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MEMEX @ Cisco Live Last Week

Cisco Presentation Discussed Collaboration With Business Partner MEMEX

LAS VEGAS, NV–(Marketwired – Jul 18, 2016) – Memex Inc. (“MEMEX” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: OEE) was pleased to exhibit their award-winning Manufacturing Execution System, MERLIN, at the invitation of Cisco Systems Inc. as part of their Connected Machines Strategy at Cisco Live in Las Vegas from July 10-14. MERLIN was on display at Booth 109 in the World of Solutions pavilion, located in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

MERLIN captured and presented live data from both onsite and remotely connected machines securely over the Internet via Cisco’s newly released IE4K switch. The IE4K is compliant with MTConnect (the open source and royalty free interconnectivity communication standard), which collectively form an integral part of any manufacturing company’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) strategy. This enables the promise of Data Driven Manufacturing centric business outcomes.

MEMEX Featured in Cisco’s Machine Intelligence Presentation
MEMEX is also pleased to announce that Douglas Bellin from Cisco presented “The Case for Machine Intelligence,” which featured what Cisco has done with business partner MEMEX. The presentation took place at 4:30pm on July 13, 2016 in the Islander D space at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

About Cisco Connected Machines
The Cisco Connected Machine Solution is a digital solution portfolio, based on the Cisco IoT system. The solution enables rapid and repeatable machine connectivity, providing business improvements such as: Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and machine monitoring, Machine optimization Predictive maintenance, Process optimization, and Process health.

About Cisco Live
Cisco Live Las Vegas is the destination for the education and inspiration you need to thrive in the world of digital business. Join thousands of technology innovators for a transformational experience that includes today’s IT visionary thought leaders, more than 1,000 education sessions, Cisco’s top partners, and numerous opportunities to build the connections that will fuel your personal and professional growth.

About Memex Inc.
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 accelerating 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. For more information, please visit: www.MemexOEE.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For investor inquiries please contact:
Ed Crymble
Chief Financial Officer
905-635-1540 ext. 110
ed.crymble@MemexOEE.comDavid McPhail
President & CEO
519-993-1114
david.mcphail@MemexOEE.comSean Peasgood
Investor Relations
416-565-2801
sean@sophiccapital.com

Complete Digital Factory Integration and the Industrial Internet of Things

May 9, 2016| Fabricating & Metalworking

A collaboration among Mazak, Memex and Cisco, utilizing the MTConnect standard, makes groundbreaking progress toward the total digital integration of factories, where access to real-time manufacturing data is used to improve overall productivity efficiency and responsiveness to customer and market changes.

Tomorrow’s factories will use Multi-Tasking machines, advanced manufacturing cells and robotic automation systems, together with complete digital integration to achieve free-flow data sharing. In such an environment, connectivity of machines and devices allows for enhanced process control, operation monitoring, and analytical capabilities – all within a plant-wide or multi-plant cybersecure network connected to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

The joint efforts of machine tool builder Mazak Corporation (Florence, KY), manufacturing communications platform provider Memex, Inc. (Burlington, ON), and IT leader Cisco® Systems, Inc. (San Jose, CA) achieved a significant leap forward into this environment with the successful digital integration of the Mazak factory, which now accesses and uses real-time manufacturing data to improve overall productivity and agility, along with responsiveness to customer and market changes. This project also resulted in the development of a launch platform, called SmartBox, for an easy and secure entrance into the IIoT.

OBJECTIVE: GET SMART
With this launch platform, Mazak sought to achieve the following project objectives:

  • Create a digitally integrated platform to further improve manufacturing efficiency, particularly in regards to machine utilization and associated downtime.
  • Track machine utilization accurately using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) as a standard measurement.
  • Produce machine, machine operator and plant productivity analytics, and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports that management and production teams can act on.
  • Establish a secure and scalable plant-wide network to connect machines (new and legacy) and other equipment to track OEE.
  • Provide the means to grow the use of sensor technology for monitoring the cutting characteristics of machines, thereby enabling predictive maintenance.

The SmartBox launch platform project incorporates several advanced technologies, one of which was the open, royalty-free MTConnect® manufacturing communications protocol that fosters greater interoperability between manufacturing devices and software. The MTConnect standard provides connectivity and the capability to monitor and then harvest data from the entire production floor: machines, cells, devices, and processes. The standard makes this possible because it’s based on XML and HTTP Internet technology for real-time data sharing.

