Manufacturing Cyber-Physical Security Presentation at [MC]2 2016

This past week was the fifth [MC]2 (MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference). 

I gave a talk with Cisco's Bryce Barnes, Senior Manager responsible for Cisco's Machine and Robot Segment globally (on the left), on Manufacturing Cyber-Physical Security held in Dallas.

It was very well received, which was very nice to hear as Bryce and I put a lot of time into the presentation.  We start with an overview with definitions and left the audience with specific recommendations for small, medium and large manufacturing to take in the area Cyber-Physical Security.

Below is the agenda and a few early slides to give you the flavor of the presentation.  I will update this blog post and will post a link to the [MC]2 2016 site with the recordings are placed there.

Introduction of MEMEX's MERLIN OPTime - The World's First FREE COMMERCIAL Quality MTConnect Monitor!

This is a big, big deal in the world of MTConnect and manufacturing!

You can learn more about OPTime at Memex AND get the FREE download!

MEMEX Launches MERLIN OPTime -- a FREE Real-Time Dashboard for Manufacturing Analytics

BURLINGTON, ON--(Marketwired - Apr 26, 2016) - MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) announces the launch of MERLIN OPTime, a free Real-Time dashboard application for MTConnect® enabled devices. Connecting MERLIN OPTime to MTConnect® enabled machines on the shop floor will allow manufacturers to receive Real-Time manufacturing analytics on an informative, dynamic dashboard. With OEE becoming more critical, MERLIN OPTime offers manufacturers an opportunity to take their first step towards IIoT and smart manufacturing, seeding the market and subsequently driving demand for more feature rich paid versions of MERLIN, all in due course.

MERLIN OPTime is easy to install and use software that reads MTConnect® tags along with offering users the capability to add and display multiple devices/agents, and configure an event to reflect if a machine is running or not. The information rich dashboard also empowers users to assess machine utilization on an 8-hour rolling trend chart that can be viewed on any device such as a smartphone. MERLIN OPTime allows users to:

• Assess Machine State: Provides dynamic color feedback on machines uptime and downtime states.
• Measure Machine Utilization: Enables both current and trend machine utilization.
• Identify Bottlenecks: Enables users the ability to quickly identify machine problems and potential bottlenecks by providing the current state of MTConnect® enabled devices.
• Recognize Optimization Opportunities: Analysis of the utilization trends provide an objective comparison of operation time which can bring to light optimization opportunities that exist to boost productivity.

"With MERLIN OPTime, users can experience the potential of data-driven manufacturing with no initial monetary investment," said Dave Edstrom, CTO at MEMEX Inc., "I believe MERLIN OPTime will dramatically shorten the time that manufacturers will spend learning to appreciate the importance of Real-Time shop-floor information, as well as the tremendous benefits of MTConnect® -- the interconnectivity standard."
About MEMEX
MEMEX Inc., the developer of MERLIN, an award winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real-Time, is the global leader in machine to machine connectivity solutions. Committed to its mission of "Successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future" and encouraged by the rapid adoption and success of MERLIN, MEMEX is relentlessly pursuing the development of increasingly innovative solutions suitable in the IIoT era. MEMEX envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate network, thereby, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX, with its deep commitment towards machine connectivity, offers solutions that are focused on finding hidden capacity by measuring and managing Real-Time data. This empowers MEMEX's customers to effectively quantify and manage OEE, reduce costs and incorporate strategies for continuous lean improvement.

Contact Information

Media Contact:
David McPhail
CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Email: Email Contact

Rashi Rathore
Communication Coordinator
Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103
Email: Email Contact

 

Nine year anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech

Today is the nine year anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families, relatives and friends of those who lost their lives on April 16th, 2007 in this senseless tragedy.....

The picture below was on the Collegiate Times in 2007 at VT:

 

There is a permanent memorial at VT. The Collegiate Times has a nice article describing the memorial.

My memories of last April 16th started with a phone call from my wife. Julie called and said, "just wanted to let you know that John is fine." At the time I was on my SunRay reading email while on a con call when she called my cellphone. She never calls me during theday since she is a school teacher. "Why would John not be be fine?" I asked. She asked me if I was watching TV or listening to the news. Of course I was not watching TV or listening to the news. She explained what was going on. I immediately interrupted the Sun folks on the con call and quickly said, "I had to get off the call, there was a shooting at my son's school."

