Memex installs 34 new MTConnect hardware adapters for GE business, gets new order

Proactive Investors – Octover 16, 2014 – Memex Automation (CVE:OEE), whose hardware and software solution works to improve manufacturing efficiencies, said it has completed the installation of 34 MTConnect-based universal machine interface boards at GE Power & Water in South Carolina, while also receiving an order for an installation from GE Aviation.

MTConnect is the open, royalty-free standard that is intended to foster greater interoperability between manufacturing devices and software applications. It is used with Memex’s new CNC hardware adapters, bringing OEE network connectivity from the shop floor to management, no matter the make, model or vintage of machine.

The result is a tool that allows Memex’s Merlin software to track a large number of MTConnect data inputs that measure OEE [overall equipment effectiveness] in real-time, machine by machine, as well as other operational machine information.

It enables customers to address production bottlenecks as they happen, converting idle time back into production and ultimately improving throughput and increasing income from plant operations.

The Memex hardware will allow GE to better measure and manage production, Memex said, as well as monetize improved processes.

“Our universal hardware solves the last meter problem with a plug-in adapter that generates MTConnect data,” said chief executive officer, David McPhail.

“Uniquely, because MTConnect as a protocol includes a data dictionary, our adapter enables all machines to talk XML in exactly the same way, which means the data can be consumed by GE’s business intelligence tools.”

Memex’s product was recently described in a case study by Mazak, which said that Merlin-related efforts to reduce downtime yielded a 42 percent improvement in utilization for the monitored machines.

In addition, Mazak also reduced operator downtime by 100 hours per month, while 400 hours per month of previously outsourced work was returned to the company.

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