BURLINGTON, ON--(Marketwired - July 21, 2015) - Astrix Networks Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE), operating under the trade name Memex Automation, announces that it has officially changed its name to Memex Inc.
The
name change will be effective for trading purposes on the TSXV
commencing at the opening of trading on July 22, 2015. The common shares
of the company will continue to trade under the operating symbol "OEE"
following the name change. The existing share certificates issued under
the former name of Astrix Networks Inc. will continue to represent
common shares of the company under the new name, Memex Inc., and there
is no need for shareholders to exchange their share certificates.
However, if any shareholder wishes to exchange their share certificates
for new share certificates issued under the new name Memex Inc., they
can do so by contacting the company's transfer agent Computershare Trust
Company of Canada.
"Changing Astrix's name to Memex was
something that we had wanted to do for a while," says David McPhail,
President and CEO of Memex Inc. "Astrix has done business as Memex
Automation for years and we are well known for that. We felt that the
name 'Memex Automation' no longer fit quite right with the direction our
business has been going in so we wanted a fresh start. Sticking with
the Memex theme seemed only natural as most of our customers and
prospects know and refer to us as Memex."
"Brand awareness is
very important. With over 12,000 electronic circuits boards installed in
machines in various customer sites, all with the Memex name on it, we
know the service people see this and they call Memex," said John
Rattray, VP Sales & Marketing. "Our products and names must be
consistent."
Memex Inc.'s flagship software product, MERLIN, is
an industrial-strength shop floor communications platform that delivers
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in real-time. MERLIN
enables data-driven manufacturers to enhance productivity on any
machine, typically 10% to 50%, and increase profit from operations.
About Memex Inc.
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.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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Media Contacts
Memex Inc.
Leanne Rattray
Communications Specialist
Phone: 905-635-1540 ext. 103
Email: leanne.rattray@memex.ca
David McPhail
CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Email: david.mcphail@memex.ca
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Tesla's New "Ludicrous Mode" 0 to 60 in 2.8 Seconds
I read Ashlee Vance's book on Elon Musk, I have visited SpaceX and I test drove a Tesla Model S P85 a few years ago. I am a big Elon Musk fan. This new option of "Ludicrous Mode" 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds is absolutely amazing!
Below is snippet from an article by the Washington Post's Brian Fung:
"You may have heard about Tesla's "insane mode," which accelerates a sedan from 0 to 60 mph in a mindboggling 3.2 seconds. But Tesla is already moving ahead with something even better: A "ludicrous mode" that sends you from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.
Shaving off half a second may not sound like much. But the $10,000 option on the Model S shows off some of the advances in battery technology that Tesla is building into its newer cars. Under ludicrous speed, said Musk, the car will accelerate at 1.1 times the force of gravity.
"It's faster than falling," said Musk."
After I buy my 2016 Corvette Stingray in a couple of weeks, a fully loaded Tesla might have to replace my Nissan Quest :-)
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Important and Interesting Facts on the Vietnam Memorial Wall
My father, two tours of duty in Vietnam sent this to me and I thought it as extremely interesting.
Vietnam Memorial Wall
Things you may not have known or forgotten"The Wall "
A little history most people will never know.Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial WallThere are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.
The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each
date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.
The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by the
U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.8,283 were just 19 years old.
The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.
12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.
5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.
One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.
997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam ..
1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam ..
31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.
54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many
from one school?
8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.
244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.
Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.
West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians
on the Wall.
The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams
that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They
enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked
deer in the Apache National Forest. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining
families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service
began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends
and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They
lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to
Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on
Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less
than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl
Harbor Remembrance Day.
The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.
The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.
For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created.
To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces,
we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these
numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are
no noble wars, just noble warriors.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Nice Article on Mazak in Control Design for Machine Builders
Michael Bacidore, Chief Editor for Control Design for Machine Builders wrote a very nice article titled:
Mazak improves OEE with MTConnect
Below are some very interesting snippets from Mr. Bacidore's article:
"Mazak provides MTConnect solutions for standardizing device data on the manufacturing floor to its customers, said Rowland, who’s been with Mazak about 20 years. “We wanted to really know what was going on with our machines," he explained. "Our goal was to improve our OEE using the MTConnect technology. We wanted to see what stopped the machines on the production floor. We evaluated six monitoring software packages and selected Memex Automation. We wanted something simple that could monitor all of the NC signals and a reporting feature that was easy to use for the supervisors and operators, too.”