On the software and hardware side, the full-featured MERLIN manufacturing communications platform from Memex works in tandem with hardware elements that includes the Industrial Ethernet 4000 Series Switch. MERLIN monitors and provides operational metrics and KPI reports on operations, analytics of machines, test stands and other equipment in a manufacturing plant. The software connects to any machine, old or new, using the native MTConnect protocol or hardware adapters for older machines that permit them to communicate via MTConnect. MERLIN software generates numerous operational metrics and standard reports and automatically sends them to a variety of departments, cells and managers. Reports can be generated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis through an email alert engine, including daily production, quality, constraints, throughput, operator and utilization metrics

MERLIN metrics and reports typically focus on a specific machine and display performance-based gauges and readouts that often resemble automobile speedometers. Other reports use graphs that compare all connected machines and are often based on a variety of critical metrics categories, such as uptime and stoppage.

The Industrial Ethernet 4000 Series Switches from Cisco offer an industrial machine connectivity solution for a secure, scalable way to connect machines to OEE platforms. The all-in-one 4000 switch supports the MTConnect open standard that’s used to track machine operation, utilization, and overall efficiency. It not only connects machines to OEE solutions, but it also provides security and computing capabilities. The switch’s technology resolves the problems typically associated with access, management and scalability so that both IT and manufacturing-operations people can work together to drive machine efficiency and visibility.

By combining MTConnect, MERLIN, and the 4000 switch, the SmartBox provides connectivity of machines and devices for enhanced monitoring and analytical capabilities, along with cybersecurity. The unit mounts to the side of a machine without the need for a direct connection to a machine’s electrical cabinet. With several standard input or connecting ports, this launch platform quickly and easily connects any standard off-the-shelf sensors to the system for machine-data gathering and condition monitoring. One SmartBox can serve several machine tools, along with other associated manufacturing equipment, depending on the application.

The unit offers network isolation that prevents unauthorized access from both directions, meaning to or from the machines and equipment on a network. It also satisfies the critical security concerns of IT departments when connecting legacy equipment to a plant’s main network for the purpose of gathering manufacturing data through the MTConnect protocol. The SmartBox is one of many innovative components in the dynamic iSMART Factory concept that enables complete digital integration of advanced manufacturing cells and systems to achieve free-flow data sharing in terms of process control and analytics. The iSMART Factory concept also incorporates Smooth Technology, a complete process-performance technology platform that represents a key first step towards digital factory integration and includes the various levels of the new Mazatrol Smooth CNC, as well as advanced machine hardware and servo systems.

THE IIOT ENVIRONMENT
Of the 65 machines, paint test stands, and other devices connected through MTConnect at the Kentucky factory, the initial complete installation of a machine-monitoring system encompasses SmartBoxes, six horizontal machining centers (HMCs) in an automated flexible manufacturing system, three other HMCs in a similar automated system, and six large bridge-type milling machines. This beta test section of the plant represents a cross-section of equipment and has helped establish a performance benchmark and related training protocols that easily expand across the entire machine-tool manufacturing plant.

Almost as soon as Mazak produced reports on its plant floor, the company experienced a six-percent increase in utilization. Without any other actions taken, these immediate gains resulted from operators simply being aware of how their time management affected machine utilization.

A series of 60 in display monitors presents real-time utilization data in the test section of the plant and cycles through a series of KPI reports that are viewable for short periods of time using MERLIN. The Cisco switch enables network isolation that creates a higher level of cybersecurity for enhanced machine monitoring and analytics. The majority of reports focus on a specific machine, and display performance-based gauges and readouts. Other reports compare all connected machines according to a variety of critical metrics, such as uptime and stoppages by category.

Almost as soon as Mazak produced reports on its plant floor, the company experienced a six percent increase in utilization. Without any other actions taken, these immediate gains resulted from operators simply being aware of how their time management affected machine utilization. To date, efforts to reduce downtime – as based on factory-floor report data – have yielded a more than double-digit percentage improvement in machine utilization for the monitored machines. As a result of this windfall machine capacity, the company reduced operator overtime by 100 hours per month and brought 400 hours per month of previously outsourced work back in house.

