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Baseline Energy Consumption [BEC] Standard Released

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:49:58 GMT

The BEC standard presents a standardized methodology to evaluate the energy consumption of machine tools, and based on this methodology, introduces the Baseline Energy Consumption (BEC) metric as a standard measure of the energy consumption of machine tools. Applications of the standard and metric include:

Estimating the approximate energy requirements of operating a machine tool to manufacture a specific part
Comparing the energy requirements of two machine tools that are being applied in similar activities
Performing Return-on-Investment calculations to justify energy efficiency improvements in machine tool and machining technologies
Assessing environmental impact of manufacturing processes from equipment energy consumption
Understanding electrical energy capacity requirements for machine tools.

A key consideration in designing the test methodology was to ensure that the tests can be performed within a reasonable amount of a time in a standard industrial setting without requiring any special workpieces, fixtures, or equipment. We explicitly selected a pragmatic approach because the goal of this metric is to serve as a figure of merit for the energy consumption of machine tools and manufacturing equipment, and not as a precise indication of the energy required by a machine tool to manufacture a specific part or to execute a specific operation.

This project has ben supported by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, General Dynamics - OTS, and AMT: The Association for Manufacturing Technology.

If you would like to learn more about the BEC standard, or would like a copy of the BEC specification and whitepaper, contact us.

System Insights @ IMTEX 2011

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 06:10:24 GMT

System Insights will be at IMTEX 2011 at the AMT-CTC Booth in A107a, Hall 1B. We will be demonstrating the revolutionary vimana software platform for productivity improvement, including a live demo from the the production facility of one of our pilot partners. Stop by to learn how we can help you improve your productivity.

Click here to see a live demonstration of vimana.

System Insights @ IMTS 2010

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 05:59:31 GMT

System Insights will be at IMTS 2010 at the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) and at the Mazak Pavilion (S-8300). At the ETC, we will be demonstrating the latest in MTConnect Technology from many hardware and software vendors. At the Mazak Pavilion, we will be demonstrating the revolution vimana software platform for productivity improvement, and will be showcasing the Mazak Energy Dashboard, which provides unprecedented visibility into the energy consumption and environmental impact of machine tools and manufacturing equipment. Stop by to learn more about these technologies, and how we can help you improve your productivity!!

Click here to see our the IMTS 2010 MTConnect demonstration application.

Click here to see a live demonstration of vimana.

System Insights joins US-India ACP

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:16:33 GMT

For more information on the activities of the US-India Aviation Cooperation Partnership, please visit http://www.acp-india.com/.

Dr. Steven Ray joins Board of Advisors

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:32:26 GMT

Biography

Dr. Steven Ray received his B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Bristol in England and his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. He has a twenty-seven year track record of initiating and leading technical R&D projects at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His expertise is in information interoperability and standards for domains including the smart electrical grid, electronic business, supply chains and manufacturing, and in the application of semantics and ontologies to standards. He led the establishment of a new extramural program (TIMA - Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications) on assignment to the NIST Advanced Technology Program, and served as Chairman of the IGES/PDES Organization that coordinated the U.S. participation in the creation of the STEP product data standard (STEP - Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data, ISO 10303). He has served on numerous strategic and technical advisory boards to organizations such as the University of Maryland Institute for Systems Research, PDES Inc., Semiconductor Research Corporation, US PRO, and is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley, and a Special Advisor to UC Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS).

DET 2009: 6th Intl. Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:29:15 GMT

Realtime monitoring and analysis of modern manufacturing enterprises requires standardized data sources as well as reliable technologies for data management and analysis. This presentation discusses the development of reliable and robust tools to enable the realtime monitoring and analysis of complex, distributed manufacturing enterprises. This includes the development of technology to manage the realtime delivery, collection, and analysis of large streams of manufacturing data. The presentation highlights the use of complex event processing and rules engine methods to parse the large volumes of data being generated in manufacturing enterprises into actionable information. The presentation presents an overview of System Insights’ Complex Reasoning Engine for data analysis.

DMC 2009 - System Insights and MTConnect

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:11:15 GMT

We presented our technology to a large group of defense manufacturers, and discussed how we can serve their goals of supporting warfighters in the field, increasing the ability to handle production demands in the face of threats, and increase the overall affordability of critical platforms and systems. We were encouraged by the reception of our technology and how it is becoming part of many proposals for research and advancement in manufacturing.