It was then that I turned on the TV and was shocked to see the peaceful and beautiful VT campus on the news. I started getting emails, phone calls from literally around the world checking on John. You sometimes forget in casual conversation that you mentioned something about your kids that your friends and colleagues remember. Every time a call came, I paused the DVR. I was getting the current updates from friend, colleagues\s and family all around the world via email and non stop phone calls. As the numbers kept rising, it became more and more surreal.

 My son John was working for the Collegiate Times during his freshman year.  He put together a very nice week long history of events starting on April 16th through April 23rd that shows what happened each day.

I can not imagine the horror the students and faculty must have felt. There was an article in the post today by Nick Miroff, titled, "A Year Later, Virginia Tech Is Still Healing" is a well written article worth reading. As Miroff points out:

"Virginia Tech students have learned to talk about it in shorthand, if they talk about it at all. This Story

• A Year Later, Va. Tech Is Still Healing
•  Special Report: Va. Tech Shootings 
•  Essay: In Blacksburg, An ER Physician Still Tries to Heal
•  Blog: Va. Tech Students Remember  
•  VT: One Year Later - Living With Cho

They do not use the words massacre, or

shootings, or rampage. They call it "April

 16th," and sometimes not even that. To
 say "four-sixteen" is enough. Everyone
 knows." 

I have been back to VT many times since April 16th, 2007 both as a parent and working for Sun Microsystems where I have given talks and brought down Sun's thought leaders to speak at VT's ACM where my son John is President.  Each time, the first thing I do is visit the memorial

          Governor Kaine has did a good job demanding there was the VT Task Force.  Governor Kaine stated:

"On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech University suffered a terrible tragedy. Today, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and the entire Virginia Tech community.

"In the year that has passed since that horrible day, we have grieved for those we lost and prayed for the comfort of their loved ones. We have rejoiced in the recovery of those who were injured. We have been inspired by the unfaltering hope and Hokie spirit of Virginia Tech. And we have renewed our commitment to do even more to learn lessons from that day and to make our campuses and communities safer.

"As I think about the victims' families, I am at a loss for words to express what is in my heart. The courage and strength they have shown in the face of such tremendous, tragic loss is awe-inspiring. We have been inspired by the resilient Hokie spirit of Virginia Tech, both in Blacksburg and around the world. Since that tragic day last April, the unshakeable sense of unity and hope demonstrated by the Hokies has touched the lives of people around the world. Their focus on pulling together to support their school and each other in the days after the shooting, and their commitment to public service through the VT Engage program in the months that followed has moved us all.

"We still have work to do. A continued commitment to improvement is the best tribute we can pay to those who lost so much. And as we move forward, we will continue to be inspired by those in the Hokie Nation."

VT seems to have made the right changes. The VT Task Force seemed to not pull any punches when it came to how the University should have dealt with the events on the morning of April 16th, 2007. As the AP reported and I FULLY AGREE with Governor Kaine about purchasing firearms at gun shows. Virginia needs to get its act together.  This loophole is INSANE!

"Gov. Timothy M. Kaine proposed mandated background checks yesterday for everyone who attempts to purchase firearms at gun shows - legislation that he called critical to helping prevent future tragedies like the shootings at Virginia Tech. Many families of those killed or injured in the April shootings have called on legislators to close Virginia’s so-called gun show loophole, which allows people to purchase firearms from unlicensed sellers at gun shows without having to submit to background checks. Under current Virginia law, only licensed dealers are required to run background checks on customers.
“If by doing this, we can keep one family from having to go through what these families have suffered, it will be the best thing that the legislature will do this year,” Kaine said at Virginia State Police headquarters, surrounded by several of the victims’ families."

VA continues to be a backward state and allows the gun show loophole.   I also called into the Kojo Nnamdi Show when he had an anniversary show on the VT shooting.   If you go to the 11:52 mark, you can hear my statements and question that goes until the 13:14 mark.

 

"Courage is the first of human qualities because it
is the quality which guarantees all others."

