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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 |
Moteiv Corp. unveiled the Tmote Mini-a wireless sensor network node, or "mote," that supports the Zigbee specification and is packaged in an industry-standard miniSDIO form factor. This allows for immediate integration into devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants and other mobile products.
If the term "mote" seems familiar, it has roots at Unversity of California Berkeley. See also Dust (get it, dust / mote?) Networks. Once again, this is wireless sensor network that is not primarily aimed at the industrial market but is quite usable.
8:49:06 PM 
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I'm in Cincinnati at the world headquarters of Procter & Gamble at the first day of the meetings of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems. Today's meeting is a forum followed by the meeting of the Industrial Advisory Board tomorrow.
Jay Lee, Ph.D., Professor of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems kicked off another session of information sharing. These meetings always combine an interesting and eclectic mix of manufacturing practitioners ("end users"), technology suppliers and academics-all focused on how to get more out of a company's assets. As Jay told me after the sessions, "It's not about maintenance; it's about productivity." At any rate, when I attend these sessions I get over some of my pessimism about whether there is a lack of intellectual rigor in discrete manufacturing. But then the IMS Center is beginning to get interest from process manufacturing companies, as well. Much of the work at places like Toyota has been in pumps and compressors. There are a lot of those in a process plant, too.
The first half of the afternoon moved along quickly and interestingly as engineers or managers of various companies discussed their needs for prognostics. Unfortunately the second half of the day drug a little as the podium was turned over to a couple of spokesmen for companies selling things who ran overtime. I've decided not to mention the two companies, but it was unfortunate that they just made sales pitches. However also on the second-half podium was Alan Johnson of MIMOSA who gave a quick overview of the work going on with various interoperability standards. He also asked for volunteers to help with the work.
Mike Chaney of P&G, Rick Lancaster of Toyota, Stephen Biller of GM, Eric Larsen of Caterpillar, Hiroshi Kobayashi of Nissan laid out a great foundation of the business needs for improving asset availability and improving overall efficiency. The problem is that things degrade over time-machines, sensors, processes. So, the degradation must be measured and perhaps modeled. The answer probably isn't putting in lots of sensors to measure more things. There is probably too much information now-more than can be analyzed. Another problem is how the lessons learned can be integrated into the business process such that the improvements can be sustained. Lancaster pointed out that better interface to the machine and better education for maintenance personnel are keys to future improvement.
Rick Donaldson of GE Aviation showed the whole system required for manufacturers of jet engines to get operational information from all the engines in operation so that they can benchmark performance characteristics of engines and better predict maintenance needs so that airlines don't have to take an asset (airplane) out of service unplanned. This Smart services technology was also discussed briefly by Eric Larsen of Caterpillar who shared how sensors linked to a database tell the company how a vehicle was used so that they can help diagnose problems-or tell if it was used beyond its service recommendations.
8:32:02 PM
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This article in The New York Times shows the delicate situation of today's union leader in a declining company (or companies). There were too many years where we'd all willingly pay higher prices for a new car every year and the companies would agree with anything to buy labor peace. I've known personally too many labor people (actually a few too many accountants, too) who assume things like sales growth, business stability, and the company as a never-ending source of funds. We all now know that inefficiencies bring competition. Competition is now a grim reality in the auto business and everyone must recognize the survival of the company is the first priority. Gettelfinger has an unenviable task, but he also has the opportunity to take labor in a new direction to help the entire company (including workers) succeed.
Auto Union Leader Finds Comfort Level. Ron Gettelfinger is striking a fine balance between the needs of automakers and his union, the United Automobile Workers. By MICHELINE MAYNARD and NICK BUNKLEY. [NYT > Business]
7:18:19 AM
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For several years, I wrote about technology and new cool things. But having actually worked in manufacturing, I always had this nagging feeling--do people actually use these new tools, and if so, how? I'm not alone thinking about this. Sometimes Dilbert is a little too cynical for my taste, but then sometimes...
From today's strip, Pointy Haired Boss talking with Dogbert the Consultant.
D: You need a dashboard application to track your key metrics. (Sounds reasonable.)
D: That way you'll have more data to ignore when you make your decisions based on company politics. (oops)
PHB: Will the data be accurate?
D: Okay, let's pretend that matters.
Somehow I have this fear that there are too many people like that out there.
Today, having recovered from the physical after effects of a long weekend of sun and wind and soccer moms, I'm visiting Advantech in Cincinnati then going to the meetings of the Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems. Should be some cool things to report tonight.
6:42:47 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Gary Mintchell.
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