Also a first for Mazak, top management, as well as everyone across the company’s shop floor, has access to the same actionable reports and/or monitored data through mobile devices. Shop floor employees now have easy-to-interpret, visual report formats that give them at-a-glance information about how machine tool conditions are influencing efficiency. Bar graphs that summarize activity across several machines simultaneously inform supervisors and managers of trends useful for decision making and long-term planning, such as when additional operator training may be needed. The company is now fully aware of program stops, feed holds, spindle overrides, tool changes, and other reasons why a machine is idle. By analyzing collected data, personnel are able to identify and easily fix such downtime-related inefficiencies to improve overall utilization.

The company has also gained a security strategy for individuals outside its facility network as a result of the network isolation provided through the Cisco technology. Another new advantage is that individuals, such as equipment suppliers, can log on to Mazak’s network and have access to only those machines the company permits through SmartBox technology. But the most significant gain is their capability to perform predictive diagnostics through monitoring sensor packages on machines and other equipment. Instead of having to reconfigure an entire system’s network software (a past requirement for incorporating such sensors), the company now uses predictive diagnostics through a SmartBox, regardless of machine type, model, or age.

The results of the collaboration among Mazak, Memex and Cisco, utilizing the MTConnect standard, represent groundbreaking progress toward the total digital integration of factories, where access to real-time manufacturing data is used to improve overall productivity efficiency and responsiveness to customer and market changes.

Mazak Corporation, 8025 Production Drive, Florence, KY 41042, 859-342-1700,www.mazak.com.

Memex Inc., 3425 Harvester Road, #105, Burlington, ON L7N 3N1 Canada, 905-635-1540, Fax: 905-631-9640, www.memex.ca.

Cisco Systems, Inc., 170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134, 800-553-6387,www.cisco.com.

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MEMEX - Measuring Manufacturing Excellence Logo

MEMEX Inc. Leadership Recognized Amongst Top 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries

BURLINGTON, ON–(Marketwired – May 12, 2016) – MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) is excited and proud to announce that Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), in its inaugural issue of Smart Manufacturing magazine, has recognized David McPhail, CEO of MEMEX Inc., and Dave Edstrom, CTO of MEMEX Inc., amongst the top 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries.

According to Smart Manufacturing Magazine, the top 30 Advanced Manufacturing Visionaries list is a representation of who’s who in the smart manufacturing world. They all have made significant contribution towards developing tools and techniques that have made the Industrial Revolution 4.0 a reality.

Smart Manufacturing magazine recognizes David McPhail, CEO of MEMEX Inc. for his relentless work towards creating solutions that help North American manufacturers solve tangible issues such as efficiency and sustainability of manufacturing operations. Adding further to the delight of MEMEX Inc., Smart Manufacturing magazine also applauds the work of Dave Edstrom, CTO of MEMEX Inc., in the field of developing MTConnect® an open, royalty-free standard to get information from machinery applications to enable increased productivity.

“Both Dave and I are really honored to be a part of this esteemed list, not just as individuals but also as developers of MERLIN, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) communication platform that promises manufacturing excellence,” says David McPhail, CEO of MEMEX Inc. “Visionaries create the window into the future but it is the strength and dedication of their team that turns those ideas in reality. MEMEX Inc. as a team is in the business of taking our visions and turning them into revolutionary IIoT products.”

About MEMEX Inc.

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
MEMEX Inc.:
David McPhail, CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Rashi Rathore, Communication Coordinator
Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103
MEMEX - Measuring Manufacturing Excellence Logo

Another Win for MEMEX — Sun Hydraulics Corp. Adopts MERLIN

SARASOTA, FL–(Marketwired – May 13, 2016) – MEMEX Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OEE) is proud to announce that Sun Hydraulics Corp. (NASDAQ: SNHY) has issued a Purchase Order for an additional 89 of their machines to be equipped with MERLIN MES Enterprise Edition software.

Sun Hydraulics arrived at this decision after experiencing the optimization opportunities offered by MERLIN during a pilot in which MERLIN was installed on 11 of their machines. The 100 machine multi-plant roll-out is phase 1 of a larger IIoT initiative to ensure efficiency and profitability of operations at Sun Hydraulics Corp.

“Recognition of the value that MERLIN creates by industry leaders like Sun Hydraulics Corp. pushes MEMEX towards developing more innovative solutions that successfully transform factories of today into factories of the future,” says David McPhail, CEO MEMEX.

About Sun Hydraulics Corp.