Winston Churchill

The tragedy at Virginia Tech is still heart wrenching. As a parent of a VT freshman, it is still hard to comprehend the magnitude of this tragedy. There
were many heroes on VT's Campus on April 16th, 2007. Many
are well documented in the press.

There are five individuals who were behind the scenes
that are absolute heroes in my mind. Those five heroes are
the individuals who run online Collegiate Times which is
VT's main online paper and kept the world informed on the
latest breaking news coming out of VT on this senseless
tragedy. These five individuals were literally working
around the clock, giving up sleep to keep their fellow
students, parents, family, friends, faculty and the rest of
the world informed.

These five unsung heroes all have the "first of human
qualities" - courage. It would have been perfectly
understandable if these five individuals would have given
up when their servers went down. But they did not. They
had the courage to literally work around the clock to get
the server back up *and* keep the rest of the world
informed of the latest updates to one of the most of
horrific days in the history of our country. The five
individuals are:


Chris Ritter, Online Director
Tim Tutt, Web Developer
John Edstrom, Associate Web Developer
Gabriel Martinez, Associate Web Designer
Collin Smith, Multimedia Editor

One of the many amazing statistics is that the
Collegiate Times received up to 53 million hits by
early afternoon on Monday April 16th.

Wikipedia has a nice history of the Collegiate Times with the
picture that appeared on the Collegiate Times April 17th, 2007,
edition titled "Heartache."




Below are just some of quotes on the fantastic work that
these five unsung heroes did under
tremendous pressure.

The OnLine Newshour on PBS

"The Internet became a prime place for people to
get the news out of Blacksburg. The college
newspaper, the Collegiate Times, scooped the major
media, getting the story online, right after the
first shot rang out, and staying on it non-stop
ever since.

The 104-year-old paper received up to 53 million
hits by early Monday afternoon, forcing the site
down for a time. It also listed some of the dead
early Tuesday morning, prompting the New York Times
Web site and other news outlets to link to the
Collegiate Times."
The Shield - University of Southern Indiana Student Newspaper
"The information on the Web site is remarkable.
Besides the list of confirmed deceased, the site
provides a graphic map of the shootings, a photo
gallery, personal accounts and interviews and
related stories ranging from emerging donation
details to the impact on the nearest hospital. The
staff has handled the facts correctly, but not
without compassion, which is a difficult task.

The Collegiate Times editorial says, "When
considering the number of deceased victims, 32 is
devastating, but those lives are not just a number,
each one is a member of our community." Journalism
cannot be disregarded due to a personal tragedy,
since citizens rely on journalists for information.
Such journalists must remember, however, that
although horrific tragedies stir media attention as
sensational, there is nothing sensational about
human suffering and coverage must be conducted
tastefully.

Well done Collegiate Times staff.

To those that believe campus newspapers are a waste
of time and funding, let this tragedy serve the
purpose of proving the necessity of campus
newspapers nationwide."Chronicle of Higher Education

"National Public Radio is among news organizations
that have profiled and praised Virginia Tech
student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, which has
become a crucial source of information for other
reporters covering Monday's events.

The papers online edition, said NPR's Larry
Abramson, has grabbed international attention
indeed, on Tuesday The New York Timess home page
linked to the student publications list of
confirmed victims of the shooter. Mr. Abramson
also pointed out that Collegiate Times staff
members know how to mine Facebook for information
inaccessible to many older reporters who are
unfamiliar with the social-networking site." -WGHP Fox TV VIDEO:


"The team at The Collegiate Times, the campus
newspaper, will remain. So far, they have been
setting the pace for all journalists"Middlebury Campus


"The face of a crisis, the writers, photographers
and editors of Virginia Tech's student daily, The
Collegiate Times, transcended their roles as
college journalists to not only inform their
community, but to inform the world. With many local
news sources shut out, only limited comments coming
from Virginia Tech officials and an entire campus
on lock-down, the importance of these students'
work was heightened to an extreme. The written,
photographic and video posts to The Times website
throughout the day were among the most vivid and
honest portraits of the campus available. Working
from computers outside of their offices, the
students held nothing back, and produced a raw,
emotional narrative of the tragedy. Their reporting
was effective, critical and in every sense, brave."

