lessons learned and advice with other users and potential users of this communication standard."

This article should be read by anyone considering MTConnect. 

Fantastic Taiwan - MTConnect Trip of a Lifetime!

I was asked to come to Taiwan Dr. Kao of the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (KUAS).  Words can not describe how great it was to be in Taiwan!   It was the absolute best I have ever been treated in my life!  It was an absolute honor to be there and have the chance to discuss MTConnect.  I can not thank Dr. Kao and Alan Wei, Manager of the Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC),  enough.  As you will see in the rest of this blog, there are many, many individuals who I am VERY THANKFUL to!

From the right to left is Dr. Kao of National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (KUAS), Benjamin B. C. Jan, General Manager of the Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC), Terry of PMC.  I am sorry that I do not remember who is behind us and my camera is not that great as well.  We had a fantastic dinner together.  It was a real honor to meet and have dinner with such important individuals.

The food was AMAZING in Taiwan.  I learned that the food is much better and much fresher in Taiwan versus the restaurants I have been to in the United States.

Above is my hotel, the Windsor Hotel in Taichung at night from the restaurant we went to above.  It was a very nice hotel.

Below is the first slide of my 71 slide presentation I gave on Thursday August 9th in Taiwan.  My presentation went a little over three hours.

Above is a slide that I like to use that shows the difference between MTConnect and proprietary protocols that puts the onus of what the data means on the application developers.  As I stated at the conference, the developer dies of old age wasting their time trying to figure how and what the proprietary data means.  The beauty of MTConnect is all the hard work that went into the data dictionary or MTConnect XML Schema Definition.  This makes life exponentially easier for software developers.

Below is a picture of me in front of the conference where I gave a seminar on MTConnect.

Above is a dinner we had at the Windsor Hotel at the Zhe Abalone Restaurant that was great.

Below is a picture of the speakers on the newspaper in Taiwan.

 

Above is the President of ECOCA - Shawn Sung.   I receive a private tour from Mr. Sung of his ECOCA factory. It was very impressive how much ECOCA has progressed since Mr. Sung took over.  I also received a tour of their demo area from ECOCA employees.

Above is the first slide of my hands-on lab in Taiwan.  I put together 145 slides for the hands on lab that started about 9:15 in the morning and we ended after 3pm.  

This is the class members - most of which had Ph.D.s  They were a fantastic class and it was my honor to share MTConnect with them.  During the break, Dr. Katie Mei asked me to write a 1,500 to 2,500 word article on MTConnect for the Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Magazine -- which I was honored to do.   I wrote a 2,349 word article, included some graphics and send it in this past Thursday to Dr. Mei.

Above is a photo of the drinks I had for the hands-on lab.  I had many types of tea, a coke and ice tea.  It was very nice to have such a wide choice of beverages.

 Above is Wyatt Wu and Joseph.  I created the fictional Wyatt and Joseph Software (WJS) company as the MTConnect Shop Floor Monitoring Company that was creating a business based on MTConnect and monitoring a shop floor.  Wyatt and Joseph were very kind in allowing me to create this company and even more kind in bringing me this photo at our dinner Saturday night!   I said that if they do create WJS, I want to have the opportunity to purchase stock in the company.

 Above is the agenda of the hands-on lab.  As you can see, we covered A LOT OF INFORMATION.   I would like to thank Will Sobel, President of System Insights and Chief Architect of MTConnect and John Turner, President of FA Consulting & Technology (FAC  & T), for their review and suggestions on my hands-on lab.  It was very much appreciated and really improved the lab.  I am very lucky to have the opportunity to learn from Will and John.

Above is Alan Wei, Manager of the Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC),  Alan was giving me a great tour of PMC.  I was really IMPRESSED with PMC!  The MTConnect Institute is looking forward to both PMC and KUAS joining MTConnect.  Alan was a great host!

Paul Warndorf, VP and Chief Manufacturing Technology Officer for AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, look forward to the discussions regarding a Memorandum Of Understanding between PMC and the MTConnect Institute with Alan Wei.   Below is a signature block with David  in Chinese, that Alan Wei gave to me on Saturday morning when he met me at the hotel to say goodbye.  Thanks Alan, very cool!

Below is an acoustic lab that PMC has for testing machine tools and other equipment.

Above is a YCM machine tool.

I was very impressed with the number and quality of machine tools at PMC as well as the labs below.