What kind of data can be monitored out of the Mazak CNC? Programs, CNC status, axis loads, spindle rpm, temperature, overrides. What kind of ROI can be expected? “Anywhere between 3% and 15%, depending on how efficient your operation currently is,” explained Rowland. In September 2013, Mazak implemented a test cell with 12 machines."
The Poor State of Computer Security in our Federal Government
When I was listening to an interview of Katherine Archuleta, director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, and she stumbled in her answer on whether or not the social security numbers were encrypted I was absolutely furious!
How in the hell can our social security numbers NOT be encrypted in 2015 - especially those individuals with clearances?
As CNN reported and I could not agree more with House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Chairman Chaffetz who said to Archuleta "you failed, you failed utterly and totally," when she would not say why the hacked data was not encrypted.
Here is a nice article by Andrea Peterson on the sorry shape of computer security titled:
It’s not just OPM: Cybersecurity across the federal government is pretty awful
Monday, June 29, 2015
ASME AM3D Question of the Month: What Innovations Will Propel Additive Manufacturing?
Dave Edstrom, Chief Technology Officer, Memex Automation
"The two most important technologies for the ubiquitous use of additive manufacturing in today's machine tools is the addition of tool changeable laser cladding heads, as demonstrated by Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, as well as MTConnect, the open and royalty-free manufacturing interconnectivity standard."Hybrid's technology allows for the perfect marriage of subtractive and additive technologies for existing machine tools. This new capability is a true game changer in manufacturing for a variety of reasons.
"First, the ability to take an existing subtractive machine tool and give it an additive tool opens up the ability to create parts that would have been impossible to create on a subtractive-only machine tool or an additive-only device. The world of refurbishing parts could be the best example—instead of throwing away the $25,000 damaged ship propeller, the damage parts are ground down, new material is added where needed, and finally the surface is finished without ever leaving the hybrid machine tool.
"MTConnect-enabled additive equipment will allow manufacturers to easily monitor their additive systems. MTConnect can be thought of as the "Bluetooth for manufacturing" that connects manufacturing devices to applications, such as shop-monitoring dashboards, which can easily show areas where productivity can be improved."
These speakers and many more additive manufacturing leaders will be sharing their perspectives on the future at the ASME Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Conference and Expo. Registration is open—see the current agenda and visit the registration page to get the best prices now.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
A GREAT Week - SCOTUS Got It Right
The Confederate flag came down and the gay pride flag went up. THANK GOD!
That SCOTUS got it right on Obamacare was also a great win for the American people. It's interesting that when ALL of the people against Obama Care are asked about specific characteristics of Obamacare, such as you cannot be kicked off or denied health insurance for a pre-existing condition, they are for it. When Mitt Romney's advisor was asked about Obamacare:
"In an interview with Capital, a New York-based online magazine, a key Mitt Romney adviser who helped craft the presidential contender’s controversial Massachusetts healthcare reform law called out his former boss for attempting to put distance between his own law and Obamacare — saying there was “zero difference” between the two.
“They’re the same f@cking bill,” Jonathan Gruber told Capital. “He just can’t have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it’s the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he’s just lying.
“The only big difference is he didn’t have to pay for his [in Massachusetts]. Because the federal government paid for it. Where at the federal level, we have to pay for it, so we have to raise taxes.”
When I hear Republicans complain about gay folks having the right to marry they are the wrong side of history. Period. Hard Stop. When I read that the Texas AG will allow the discrimination to continue:
"County clerks in Texas will be able to turn away gay couples seeking marriage licenses, the state's attorney general Ken Paxton (R) announced on Sunday.
Clerks can refuse based on religious objections, Paxton told the Austin American-Statesman, and because the clerks will probably be sued, "numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs," he said."IF this happens in Texas, I hope the US Attorney General throws all of these morons in jail INCLUDING Ken Paxton!
I used to be a Independent/Republican and I did not leave the Republican party, the Republican Party left me and millions of others. Change or die Republicans. You can't be the party of old white men that are AGAINST immigrants, healthcare for millions who could not get it, LGBT, non-Christians, scientists, ....
I have LOTS of friends who I greatly respect and like who happen to be Republicans, I just don't get why they can stay in party that is so incredibly backwards...