Editor and Publisher


"While the editors of the student newspaper went
about their work with inspiring leadership,
internal communications by Virginia Tech
administrators showed the University was less than
fully prepared. As more and more details about the
sequence of events have been released, it has
become clear that administrators did not notify the
entire campus or order a full lockdown until more
than two hours after the first round of shooting
began. Whether or not any of the deaths in the
second round of shooting could have been avoided,
we should realize the need for all institutions to
prepare for the unimaginable. And in the face of
this shooting, college administrators everywhere
should recognize the need to share information with
their communities quickly and clearly, even as the
full extent of a crisis may remain unknown."


"The college paper at Virginia Polytechnical
Institute kept a running account of the tragedy
that struck the campus today, with more than 30
students gunned down in at least two areas of the
campus, a dorm and a classroom. The shooter is
allegedly dead as well, but not identified. It is
not known if he was a student ...

Here is how the student-run Collegiate Times
reported it, blog-style, with the most recent
posting first. A full article is now posted there,
which includes the note that police "are also
investigating if it has any relation to the recent
bomb threats on Tech's campus."

Seattle Post Intelligencer


"For unique reporting on the massacre read the
Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's student-run
newspaper."University Daily Kansan

"While news organizations like CNN have done a
thorough job in covering Monday's events, I'd like
to point the readers of kansan.com to Virginia
Tech's student newspaper, the Collegiate Times.
After overcoming early technical difficulty when
the news initially broke, they've done what I feel
is an admirable job as the student voice of the
Virginia Tech community.

In the process of learning about these tragic
events, be sure to not overlook the students
themselves. http://www.collegiatetimes.com"WRAL

"I found a couple sites with unique angles on this
story. One of the most interesting is The
Collegiate Times, which is VT's student newspaper.
Their staff apparently first reported this shooting
this morning. The server is overwhelmed right now,
but it will be interesting to check their coverage
in the days and weeks ahead."Forbes

"Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech provided a
grim, real-time stress test for the effectiveness
of Web 2.0 technologies. And on Monday, all of them
seemed to work: Information flew through text
messages, blog posts, Web sites, online videos and
social networking sites.

The Internet reacted to the event immediately--and
more quickly than Virginia Tech administrators, who
took two hours to warn students, via e-mail, about
a first shooting. The Web site of VT's student
newspaper, the Collegiate Times, crashed when
students flooded it after the first shooting. As a
replacement, students created a low-tech blog,
CollegeMedia.com.
It posted the first entry about the event at 9:47 a.m.,
minutes before the second shooting began."
Yahoo News

"The student newspaper, the Collegiate Times,
regularly updated its website proving to be a
valuable resource for the campus as well as the
national media."Daily Californian


"And as this happened, students at the Collegiate
Times, the Virginia Tech student newspaper, were
able to live-blog the days events. The Web site
began the day with a post at 9:47 a.m. EST,
reporting Shots were fired on campus and
provided continuing updates throughout the day. The
entries of the papers staff provide an
illuminating window into the fear and questioning
that doubtless gripped the campus in those
uncertain hours."


"The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's campus newspaper,
was the first media outlet to break the story Monday with
on-line reports of shots fired on campus."Manhattan Mercury

"No amount of on-the-job experience or education
could have prepared Kelly Furnas for what he's
faced this week in his capacity as an editorial
advisor to the campus newspaper at grief-stricken
Virginia Tech University.

.....

To be honest its been pretty much non-stop working
with the student newspaper I have not had time on a
personal level to sit down and digest everything
yet," Furnas said.

The Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech's campus
newspaper, was the first media outlet to break the
story Monday with on-line reports of shots fired on
campus.

"I can't put into words how proud I am of our
students," Furnas said. "They have provided
desperately needed information to their readers,
and they have done that with gusto. I think the
campus newspaper's reputation with the students
here has helped a lot."

The Age (Australia)

"'The school's student newspaper, The Collegiate
Times, filed up-to-the-minute online dispatches. At
4.44pm: "Police have confirmed that the shooter
took his own life." At 4.54pm: "University
Relations has confirmed 31 deaths at Norris Hall,
in addition to two deaths at West Ambler Johnson."Gulf Times

The Collegiate Times (its server quickly crashed
and a blog written by editors with messages from
students appeared instead on the web site of the
newspapers owning company), as well as to media
outlets around the world, including CNN and the
BBC. Regardless of where the contributions are
aimed, the back and forth on facebook.com and other
social networking sites are equally an instant and
new resource for news producers and reporters


NPR


"As reporters from around the world descend on
Blacksburg, Va., one publication stands out:
Virginia Tech's student newspaper, Collegiate
Times, is doing a truly remarkable job of covering
the story."

