SoftwareUpdate. Okuma s App Store: Open-Source Problem Solving PASSWORD. We want to use technology to make manufacturing easy.

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1 Brian Sides is director, technology, Okuma America Corp. (Charlotte, NC), a developer of machine tools and controls. SoftwareUpdate Deals, Openings, Acquisitions, Partnerships, Orders, Expansions, Awards Okuma s App Store: Open-Source Problem Solving PASSWORD Manufacturing Engineering: Your company recently introduced the Okuma App Store. With software s increasing importance, how can machinists leverage this resource? Brian Sides: Our journey to the creation of the App Store began with one goal empowering users. We laid the foundation in 2004 with the introduction of THINC, The Intelligent Numerical Control, Okuma s open-architecture control concept. This openness was, and still is, revolutionary because it allows for integration with evolving generations of third-party software and hardware, and enables open ME: Have any other machine builders opened an app store? Sides: Not that I m aware of. Okuma has embraced the Microsoft, Google, and Apple open-architecture models of encouraging third-party developers to develop apps to run on our control. We know we can t be all things to all users, so why not make it easy for our customers to customize our control, or commission a third party, to fit their own needs and to make their Okuma machines truly their own? The Okuma App Store URL, was born of that personalized concept. We want to use technology to make manufacturing easy. access to peripheral equipment and integration of manufacturing productivity software of your own choosing. The Okuma App Store is setting the stage for complete machine tool user empowerment. With the App Store we re delivering the full potential of what s possible with a truly open-architecture control. The needs of each user are unique, and now anyone can develop apps to fulfill those needs. On the App Store, we share apps that have already been developed and tested for immediate use. You can also create your own custom apps and can potentially post them to our App Store if you wish to share them. We care about our customers overall manufacturing productivity first and believe that the App Store helps enable that. ME: At IMTS Okuma demonstrated some interesting productivity apps, like the Part Flip Monitor. Describe some of the others that are currently available. Sides: Tough one, since they all have some relationship to improving productivity, but I will highlight the Scheduled Maintenance App. This app reads the onboard maintenance manual on your machine and populates a schedule to pop up reminders to the operator of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance requirements that help keep the machine tool running at optimum performance. We all get a reminder from our car [you know, that idiot light ] that says it is time to change the oil the Scheduled Maintenance App does just that. Preventive maintenance requirements, such as changing 30 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com November 2014

2 Software Update wear items including wipers, fluids, etc., are popped up on the screen based on run time to encourage care to keep the machine tool [likely the most expensive piece of capital equipment in the shop] running properly. ME: These apps are downloaded directly to the Okuma THINC OSP control, rather to a smartphone or other mobile device. Can users also download a mobile version? The new Okuma App Store features several practical, productivity-enhancing apps Sides: Good question. for machinists using Okuma s open-architecture THINC-OSP machine control. Obviously, we were motivated by the smartphone apps phenomenon to create machine tool designed to run on the Okuma control. That s because many apps. Currently, most of the apps on the Okuma App Store are of them interact directly with the control to read and write Image courtesy Okuma America Corp. Solution Evolution. Experience Does Count... A Leader in EDM Since Everything for EDM Michigan :: North Carolina :: Massachusetts :: California :: Illinois Headquarters :: Phone :: Fax :: ISO 9001: ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com November 2014

