Global Connectivity
for Manufacturing

That concept is becoming a reality because of MTConnect, a solution for better manufacturing. Prior to MTConnect, plant floors looked like the United Nations with no translators. This meant lots of machines, made by different suppliers, but unable to speak to each other or to the outside world. MTConnect is changing all of that with an open and royalty-free standard that allows these many types of machines to all speak the same common and open language.

By making it easy to speak to the machines on the shop floor, learning where problems occur and then addressing these issues becomes much easier. As a result, productivity improves. This is not a theory, this is happening today.

What exactly is MTConnect? It is an open standard that converts the many different proprietary manufacturing equipment data formats into the common language of the Internet that all applications speak. In essence, MTConnect allows manufacturing to have the same kind of interconnectivity as that which has become familiar in the IT world.

MTConnect uses proven Internet protocols, such as HTTP and XML, as well as a manufacturing data dictionary. MTConnect’s manufacturing data dictionary makes software development easier because all of the physical components and pieces of information are formally defined as part of the standard. The data dictionary provides the interoperability of communications that makes MTConnect unique in manufacturing.

MTConnect is not software, and it is not an application. It is free for anyone who wants to implement it on his equipment and devices. MTConnect is the Manufacturing Technology Connection between manufacturing equipment and applications, as well as between manufacturing equipment. Another way to think of MTConnect is like a “Bluetooth for manufacturing equipment.” Bluetooth works when two different devices support it, such as a cellphone and a headset, or a computer and other peripherals. Through MTConnect, data is captured in real or near real-time by a device that can be utilized by other devices or applications.

What is impressive about MTConnect are the many and varied ways that manufacturing has embraced this open standard. A number of major manufacturers is implementing it on their shop floors. Many segments of the U.S. Department of Defense have also pushed for its use. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Defense-Wide Manufacturing Science and Technologydepartment believes so strongly in MTConnect that it has sponsored a two-part competition called the MTConnect Challenge. The challenge is designed to “stimulate development of advanced manufacturing intelligence applications that utilize the MTConnect standard” and is offering cash prizes for winning entries.

MTConnect has also been demonstrated to work with other existing standards, such as ROS-Industrial. A recent demonstration by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) utilized an ROS-I enabled robot in conjunction with an MTConnect-enabled turning center. This demonstration showed that by using ROS-Industrial and MTConnect as a bridge, coordination between a robot and a turning center can be accomplished in a few hours. Bringing these two together showed how seamless communications could be achieved among different pieces of manufacturing technology equipment in a shorter period of time.