About 15 staff members were rushing to update the
site about every 15 minutes with news of the
convocation, shooting investigation and candlelight
vigil plans.

"We're getting like 10 billion phone calls,
everyone from Al Jazeera to tiny radio stations in
Iowa," Kendall said.LA Times


"The paper's scoops included eyewitness accounts of
the shootings, interviews with a classmate of the
shooter and a list of victims' names that was
posted late Tuesday. A reporter was one of the
first to question administrators about why they
didn't warn students during the two hours between
the two shootings Monday morning."
Poyneronline

"The Web staff for Virginia Tech's student
newspaper, The Collegiate Times, was also
scrambling for solutions after its servers crashed
around 10:30 a.m. the day of the shootings.
Online editor Chris Ritter's main goal was to get
the site back to its original state -- a large,
graphical and Flash-intensive homepage. When that
couldn't happen, Ritter and his staff opted for a
simple text page with blue background -- to ensure
they could communicate information quickly to
users. After that page continued to overload its
own server, The Collegiate Times tech adviser,
Scott Chandler, suggested that the staff use the
College Media server, the parent company which
hosts the publication's site.

Once the site stabilized on the additional server,
The Collegiate Times began posting photos and
videos to a third server usually reserved for
design research and development. To prevent
crashing again, a Virginia Tech server is now
hosting videos and photos for the site.

Monday night The Collegiate Times staff redesigned
its homepage from scratch to have a Web site that
was "intuitive and a graphically pleasing display"
of its special content for the shootings. The
Collegiate Times began creating breaking-news
multimedia when escaped convict William Morva shot
two police officers at Virginia Tech on the first
day of school last August.

Since then, Ritter said users are looking at the
Web for information more than ever before, and the
staff has adopted a Web-first attitude change."
Roanoke Times on CT:
Coping Through Journalism Video
 

Hopefully the healing will continue for those directly affected...

McMaster Manufacturing Expert Panel

I was honored again this year to sit on the McMaster Manufacturing Expert Panel at the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute.

A huge thank you to Dr. Stephen Veldhuis and Dr. Spence who both always do a great job with this yearly event in April.  Thanks for inviting me to be on the Expert Panel and Memex to participate in the open house!

Here is my presentation titled, "The Two Things You Need To Know".

Donald Trump's Wall - Scientifically Quantifed by John Oliver

I have not commented on Donald Trump because I would not have time to sleep, eat, drink or work if I did comment on every dumb a$$ thing he says.

Below is classic John Oliver doing a deep dive into the specifics of trying to build a wall.  John Oliver has more than filled Jon Stewart's shoes because he takes the time to take a scientific approach to these idiotic statements that Trump and others will make.

Enjoy :-)

God Bless Dr. Dave Dornfeld of University of California at Berkeley

I received a very sad email early this past week regarding Dr. Dave Dornfeld of UCB, who was a true thought leader in Mechanical Engineering, a great guy and a huge advocate of MTConnect.  I was at his lab at UCB a number of times for MTConnect meetings over the years.  It was always a tremendous pleasure working with Dave. I sent an email to Dave the morning of his unfortunate death.

Below is the email I received from UCB on Dave's very tragic death:

"We learned today that mechanical engineering professor David Dornfeld, a dear friend to many of us and a true citizen of the College of Engineering community, died on Sunday, March 27 of a heart attack. This news has been sudden and unexpected, leaving us with a profound sense of loss.

 In a long career of service to Berkeley, Dave was most recently faculty director of the College’s new Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, where he was instrumental in launching the Institute’s educational programs. A faculty member in our Department of Mechanical Engineering since 1977, Dave served as chair of the department from 2010 to 2015. During that time, he led Berkeley’s participation in the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, a national effort that brought together universities, industry and the federal government to boost investment in manufacturing technologies and best practices.

