BEST OF THE BLOG

People Find OPC Useful

OPC Foundation conducted a comprehensive survey of users and suppliers of its technology. This specification has been recently been released and I believe that products are expected this year. The Foundation wanted to get an idea of industry awareness of the new spec and attitudes toward OPC.

I have been analyzing the statistics and have come to a couple of conclusions. First, despite whisperings you can hear in hallways of conferences to the contrary, the current generation of OPC technology serves a useful purpose for most of the people who responded. Some like it a lot. This technology is getting a little long in the tooth being based on Microsoft technologies of COM (component object model) and DCOM (distributed COM), but it continues to play well. I'm not sure about the methodology of the survey, but it apparently was global and distributed enough to get some negative answers... Read more

Social Media for Grassroots Innovation Network

An interesting use of Web 2.0 social media in Canada just came to my attention. Igloo Inc., an online community solutions developer, has partnered with a group of local Canadian entities including the Region of Waterloo, Cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC), Conestoga College, University of Waterloo, the Greater KW and Cambridge Chambers of Commerce, Communitech and Canada's Technology Triangle (CTT) to jointly launch the Manufacturing Innovation Network (MIN), an online network which facilitates and promotes awareness, excellence and innovation within the manufacturing industry in the Waterloo Region... Read more

Manufacturing is Essential

I've been reflecting on 2008 and thinking about 2009 this month. This has entailed a bunch of reading and listening (to podcasts). I've seen a couple of Thomas Friedman's syndicated columns where he talks about the infrastructure deterioration in the US and how he hopes that a big chunk of the Washington "bail out" or "stimulus" package is invested into rebuilding our infrastructure. More to the point of manufacturing, albeit obliquely, Nobel winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has talked about the bubble economy generated by cheap credit, reduced saving and buying lots of stuff from China. Peter Schiff (an analyst heard on Andrew Horowitz's The Disciplined Investor podcast and also quoted by Doc Searles) complains that we don't save and we don't make things anymore... Read more

Automation Minutes podcast posted

For those who prefer to listen, I've uploaded a new podcast that discusses manufacturing in 2009... Read more

Davos

Darn, my invitation was lost in the mail again. So, once more I'm in Ohio instead of Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum mingling with 2,500 of my closes rich and politically powerful friends. Here is a picture of the place. Beautiful. Robert Scoble points out that there is not enough focus on the role small business plays in economic recovery. (I applaud the thought.) Michael Arrington of TechCrunch reports the mood is somber as the economic elite ponder how we got in this mess and how we'll get out... Read more

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