Above was a dinner we had Friday night after the MTConnect Hands-On Lab course.  Everyone was so friendly and so nice.  I am very lucky individual to have had the opportunity to go to Taiwan!

Alan Wei has an original Mini Cooper!  He let me sit in it which was very cool!  My wife has a Mini Cooper S convertible and I have always wanted to sit in an original Mini Cooper, so this was very cool for me!

Prior to going up in Taipei 101, Terry, Vienna and I had lunch at Din Tai Fung which had the amazing XiaoLongBao ever!  which was an AMAZING restaurant!   Above is me in front of artists image of Taiwan in the Taipei 101 building.

Above is me in front of Taipei 101 - the second tallest building in the world!

Above is photo from the 89th floor.  I went up in the world's fastest elevator according Guinness Book of World Records.

Below is a 360 degree photo of the National Palace Museum.

 Above is me in front of the National Palace Museum.

 Above is a temple in Taipei.

Above is Terry on the left and Kenny on the right.  Behind us is, on the left hand side, Vienna (Terry's girlfriend) and on the right behind us is Avien who is Kenny's girlfriend.  It was incredibly nice of all four of them to give up a good part of their weekend to take me around Taipei, have dinner with me and take me to the airport.  It was a real honor and privilege to meet them and spend time with them on that Saturday.

I received some very nice gifts as well including a small robot (above) that understands Chinese and speaks accordingly to what commands you say, a very nice chop stick, fork and spoon set as well as pineapple cake cookies I enjoyed and of course the signature block that Alan gave me!

Above is Kenny Chang dropping me off at the airport in Taipei.

Below is my summary slide which everyone seemed to like where I said that MTConnect was the answer to Easy-to _____  statements below and I put the MTConnect logo in the middle of the gateway image and said that "MTConnect is the key to all of those four key components that were the theme of the conference.

 
Taiwan was great and it was the best I have ever been treated in my entire life!  The MTConnect Institute is really looking forward to working closely with PMC and KUAS!

Tim Edstrom's Bass at The Jordan's

Tim and his good friends Kevin and Matt caught 35 bass at Jordan's pond in Fredericksburg on Thursday August 2nd.  Here is Tim with one of them:

Technology Tips for Grandparents

Technology Tips for Grandparents

Aug 8, 2012
Written for the August 8th, IMTS Insider

--Dave Edstrom

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article for the IMTS Insider called “Technology Tips For College Age Students”; today I am going to discuss the other end of the age spectrum. I am likely in the Guinness Book of World Records for mistakes I have made with technology purchases/recommendations for my parents. Perhaps there are some lessons learned here so you can avoid my many mistakes.

In 1975 I drove to George’s in Springfield, VA, looking for a stereo. George’s sold everything from audio equipment to air conditioners and everything in between. I went there looking for a simple stereo with turntable, 8-track, tuner and speakers. I walk in and see a sign, “Quadraphonic 8-Track”. The salesman, who was in his mid 60s, walked over and asked if I need any help. I said, “Do you think quadraphonic 8-tracks will catch on?” He answered, “Yes, I do son.” “When?” I asked. The salesman said, “When humans have four ears.” I thought about it for a second and said, “I’ll take it!” That quadraphonic 8-track is still working and is my parent’s game room 37 years later. They can listen to any of the three quadraphonic 8-tracks that are still there.

In the late 1990s I got a call from my parents asking, “should we switch from a Mac to a PC? We found one on sale.” I responded with a quick, “sure, go ahead”. That was a mistake of biblical proportions. My life went from no “support calls” to “I might as well have started my own call center for PC support.” Let me be clear, this is not a ding on the PC versus the Mac. It was more about introducing change. The Mac just worked and was intuitive back then, the PC was not at the same level of ease of use. My parents now have three PCs at their house.

The smartest thing I did was get a remote login program so I could simply login from a browser, see exactly what they are talking about and fix the problem. This saves me two hours in just travel time alone going to and from their house. I also setup an automatic backup program for them. I tried on numerous occasions to offer to pay for them to go to classes only to hear, “that’s why we have you.” The No. 1 thing you can do is get a remote login program so you see exactly what they are attempting to describe over the phone and then fix the problem.