101 Miles Today - Most Non Seagull Century Miles in 15 Years
Julie was out of town this weekend with her school teacher friends in the mountains of West VA so this morning I decided to go for a bike ride. It was perfect day for a bike ride - party cloudy 63 to 72 degrees with no chance of rain. I said I would keep riding until something started to hurt. Nothing started to hurt. I finished at 5 and did 101 miles.
Here is the CycleMeter link that breaks down my ride.
I was at the 65 mile mark in Purcelleville, VA (the end of the W & OD) , so after having lunch at Subway, I went to Catoctin Creek Distillery and said, "since I am out there advertising your distillery on the W & OD trail, do I get a free shot or what?" The nice lady just smiled and said, "yes, you do - I think you earned it".
Below is the screen snapshot for CycleMeter. The speed of 0.42 was because I just walked it over and washed it before I put it in the garage. The last time I did a century that was not the Seagull Century in October was in 2000 when I went from George Washington's home in Mount Vernon through Old Town Alexandria, through DC out to Purcelleville, VA and back home to Ashburn. Today was not too shabby for a 56 year old dude...
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Pope Francis - Climate As A Common Good
Pope Francis continues to be my favorite Pope of all time. Of COURSE the Pope is right about climate change and he shows incredible courage to speak up. It is great to see the Catholic Church embrace science and maddening when I hear those idiots in the US Congress and on the news who deny climate change. That Senator James Inhofe is the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee and wrote a "book" called "The Greatest Hoax" in referring to global climate change shows just how bassackwards the United States is right now with its leadership in the Senate.
I thought it was worth sharing a section of the climate from the:
Climate as a common good
23. The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon. Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earth’s orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity. Concentrated in the atmosphere, these gases do not allow the warmth of the sun’s rays reflected by the earth to be dispersed in space. The problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes.
24. Warming has effects on the carbon cycle. It creates a vicious circle which aggravates the situation even more, affecting the availability of essential resources like drinking water, energy and agricultural production in warmer regions, and leading to the extinction of part of the planet’s biodiversity. The melting in the polar ice caps and in high altitude plains can lead to the dangerous release of methane gas, while the decomposition of frozen organic material can further increase the emission of carbon dioxide. Things are made worse by the loss of tropical forests which would otherwise help to mitigate climate change. Carbon dioxide pollution increases the acidification of the oceans and compromises the marine food chain. If present trends continue, this century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all of us. A rise in the sea level, for example, can create extremely serious situations, if we consider that a quarter of the world’s population lives on the coast or nearby, and that the majority of our megacities are situated in coastal areas.
25. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters, and their access to social services and protection is very limited. For example, changes in climate, to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead them to migrate; this in turn affects the livelihood of the poor, who are then forced to leave their homes, with great uncertainty for their future and that of their children. There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. Our lack of response to these tragedies involving our brothers and sisters points to the loss of that sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.
26. Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change. However, many of these symptoms indicate that such effects will continue to worsen if we continue with current models of production and consumption. There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy. Worldwide there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy. There is still a need to develop adequate storage technologies. Some countries have made considerable progress, although it is far from constituting a significant proportion. Investments have also been made in means of production and transportation which consume less energy and require fewer raw materials, as well as in methods of construction and renovating buildings which improve their energy efficiency. But these good practices are still far from widespread.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Selling My First Corvette - 1998 Corvette in GREAT Shape
SOLD!
I am selling my 1998 Corvette as I am ordering a new 2016 Corvette Stingray. I also have a 2011 Corvette Grand Sport and my lovely wife of almost 32 years tells me that three Corvettes is one too many. This is especially true since I travel three out of four weeks per month and when I am here I work out of my home office. I am barely putting a 1,000 miles per year on this GREAT car.
Below are some facts on the car:
- I purchased it from Carmax on October 8th, 2000.
- I am the second owner.
- It has always been garaged.
- I took it Tony's Corvette Shop for 15 years - I was religious about keeping this Corvette in great shape.
- I have all the paper work and everything I have done on the car.
- 81,408 miles
- Six speed manual transmission
- Loaded with many options including Magnetic Ride Control and clear removable top.