We remember Dave as an advocate for our students and as a powerful force for good. We owe him a great debt for leading worldwide efforts to advance the emerging fields of sustainable manufacturing and cyber-manufacturing. In the 1980s and 1990s, he nurtured the College’s Robotics, Automation and Manufacturing Program (RAMP); led the College’s Interdisciplinary Studies program as Associate Dean; and directed the Engineering Systems Research Center (ESRC). Dave’s leadership on all these fronts was marked by common sense, humility and, often, well-timed moments of good humor.

 A globally recognized authority in green manufacturing, Dave led Berkeley’s Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability and the Sustainable Manufacturing Partnership. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), receiving ASME’s Ennor Award in 2010. He was named vice president of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) in August 2015. Other honors include the Fredrick W. Taylor Research Medal, the Takagi Prize and the Charles F. Carter Advancing Manufacturing Award. Here in the College, he held the Will C. Hall Family Professorship.

Dave mentored many generations of students who now hold positions of leadership in academia, industry and policy. We will miss him dearly, but we know his legacy will be lasting."

One of my favorite memories was sitting with Dave at a conference almost six years ago:

Dave made a very interesting statement regarding slicing through the data of any presentation.   What Dave basically said was, "anytime you see 40% in a presentation you should be suspect.  The presenter likely did not want to put in 50% because it would be viewed too high and 30% would be viewed as not being significant."

I got a real chuckle out of that and said to Dave, "I think we need to call that "Dornfeld's Law".

To officially state Dornfeld's Law (until Dave corrects me :-)  

 "The statistical veracity of any presentation can be quickly determined by examining both the frequency and relative contextual importance of the number 40% in the presenters representation of supporting data."

I blogged when Dave received this tremendous honor from AMT:

Dr. David Dornfeld, Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability at UC Berkeley, has received the Association of Manufacturing Technology's Charles F. Carter Jr. Advancing Manufacturing Award. Dr. Dornfeld is specifically recognized for his research toward advancing the understanding of burr formation and prevention, sustainable manufacturing, micro-machining, precision manufacturing and chemical-mechanical planarization.

Dave wrote a white paper on "Drinking From A Fire Hose", that I blogged about as well.

I also really appreciated it that Dave would mention my book as he did in this article on Green Manufacturing.

God Bless Dave Dornfeld. He was a great, great man and will be sorely missed by all of those many lives that he touched.....

Best of Luck Wally Cassell of Memex

Best of luck to Wally Cassell (far right).  I am standing next to Wally, to my right is Jeremy and on the far left in the photo is Doug.  We would go out and shoot some pool and whoever was on Wally's team would usually win.  We were at Boston Manor in Burlington shooting pool.

Wally is a brilliant engineer and just a hell of a good guy!  He will be greatly missed and I wish him all the best!

                  

                             

Congrats to Whit and Marty Hellman - Turing Award

Congratulations to Whit Diffie, former Sun Fellow and Marty Hellman for this HUGE honor!

I had the great fortune to speak with and see Whit present on many occasions and it was always a true pleasure.  Whit would always make everyone think when he spoke or wrote. What Whit and Marty came up with was absolute pure genius and is the basis of the most important aspects of computing and electronic commerce today.

As stated in the Merced Sun-Star By BREE FOWLER AP Technology Writer:
 

"This year's $1 million A.M. Turing Award goes to a pair of cryptographers whose ideas helped make the Internet possible. Both men say giving governments control over encrypted communications puts everyone at risk.

Whitfield Diffie, a former chief security officer of Sun Microsystems, and Martin Hellman, a professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Stanford University, introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures back in 1976. The concepts now secure all kinds of data, from online communications and financial transactions to Internet-connected infrastructure like power plants."

The article goes on to state:

"Their award, from the Association for Computing Machinery and mostly funded by Google Inc., is named for British mathematician Alan Turing, and is one of the most prestigious prizes in computing. Past recipients have included Douglas Englebart, who developed the mouse and other computing technologies, and Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, who developed the key communications protocol behind the Internet."

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/business/article63335142.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/business/article63335142.html#storylink=cpyTheir award, from the Association for Computing Machinery and mostly funded by Google Inc., is named for British mathematician Alan Turing, and is one of the most prestigious prizes in computing. Past recipients have included Douglas Englebart, who developed the mouse and other computing technologies, and Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, who developed the key communications protocol behind the Internet.

