MTConnect – Connectivity Guide Gets Users Started

The release of the Getting Started with MTConnect - Connectivity Guide is seveloped as a guide for shop owners and plant managers exploring the MTConnect implementation process. 

This guide is the result of a year-long effort by the MTConnect Shop Floor Connectivity Committee. Thought leaders from 16 companies representing a diverse cross-section of the discrete parts manufacturing industry collaborated in the development of the guide.  The committee was asked to address the most fundamental question shop owners and plant managers have when they decide to implement MTConnect — How do I get started?  This guide addresses connectivity issues associated with both new and legacy manufacturing equipment and provides a structured framework to guide companies through the assessment of their equipment and the early planning stages of a project. This guide is a valuable tool for anyone in manufacturing who believes that improving productivity starts with understanding what is happening on the shop floor.  

The foundation for improving manufacturing productivity starts with easy access to data. MTConnect provides manufacturers with a simple and extensible mechanism to connect manufacturing equipment to software applications used to run their businesses.

The Getting Started with MTConnect – Connectivity Guide is available for download at www.mtconnect.org.  

Dave Edstrom, president and chairman of the board for the MTConnect Institute says, “This Connectivity Guide will be an extremely valuable tool for shop owners and managers who need to address productivity issues in their manufacturing operations.  I am asked the same question almost daily – How do I get started? This guide answers that question. The Connectivity Guide is the first piece to be released in our Getting Started with MTConnect series. Additional documents will be released soon to further support manufacturing companies that are adopting productivity solutions using MTConnect.”

David McPhail, president & CEO of Memex Automation Inc. and co-chair of the MTConnect Shop Floor Connectivity committee says, "It was a pleasure working with such a talented and energetic team of experts who are all focused on addressing manufacturing productivity issues. By applying the techniques defined in the Connectivity Guide, essentially every piece of manufacturing equipment can now be integrated into a manufacturing data system — empowering productivity improvement on the shop floor for all machines."

John Turner, director of technology for FA Consulting & Technology and co-chair of the committee says, “Bringing the capabilities of MTConnect to existing machine tools will allow manufacturers to increase productivity of their existing assets, driving down costs and increasing plant output. Success of any project is typically based on good planning. The Connectivity Guide provides a valuable tool to help manufacturers structure their projects and prepare for discussions with solution providers.”

The Working Group was made up of representatives from:
Memex Automation, Inc. (Co-Chair)
FA Consulting & Technology, LLC (Co-Chair)
Advanced Technologies Services, Inc.
FANUC FA America
General Dynamics – OTS
Georgia Tech Factory Information Systems Lab
Nexas Networks Inc.
Pinaka Systems, Inc.
Predator Software, Inc.
Real Time Development Corp.
Remmele Engineering, Inc.
SCADAware, Inc.
Southern Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.
System Insights, Inc.
TechSolve, Inc.
Virtual Photons Electrons, LLC