MTConnect® is a newly developed, open communication standard that provides the capability to pass data from equipment and devices to higher level systems for further processing using the XML-based standard. The MTConnect® Challenge focuses on promoting the development of manufacturing platform solutions (tools) using the MTConnect® interoperable protocol.

 

Goal

The MTConnect® Challenge is comprised of two main goals:

1. To engage and stimulate a broader base of software and system architects to develop advanced enterprise, facility, and machine control applications based on, and extensions to, the MTConnect® standard to enable a more efficient and competitive domestic manufacturing infrastructure for the defense enterprise; and

2. To create valuable tools and applications that can be easily adopted by manufacturing enterprises, especially the lower tier producers, to enhance their manufacturing capabilities and support Department of Defense (DoD) supply chain management goals.

 

Background

In any given manufacturing enterprise, there can be hundreds or even thousands of machines and independent systems operating to produce products in a timely, quality and cost-effective manner. Each of these machines and systems has information on its operation, but usually is unable to communicate that data in a standard format. As a result, it is difficult to ensure that the machine, factory, and/or enterprise are all operating at acceptable, optimal levels through means of coordination, optimization, or data tracking efforts. These difficulties are further compounded in complex, extended enterprises where the need for visibility through a highly distributed supply chain is heightened even more.

Incidentally, this is the opposite of what has occurred in the computer or information technology arena – where a wide range of disparate devices communicate through standard interfaces (e.g., USB) using standardized communication protocols. Within the manufacturing sector, the challenge then becomes how manufacturing can replicate the success of this interconnectability, exploit an extended manufacturing technology community, and provide timely production  data to the local and total enterprise.

Recognizing the gap in communication protocol and the need within the industry to overcome it, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology – commissioned the development of the MTConnect® standard. MTConnect® defines the communication protocol, or the rules, that manufacturing equipment can follow to share data with software applications. The standard includes an extensible taxonomy, or dictionary, for manufacturing equipment to utilize in communications. Moreover, the standard is open and royaltyfree to facilitate the widest possible acceptance and utility. This approach allows connectivity from the lowest end of the process chain, nearest the workpiece or shop floor, to the highest enterprise design or process planning and execution.

The expectation is that the interoperability afforded by MTConnect® will enable a host of third-party solution providers to develop software and hardware products to make the entire manufacturing enterprise more productive. Although a limited number of applications utilizing MTConnect® have emerged, a comprehensive and wide spread initiative would go a long way in socializing and formalizing the potential impact of the MTConnect® standard on an extended manufacturing enterprise.