Fast forward to 2012. I get a call from my father that my mother just purchased a 55” 3D LED TV with built-in wi-fi at the Base Exchange (BX) and they want to put it in their family room to replace the eight-year-old 36” standard definition TV. I would have rather received a call where he told me that I was adopted 53 years ago and both of my real parents are still in prison for crimes against humanity. What’s the big deal, right? I ask a series of questions:

• Question: Do you have an HD cable box? Answer: What? Do we need that?
• Question: Yes, you need an HD cable box. Can you go get one? Answer: I guess so, if we really need it.
• Question: Why did you purchase the 3D option? Answer: It sounded good and it was on sale.
• Question: Do you plan on buying or renting 3D movies? Answer: Probably not.
• Question: Did you buy 3D glasses? That TV requires powered 3D glasses you know. Answer: Do we need those?
• Question: Is it important that your TV is connected to the Internet? You got it with the wi-fi option. Answer: No, we don’t care about the Internet on our TV.
• Question: Most of what you watch are those old VHS tapes from the 1970s and 1980s, do you want to watch those on your new 55” LED TV? Answer: Of course David, that’s why we got the TV — to watch our old shows in HD.
• Question: You do know that watching a black & white version of the Andy Griffith Show that is on an old VHS tape will not automatically make it HD, right? Answer: What? That’s why we bought the TV.
• Question: Who told you that you could watch Andy in high def? Answer: The salesman at the BX.
• Question: Did it occur to you that maybe you could spend less money and not get all of those features you will never use? Answer: David, this was on sale at the BX and we saved $100!
• Question: Please tell me I am adopted? Answer: Oh David, when are you coming over here tonight to get this all working in HD for us?

Five hours later, they were watching Andy Griffith in 3D over Wi-Fi with no special glasses. OK, they watching Andy Griffith, but I was able to convince them that it was 3D and was coming over Wi-Fi and they were very pleased. I just hope they don’t demo it to anyone under the age of 78.

What are the lessons learned for technology with grandparents?

1. Ease of use is more important than any feature that will ever be invented.
2. Remote support by a family member should be by logging into their system to make the best use of everyone’s time.
3. Insist on training and refuse to talk to them until they get trained. It did not work for me, but you have to be much smarter than I am in sticking to your guns.
4. Write down everything they will need to do to switch from the VCR, the DVD player and any other device that you have connected up for them. Make a copy of that sheet, leave two with them and take one home with you.
5. Never ask why they made a purchase without consulting you. You will go insane asking them and yourself that question.
6. Try to find another family member, brother, sister, son, daughter or anyone else who will support them.
7. Pay for support.
8. Pay for installation
9. Only buy proven technology that is known for great support.
10. If you ever asked about a future technology purchase, always answer with, “that new technology is not nearly as good as what you have. Don’t get rid of what you currently have, it works just fine.”

Hope this helps. I just wish I was smart enough to follow most of my own advice.

In Taiwan at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences

 

I am very excited to be at the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences in Taiwan and meeting the leaders of the Department of Mechanical Engineering to give seminars on MTConnect, teach a 4 to 5 hour Hands-On MTConnect Lab at NKUAS and meet with a number of machine tool companies as well this week!

I was greeted by Wyatt Wu of the Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC) at the Taipei airport.  Wyatt was very gracious in taking me to my hotel room.  We went on the 300kmh Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) which was extremely impressive.  Thank you Wyatt!

Looking forward to meeting Dr. Yung-Chou Kao.  Dr. Kao is the Associate Professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences.  Dr. Kao has been my primary point of contact for this trip and I am greatly honored he invited me and the MTConnect Institute to Taiwan!

Sun's Star7 - The Beginning of Java

My oldest son John sent this to me.  Very cool.  I never saw James Gosling demo this before. Star7 or *7 was part of the Green Project and got it's nickname from the fact that you pressed the keys *7 to to bring up the menu of the device on screen.  It had a micro SPARC-II motherboard, some PCMCIA slots, infrared transceiver, speakers and touch screen.




Think about this.  This was 1992!  Why in the world do all of these tablet makers have patents for what Sun invented in terms of touch tablet UIs?   Because Sun was great at technology, but not so great at making money.   Hence, why the most innovative companies of all time got snapped up by Oracle for a song of $7.4 billion.   6,500+ patents AND Java AND SPARC AND 30,000 employees AND hundreds of thousands of very loyal Sun customers.   But I digress :-)