Sun Hydraulics is a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance screw-in hydraulic cartridge valves and manifolds that control force, speed and motion as integral components in fluid power systems.

From its inception in 1970 and a public company since 1997, Sun sells its products globally, primarily through independent distributors, to diverse markets of mobile and industrial equipment and machinery manufacturers. Sun has been committed to being the leader in its field. They offer products that advance customers’ businesses, improving the safety and performance of the machinery in which they are used.

About MEMEX Inc.

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
MEMEX Inc.:
David McPhail, CEO
Phone: 519-993-1114
Rashi Rathore, Communication Coordinator
Phone: 905-635-3040 ext 103
MEMEX - Measuring Manufacturing Excellence Logo

Two New Devices Focus on Securely Accessing Data in Legacy Machines

April 202016 | Brett Brune | Smart Manufacturing magazine

A trio of Mazak, Memex and Cisco is beginning to sell SmartBox, a device meant to securely manage manufacturing data—information on axes, spindles, temperatures, cutting times, downtimes and part counts, for starters—culled from machines that have been laboring in a sort of silence for decades. At the same time, a pairing of Forcam and Wago plans to release a similar device it calls the PFC100 Industrial MTConnect device before July.

SmartBox uses I/O links to connect machines and produces MTConnect code in real time. It can use an adapter board from Memex and must be connected to a Cisco router, John Rattray, VP of sales and marketing at Memex, said in an interview with Smart Manufacturing magazine at the MC2 conference in Dallas. It can also use Memex’s factory- and machine-shop-floor-monitoring software, Merlin, to map existing signals and analyze and correlate the data so shops and plants can use it to improve productions.

Companies in the aerospace, defense and medical industries welcome the Cisco router requirement because it assuages their network security concerns, he added.

“We’re talking about IP connections in terms of Ethernet connections,” Rattray said. “You don’t need to have all the security in there to make the connection work. However, one customer of ours, DP Tool in New York, had experienced a situation where a guy who was maintaining a machine put in a USB stick into it and a virus on this USB stick spread to the company’s manufacturing network and whole admin network. It cost the company an enormous amount of effort and grief to get that fixed. You can run without security switches. But smart manufacturers are recognizing we need to secure and lock down our shop floor networks.”

The SmartBox has a “level three” managed switch that will shut the device down automatically if a USB stick comes its way or someone unplugs a particular Ethernet connection, Rattray added.

The emerging device from Forcam and Wago has a combined MTConnect adapter and agent inside the device, as well as a built-in security firewall for cybersecurity, Forcam USA Inc. CEO Mohamed Abuali said. He demonstrated a simulation model at MC2, saying it cost less than the trio’s device.

The Forcam/Wago product will cost less than $1,000, he said. And the Mazak/Memex/Cisco device will cost $4,000 on the low end but could be used on four machines, Mazak President Brian Papke said.

Companies using legacy CNCs will soon be able to choose between bolting their new data-retrieving device together with a Cisco network router or a “quicker solution that can connect to any network,” Abuali said. “The alternative [to these two options] is you have to retrofit the machine and upgrade the controller, which can cost thousands of dollars. In many cases, you cannot even retrofit.”

Both devices are intended to help manufacturers around the world connect their machines securely to a network. About 14.5 million machines still lack connectivity, Rattray said.

Of course, the idea is to then analyze the data to make the best decisions possible about manufacturing and machining processes. And some of those decisions can be made without human involvement, to be sure: “For instance, if a temperature sensor starts to rise above a threshold limit, the machine can send an alert and notify people before it fails,” he added.

Merlin lets companies “take data and make it manageable,” said Papke, who serves on the board for MTConnect. Otherwise, companies end up with “digital exhaust.”

“Forcam wants to define real-time production—from any machine of any age,” Abuali said. “That’s a critical state.”

Memex Chief Technology Officer Dave Edstrom is “very pleased to see more of these type boxes come out—because, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships,” he said.

But he couldn’t stop himself from making a quick comparison with the offering from Forcam/Wago: “The integration of what Mazak is doing with the SmartBox, with Memex and Cisco—making it easier to connect—will resonate very well with manufacturing. You don’t have to sell someone on Memex’s ability to connect anything. And you don’t have to sell anyone on Cisco’s ability to network a lot of devices together and do it securely. So that’s why we think SmartBox is a game-changer.”