- Complete set of factory manuals, car cover, Corvette car mats, Corvette rear trunk cover, Corvette books, owners manuals, C5 flag, C5 metal sign
- Kenwood HD radio with CD
- In 2014 I took it in to Tony's and had $4,970.48 worth of work done on it:
- New alternator
- New water pump
- New thermostat
- New AC compressor
- New AC compressor seal kit
- New oil sender guage
- New sway bar links
- New driver side mirror
- New intake gasket
- New brake fluid
- New clutch fluid
- New rear fluid
- New dexcool
- New side yoke seal
- New starter fuse link
- Mobil 1 oil and filter change
- May 17th, 2015 I put in:
- New 770CCA battery with three complete 100% replacement warranty
- May 19th, 2015
- Mobil 1 oil and filter change
- May 13, 2010
- New starter
- October 27, 2005 Tony's Corvette Shop put on:
- Ceramic headers
- "X" pipe
- Corsa Indy Pace car exhaust with Pro-Series tips
- Callaway Honker Airbox
- RandomTech catalytic converter
- metal plate underneath to protect against heat from exhaust
- took hp from 345 to 407-430 (never dyno'd)
- Note that this car was taken once to a driving school at Summit Point in 2001 and never raced on the street. In other words, this car has been extremely well take care of!
I am asking $12,950.
Below are photos of my 1998 Corvette.
Dave McPhail's Great Article in Aerospace Manufacturing and Design
Dave McPhail, President and CEO of Memex Automation wrote a nice article title:
"Machine monitoring enables manufacturing profits and productivity to take off"
in
"MERLIN customers typically increase machine utilization from 10% to 50%. Plants using MERLIN are able to improve output by more than 10% and related income from operations by as much as 60%. MERLIN connects machines across the plant using the MTConnect open, royalty-free interoperability standard as well as other protocols such as Fanuc Focas and OPC.
Rather than offering custom services installation for every client, Memex Automation’s M2M packaged toolkit relies on MTConnect-based hardware and software that do not require programming or setting up of PLCs. The MES leverages the company’s existing investment in plant, equipment, and enterprise software."
The article uses one of Memex Automation's customers to quantify the benefits of Memex:
Magellan Aerospace
With more than 60 years of experience in producing components for supersonic jet fighter aircraft from its plant in Kitchener, Ontario, Magellan Areospace Corp. was faced with a machine information puzzle when three machines, engineered to meet contracted volumes, appeared insufficient. The Magellan team used MERLIN to uncover the root causes of machine stoppages and other performance issues.
“Downtime events were reduced from 400 hours per month to 100 hours, which is a net increase in machining capacity of 100 hours per month per machine,” says Magellan continuous improvement coordinator Jonathan Ung. “We captured real savings of over $30,000 per month against an initial price of $20,000 for MERLIN.”
Ung adds that on one machine, “We were able to more than double machining time. It was so much of a gain that it was surreal at first, with experienced operators very surprised to see the results.”
After implementing corrective actions identified by MERLIN, Ung’s plant reached a sustained overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of 85%+ from 36%.
Ung explains that 85%+ is considered world class, and “there was surprise among our team and customers that we reached that number so quickly. It also swayed everyone to believe that MERLIN provided a very effective solution.”
Ung next wants to tie into his plant’s CINCOM enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to track shop orders, labor booking, and labor hours; add MTConnect to make it easier for MERLIN to get and read data; and add a DNC solution that will allow operators to remotely and simultaneously upload and download multiple CNCs and files.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
LA to San Francisco Memex Trip
David McPhail, President and CEO for Memex Automation and I spent a week in CA going from LA to San Francisco meeting with eight customers and prospects in a VERY successful trip. Here are some photos along the way. No, I am not tipping my hat to the competition on which customers we met with :-)
Below are three photos of Redondo Beach where we started off.
Sunday night I had dinner with my cousin Daniel, his wife and two kids. They have a great family and live in an amazing location - I really appreciate that they took time out of their schedule to have dinner with me.
Below is a photo of the Dodge Challenger SRT Hemi that I rented for David and me. It was fun, but I wish it would have been the 707hp Dodge Challenger Hellcat version instead :-)
Above is SpaceX HQ which is next to Tesla's engineering HQ as well. We had a great meeting there and received a fantastic personal tour as well. Below is David and me in front of SpaceX.
After David and I finished our trip, I went to Palo Alto and University Avenue to walk around before I had dinner with my son and daughter in law. I thought, I am going to drive by the famous HP garage. I had NO idea that it was just 4/10 of a mile from University Avenue, so I decided to take a walk. It was VERY cool!
Above is the plaque and below is the actual garage where it all started.
Below is me in front of the HP house and plaque in Palo Alto in typical beautiful day in CA.
I finished up the trip having dinner with my son and daughter in law in San Francisco - six hotels in in six cities - a personal record.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
