MTConnect® Institute Establishes Forum with National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining

The MTConnect® Institute (McLean, VA) and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) announce a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a cooperative forum resulting in collaboration between the two organizations to continue defining, developing and securing programs aimed at furthering the MTConnect standard.

The MTConnect Institute develops and provides open standards intended to foster greater interoperability between manufacturing controls, devices and software applications by publishing data over networks using the Internet Protocol. The standards offer a solution to the exchange of data from shop floor devices to higher level systems.

NCDMM is an organization whose goal is to deliver optimized manufacturing solutions that enhance the quality, affordability, maintainability, and rapid deployment of existing and yet-to-be developed defense systems. NCDMM fosters collaboration between government, industrial, and academic organizations to promote the implementation of best practices to key stakeholders through the development and delivery of disciplined training, advanced technologies, and methodologies.

“NCDMM welcomes the formalization of our strong collaborative partnership with the MTConnect Institute,” stated Ralph Resnick, the president and executive director of NCDMM and a board member of the MTConnect Institute. “This MoU publicly confirms our mutual dedication and acknowledges our collective agreement to the advancement of the MTConnect Standard. I encourage other manufacturing organizations to likewise come forward to rally the manufacturing community around the significance of MTConnect.”

Courtney Hill, the MTConnect Institute president and chairman of the board said, “This MoU furthers our  longstanding and strong relationship with NCDMM that began when AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology formed the MTConnect Institute in 2009. Our first joint program launched in 2011 and was the beginning of a series of MTConnect projects, the most recent of which is the MTConnect Challenge 2.”

Participants in the MTConnect Challenge 2 that began in July 2013, and closed at the end of January 2014, are developing software applications that harness innovation and manufacturing intelligence breakthroughs utilizing data acquired via the MTConnect standard. At this year’s [MC]2 Conference attendees will then vote for the top three winners. The two-part competition has been sponsored by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology.

For further information about MTConnect, visit www.MTConnect.org.