3 information directly to and from our control in operation. For Sides: We were overwhelmed by the attendees desire to instance, there are currently two alarm monitoring apps that learn at IMTS Both the increase in attendance and the will send you an or text message if the machine has obvious attention to how technology can improve manufacturing in the 1 Americas 3/31/14 10:45 were very AM encouraging. Page 1 I was also taken stopped for some reason, so that you can go _ME_Chair_ad_Layout to that machine and clear the stoppage. Obviously, that needs to run on the machine. However, Sandvik Coromant, one of our Partners in THINC, came to us and suggested they adapt their alreadyavailable mobile apps for calculating optimum feeds and speeds for their tools to run as an app on our PC-based control. That is what is currently posted to the Okuma App Store. Now we are currently working with them to include links from the Okuma App Store to both Apple App Store and Google Play for their mobile versions. Again, we want to use technology to make manufacturing easy. ME: What are the main advantages of an open-architecture control like THINC OSP for today s machine tools? Sides: Opening your control so anyone can do it is the difference. As providers of technology to the metalcutting industry, it is incumbent upon us the OEMs to offer our customers access to Looking to make things a whole lot easier the best of the best technology. The automobile OEMs long ago gave up develop- around your shop? If you re looking for powerful CAM software that makes everyone s job easier ing their own audio systems and said, while providing support that you can rest assured in, GibbsCAM is Why don t we just call Bose? They re YOUR CAM software solution. the audio experts. Now you can get any new GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, etc., with a superior audio system. Similarly, Okuma doesn t pretend to be metrology or business systems experts. You will find Powerfully Simple. Simply Powerful. apps from Renishaw and Blum for metrology and soon you will see apps from Memex and 5ME posted for manufacturing business execution, with more from others to come in both contexts. And that is just the beginning. ME: How did IMTS look from your Solid 2-5 Axis High-Speed Multi-Task Swiss Tombstone Turning Mill/Turn Modeling Milling Machining Machining Machining Machining perspective? How does 2015 look for the manufacturing industry? Wire-EDM November 2014 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 33

4 Software Update by the new generation of young people interested in coming to manufacturing. As a member of Generation X, I am in a minority among my peers working in manufacturing. I was very happy to see the next gen engaged and excited to consider a career in manufacturing. It bodes well for the future well beyond Hopefully, the Okuma App Store adds to that appeal. ME Software s Wide-Ranging Impact on GDP, Productivity and Jobs new study by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA; Washington, DC) shows that the US A software industry has had a dramatic and highly positive effect on the country s economic growth, trade and jobs. The report, released on Sept. 17, The U.S. Software Industry: An Engine for Economic Growth and Employment, was produced by the SIIA along with an independent analysis firm Sonecon LLC (Washington, DC) and its chairman and co-founder, Robert Shapiro, former undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton. A tremendous shift has taken place in the past 20 years, the report concludes, in which software has become a vital enabling technology used in virtually every economic sector and industry. Software contributes an increasing amount to GDP, the report noted, stating that from 1997 to 2012, the US software industry production increased from $149 billion to $425 billion, increasing its direct share of US GDP from 1.7 to 2.6%. During that same period, the industry experienced an annual average growth rate of 7.2%, two-thirds faster than the overall economy. The study also examines how software is increasingly driving overall economic productivity, noting that it accounted for 12.1% of all US labor productivity gains from 1995 to 2004, and 15.4% from 2004 to The central role of software in business operations is clear, but the role it plays in driving the American economy has not been well understood until now, said Mark MacCarthy, SIIA vice president, Public USER DEFINED WITH THE SHOP FLOOR IN MIND The All-New SF CMM Designed first and foremost for shop floor users, the SF excels in harsh manufacturing environments and introduces a variety of advancements focused on usability and enhanced productivity. Learn more about the SF s groundbreaking user experience features at or call for more information. 34 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com November 2014

5 Policy. Using solid data, we ve been able to capture the real economic impact of software and software-driven automation. Software has become an enormous driving force, creating significant economic output and jobs as an industry and serving as an economic catalyst across almost the entire US economy. In fact, our study finds that every 10 software jobs support five jobs in other industries. correction effect. In some applications, the IndraMotion MTX vcp can improve volumetric accuracy by over 90%. Software Update is edited by Patrick Waurzyniak; New Releases Automation developer Bosch Rexroth Corp. (Charlotte, NC) Sept 25 announced it has expanded its Rexroth IndraMotion MTX CNC system to include its new Open Core Engineering software capabilities that enhance operator control and integrate mobile devices into the system. Photo courtesy Bosch Rexroth Bosch Rexroth s Open Core Interface adds new software toolkits and easily integrates mobile devices into the company s IndraMotion MTX CNC controls. The updates include a new Indra- Motion MTX vcp function toolkit for volumetric error compensation so the CNC automatically compensates for inaccuracies in the entire machining area. The 3D compensation of deviations in position, straightness, rotation, and perpendicularity is especially useful in the case of large-volume components. The bigger the machine workspace, the more significant the software function s Ra0,2 DEPENDENT ON MATERIAL ECM / PECM MACHINE PO 900 BF Top Precision Turbine Components 1 2 3» No adverse effect on material» Machining of high-tensile alloys» Minimal Tool Wear November 2014 ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 35