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/business/article63335142.html#storylink=cpy

World Debut Video of New C7 2017 Corvette Grand Sport

Never Thought I Would Say This -- Fox News Did A GREAT Job on the Debate

I watched on YouTube most of the Republican Debate last night and Fox News did a GREAT job.  They did the absolute best of any of the news channels by putting the facts on the screen as well as using videos to really hold these candidates to their own words (especially Trump).

Great 13 Minute Video on FBI vs. Apple Encryption

This does a great job laying out the entire FBI vs. Apple encryption issue:

Michael Moore's New Movie - Where To Invade Next

This movie is not what you think it is when you read the title.  It is absolutely worth seeing and is about ideas that came out of the United States and were embraced by other countries that we should take back.

Antonin Scalia Making Americans Less Tolerant Article By Jeffrey Toobin

Jeffrey Toobin starts off his article in the New Yorker with:

"Antonin Scalia, who died this month, after nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy. Fortunately, he mostly failed."

Toobin goes on to say:

"His revulsion toward homosexuality, a touchstone of his world view, appeared straight out of his sheltered, nineteen-forties boyhood. When, in 2003, the Court ruled that gay people could no longer be thrown in prison for having consensual sex, Scalia dissented, and wrote, “Today’s opinion is the product of a Court, which is the product of a law-profession culture, that has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda, by which I mean the agenda promoted by some homosexual activists directed at eliminating the moral opprobrium that has traditionally attached to homosexual conduct.” He went on, “Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarders in their home. They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a life style that they believe to be immoral and destructive.”

We need an open minded justice to take Scalia's spot on the court....

Manufacturing--> Burn Your Clip-Boards

Burn the clip-boards and start capturing real-time OEE in 2016.  View this email in your browser Haven't burned your clip-boards yet? Better read this How the lack of real-time data cost 2,080 hours/year Email Sales Consider this example: What if this seemingly random event occurs twice on each shift in a 3 shift 24 hour operation, and its total duration is 150 seconds across 32 of 40 machines in the plant each shift.  That plant loses 8 hours of production, 40 hours per week, for a total of 2,080 hours per year. Tom Goike, MEMEX's Director of Manufacturing Excellence, encountered this situation while trying to improve productivity in a company that introduced the use of Day by Hour charts for manual data collection. Break and lunch were considered planned downtime with no operator input required.  During a Kazien event the plant management team noted that the operators left their work stations approximately 2 to 3 minutes before lunch and break. Through interviewing and reviewing the causes they found the company didn’t provide enough microwaves for employees to heat their lunches, and felt the need to get a head start to access the scarce appliances. If real-time data collection with the MERLIN communications platform were in place, a supervisor would have been able to review data hourly or daily and unfiltered by those who input the data into clipboard and spreadsheets. The supervisor would have instantly detected the underutilization of plant equipment just ahead of lunch breaks, uncovered the issue, and addressed the loss with the purchase of a few low-cost appliances.  With subjectively collected manual data, a few minutes lost due to something seemingly random and obscure most likely will not make the clipboard. With real-time data collection, machine utilization is collected automatically and processed into readable and actionable reports instantly available on the device of choice to those who can make a difference. Real-time data collection delivers truly objective data, allowing all employees the opportunity to stop loss before it becomes unrecoverable. As a manager, imagine being able to know minute by minute or hour by hour if you will meet your daily requirements. And not just know that, but have the ability to change the course of the day based on real-time, accurate, actionable data. IIoT software that employs the MTConnect manufacturing communications standard capture data as it occurs from each machine and operator and provides an accurate picture of the health of any given process. If the software is called MERLIN it also offers the ability to connect machines and related assets of any make or origin and report on Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Then, lean becomes a culture of accuracy and accountability based on real time data. Ready to burn those clip-boards yet?  Email Sales IIoT News MEMEX CNC memory and DNC free trial MEMEX's roots are in CNC memory upgrades for a wide range of controller makes and models, plus proven DNC software for easy and reliable machine communication and file management. Click here for free DNC software trial.  Why Cisco and Mazak back MERLIN David McPhail, the CEO of Burlington, Ont.-based MEMEX Inc., loves showing off a new white paper from Mazak, the Japan-based machine-tool giant. Even though its title, “Complete Digital Factory Integration and the IIOT” (Industrial Internet of Things) suggests most people will find it less than a thrilling reading. But McPhail cares mostly about the cover, and its three company logos. The stylized word mark of Mazak, with 7,800 employees and 10 factories worldwide, appears on the left side; on the right, inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge, sits the logo of Cisco, the San Francisco networking giant with 72,000 employees; and tucked proudly between the two is the logo of MEMEX.  This kind of exposure doesn’t happen by accident. The eight-page brochure promoting a new “Smart Box” that enables digital connectivity between manufacturing tools represents eight years of work by McPhail and his team. Click here to learn more.  MERLIN IIoT for Homeyer  NTMA's Chairman of the Board and American manufacturing leader Herb Homeyer introduced IIoT software to his factory in 2016 with MERLIN Enterprise Edition from MEMEX.  “The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, is a powerful trend, and MERLIN makes IIoT real by equipping industrial machines with the necessary interfaces for connecting, collecting, and analyzing manufacturing data in real-time,” said Homeyer. "One of the things that most impressed us is how no machine is left behind regardless of make or vintage, and MERLIN’s ability to implement quickly on our factory floor without costly integration services or associated time-lags. With this real-time visibility, we look forward to a significant boost in Overall Equipment Effectiveness, or OEE.” Click here to learn more.  Our core belief is that successful IIoT technology adoption drives data-driven manufacturing efficiency, and we want to hear from customers like you. Follow us on Twitter at @MemexInc and let us know what you think about our products and support. Your feedback makes us better. Thanks, —David McPhail, CEO, MEMEX Inc.  Copyright © 2016 MEMEX Inc., All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you have indicated an interest in MEMEX manufacturing productivity products. Our mailing address is: Memex 105-3425 Harvester Rd Burlington, ON L7N 3N1 Canada