System Insights Featured in Major Trade Publication

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:39:44 GMT

If you haven’t already, please read the great article by Mark Albert, Editor in Chief of Modern Machine Shop. It give a very thorough overview of the intentions and achievements of the MTConnect standard and how System Insights is contributing to make it all happen. It also give a overview of our products and services and how MTConnect and System Insights have shown early successes in the real world.

MTConnect Is For Real.

(Some quotes):

The two pilot projects, however, had significant differences that highlight further aspects of MTConnect’s value to an end user. The most striking is the involvement of a third-party software application developer. Although Remmele is a remarkably capable contract manufacturing company and a sizable one (with four facilities and about 500 employees), it does not have the extensive information technology resources that GE Aviation does. To expedite the MTConnect pilot implementation, Remmele brought on board System Insights, Inc. (Berkeley, California), a software development company recently founded by Will Sobel and Athulan Vijayaraghavan, who were members of the team that created the original MTConnect specification for AMT. This step does not limit the company’s options, however. Bill Blomquist, the administrator of Remmele’s pilot project, explains: “The beauty of MTConnect is that data always remains in a neutral format. With MTConnect, we are not tied to one software developer or application vendor.” Remmele works with several software providers whose applications are likely to benefit from access to machine tool performance data, he says. A neutral data format preserves flexibility in this multi-vendor environment.

…

Implementing MTConnect on the rotary transfer machine required a collaborative effort between the specialists at Hydromat (St. Louis, Missouri) and System Insights. In this case, Tom Hansen, general manager of electrical engineering at Hydromat, developed the MTConnect adapter. It resides on a PC connected to the central processing unit that coordinates the independently controlled machining paths at each station. By design, this adapter is configured to select only certain types of data for MTConnect formatting. It was determined that the adapter would pass alarm messages, cycle starts and cycle stops (with their time stamps) from all machining stations. It would also pass true position feedback from the first station, where mechanical accuracy is established. The adapter must also tag data according to the station that originates it. Likewise, the adapter recognizes which station has a bar feeder, parts catcher or other peripheral device because alarm messages related to these devices are also passed to the MTConnect agent. Remmele plans to install a temperature sensor on this machine’s oil chiller to be monitored via MTConnect.

Mr. Vijayaraghavan, CTO at System Insights, configured the MTConnect agent to ensure that data passed by the adapter is compliant with the MTConnect standard and can be retrieved by the machine monitoring system. The application software developed by System Insights was customized to suit Remmele’s specifications for the pilot project. This software organizes and analyzes MTConnect data from both the rotary transfer machine and the five-axis machining center.

The machining center, a Toyoda FA630, is located at the company’s aerospace and defense division in Big Lake, Minnesota. This machine is dedicated to large, complex workpieces for commercial and military aircraft. Whereas complete parts drop off the rotary transfer machine in seconds, workpieces processed on the HMC typically require as many as six hours of continuous machine time. System Insights developed the MTConnect adapter and configured the agent for this machine, which is equipped with a Fanuc CNC.

Remmele’s pilot project commenced in earnest in April 2009, and by August, the adapters, agents and machine monitoring application were operating.

A look at the machine monitoring application created for Remmele brings out some important observations. As noted earlier, MTConnect data is “fed into” this application from the machine tool controller via the MTConnect agent. The application, in turn, “digests” the data for the user’s consumption. The MTConnect standard does not address this process in any way. System Insights developed the monitoring system so that data could be organized and presented in a way suitable to support different types of visualization and analysis. For example, Remmele finds it very valuable to track data from the transfer machine against targets set in the company’s ERP system. In contrast, data from the HMC helps the company track multiple operations against targets set in the process plan for each part number. As Will Sobel, CEO of System Insights, explains, “Data about machine performance has to be organized and presented in ways that specific users can interpret and use to take action. These needs can be very different depending on the role of the person in the organization. The challenge is to turn data into information and make it valuable to the user.”

System Insights presents at DTL Technology Day

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:47:57 GMT

Athulan presented how real-time data collection and analysis using MTConnect can improve micro manufacturing and make shops more efficient.

Using the same technology used in Wallstreet to execute trades and react to markets in real-time, manufacturing can be improved and utilization can be increased. We can lock down best practices and improves part traceability by collecting all the in-process data as it is produced and apply the large amount of compute power now available in the cloud.

System Insights is applying rule based analysis to determine if machine tools are functioning properly and if they are not, what is required to get the machine back to a working state.

System Insights is now an MTConnect Institute Partner

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:18:38 GMT

System Insights has been working closely with the MTConnect Institute to advance the MTConnect standard and develop applications based on the standard. We have now reached the contribution level of Institute Partner and will continue to support and further the development of MTConnect.