MTConnect Conference educates and inspires attendees.
Press Release Summary:
Third iteration of [MC2 - MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference, which was organized by MTConnect Institute, saw 150 attendees who learned about advancements in data-driven manufacturing. According to MTConnect Institute Board's Courtney Hill, "attendees were eager to discover how to use MTConnect to align themselves with technology initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things." On closing day, 3 top winners of MTConnect Challenge 2 were announced.
Original Press Release:
[MC2 2014 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference Attendees Come Away Educated, Connected and Inspired
McLean, Va. … The third [MC2 - MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference organized by the MTConnect Institute ended on a high note April 10 for the 150 attendees who gathered to immerse themselves in learning about advancements in data-driven manufacturing.
“At this year’s [MC2 conference, attendees were eager to discover how to use MTConnect to align themselves with technology initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things,” said President and Chairman of the MTConnect Institute Board, Courtney Hill. “The MTConnect standard is foundational to a data-driven manufacturing strategy and a key enabler to implementation.”
Keynote speaker Peter Lucas, Ph.D., founding principal of MAYA Design and co-author of Trillions: Thriving in the Emerging Information Ecology, challenged attendees to look beyond just the Internet of Things and “imagine a world in which you could not buy a microprocessor that didn’t have a radio on it. Everything, every trivial piece of bric-a-brac we build with processors, is going to be communicating with everything else. What would such a world look like?”
He continued, “It’ll be a lot like nature. Trillions of computers communicating with billions of people and an uncountable number of information objects, flowing freely from device to device with everything connected.”
In another keynote address, Greg Harris, Ph.D., who is with the U.S. Army, Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, Engineering Directorate, Manufacturing Science & Technology Division and Program Manager of the Digital Manufacturing & Design Innovation (DMDI) Institute, explained how the federal investment for the DMDI Institute that will be used to establish the Digital Lab for Manufacturing (Digital Lab), led by a Chicago-based research and commercialization collaborative called UI Labs came to be. “We knew the basic criteria necessary for innovation to take place: close proximity, ways to make the design-make-and-learn cycle faster and an ecosystem in place to support innovation. As a pillar of President Obama’s investment in U.S. Manufacturing, the Digital Lab will be the nation’s flagship research institute in digital manufacturing and design innovation and a world-class, first-of-its-kind manufacturing hub with the capabilities, innovation and collaboration necessary to transform American manufacturing.”
On the closing day of the conference, The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Defense-wide Manufacturing Science and Technology (DMS&T), along with AMT РThe Association For Manufacturing Technology and the U.S. Army Ben̩t Labs, announced the three top winners of the MTConnect Challenge 2 as voted by [MC2 attendees. The MTConnect Challenge was a two-part competition for the development of manufacturing intelligence ideas and software applications utilizing the MTConnect standard.
First prize of $100,000 was awarded to Valerie Pezzullo of Clemson University for Machining Process Monitoring to Aid in Chatter Identification. Second prize of $75,000 went to Joel Neidig of ITAMCO for Expanding Manufacturing's Vision: MTConnect + Google Glass. Third prize of $50,000 was awarded to Shane Crandall for Promise.
“On behalf of all of us at NCDMM, AMT, the U.S. Army Benét Labs, the MTConnect Challenge judging panel and the MTConnect Institute, we extend our congratulations to the three top winners for their participation and innovative MTConnect-based software applications,” said John Wilczynski, NCDMM Program Manager. “We hope MTConnect Challenge 2 will serve as a catalyst for the development of more MTConnect-based software that will enable manufacturing intelligence breakthroughs for the defense manufacturing industry. We also want to thank [MC2 attendees—our community of MTConnect supporters—for voting and helping to determine our top winners.”
“The MTConnect Institute is proud to host these world-class manufacturing technology thought leaders who both inspire a new way of thinking and empower us with the actionable information needed to accelerate the adoption of digital manufacturing technology,” Hill said.
The conference also featured an End User Forum and various other educational sessions where attendees received hands-on training about MTConnect and the MTConnect/OPC UA Companion Specification.
MTConnect is a set of open, royalty-free standards intended to foster greater interoperability between controls, devices and software applications by publishing data over networks using the Internet Protocol. Since its introduction in 2008, MTConnect has become the standard for manufacturing connectivity. The manufacturing technology community commonly uses MTConnect to connect the shop floor to monitoring applications and to integrate the shop floor with the entire manufacturing enterprise.
[MC2 2015 will be held April 28-30, 2015, at Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill.
MTConnect Institute
The MTConnect Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization established to further the development of the MTConnect standard and publish related materials. The organization includes Board of Directors, Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Technical Steering Committee, as well as various working groups to further the standard in various technology areas. Any company or organization can become a member and aid in furthering the development of the MTConnect standard. Membership is free.
www.MTConnect.org