We Have Seen This Movie Before: Apple Is Correct and US Government Is Wrong On Back Doors

I was surprised to read that Michael Hayden, former NSA and CIA Chief, and I actually agree on one thing - no back doors in technology.  Note, we disagree on waterboarding and mass surveillance of American's phone records (he is for both and I am against both).

When Hayden said in an article in 9to5Mac by Ben Lovejoy titled:

Former NSA and CIA chief says Apple is right on the bigger issue of encryption back door

"Hayden said that while he would have loved a back door into encrypted devices while he was running the NSA, the problem – as I argued – is that others would inevitably gain access to it.

“When you step back and look at the whole question of American security and safety writ large, we are a safer, more secure nation without back doors,” he says. With them, “a lot of other people would take advantage of it.”"

We have seen this movie before with the Clipper chip.  For those who do not remember - below is from wikipedia:

"The Clipper chip was a chipset that was developed and promoted by the United States National Security Agency^[1] (NSA) as an encryption device, with a built-in backdoor, intended to be adopted by telecommunications companies for voice transmission. It was announced in 1993 and by 1996 was entirely defunct."

The image below is also from the same wikipedia article on the Clipper chip.  Where the text along with this image stated:

"RSA Security campaigned against the Clipper chip backdoor in the so-called Crypto Wars, with this poster being the most well-remember icon of that debate."

 

Good For You Marc Benioff - CEO of SalesForce!

I am always very glad to see technical leaders or athletes speak up on social issues.

As stated in The Huffington Post:

"Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is strapping on his boxing gloves again.

Nearly a year after the cloud-computing giant led the charge to topple a law in Indiana that legalized discrimination against LGBT people in the name of religious freedom, Benioff says he is gearing up for a fresh fight against a similar bill in Georgia.

"Nobody wants a discrimination law in America today," Benioff told The Huffington Post in a phone interview on Friday. "But there are still bigots out there fighting for people to be discriminated against."

I have a number of very good friends at SalesForce and it is great to see someone, who is such technical thought leader as Marc Benioff, speak up against the number of idiots out there who want to discriminate against the LGBT community.  It is these idiots who are usually the same people who say, " I want to take my country back!"  Yes, they want to take their country back IN TIME is where they want to take it to the days of discrimination....