A bunch of items on spam, soccer, manufacturing news, motivation and MEMS
Spam
I see the spammers have discovered this site. For those of you who subscribe to comments, I’m sorry. If the volume picks up, I’ll have to moderate comments to eliminate them.
Soccer
The first weekend of August is soccer referee clinic and meeting weekend. I attended an advanced referee clinic, meeting of the Ohio South State Referee Committee and two high school meetings. In Ohio South, we are working hard to polish online learning. The entry class I taught last night had taken the current online course and all were happy with it. I’ll see how they do on the exam next week. High school sports point of emphasis this year is head injuries–especially recognizing signs of potential concussion. We are trying to raise awareness.
Stuxnet
The recent Stuxnet worm targeting Siemens systems has highlighted the potential vulnerability of industrial control systems using traditional anti-virus security measures. I’ve been following this story. Recently Eric Byres updated his information based on the new Microsoft patch. Now Industrial Defender has issued an updated Technical Paper describing the Stuxnet worm in detail, as well as its impact on industrial control systems, and providing a broad range of remediation suggestions that owners/operators can put into practice immediately to protect their critical systems. You’ll have to register for the site.
Cyber-certified DCS
Invensys Operations Management claims the first Achilles certified DCS system. Its Foxboro I/A Series distributed control system (DCS) operator workstations have passed the Achilles Cyber Security Certification test, performed by Wurldtech Security Technologies. The testing was conducted on the Foxboro I/A Series Model P92 Workstation for Microsoft Windows hardware and I/A Series AW70 human machine interface (HMI) software for the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, including I/A Series FoxView, FoxAlert, Alarm Manager and System Manager applications.
Manufacturing Technology Consumption
June U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $241.47 million, according to AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 35.8% from May and up 71.1% from the total of $141.12 million reported for June 2009. With a year-to-date total of $1,207.60 million, 2010 is up 56.1% compared with 2009.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
“Typically, manufacturing technology order rates slow down in the months leading up to the International Manufacturing Technology Show – IMTS (Sept. 13-18, McCormick Place, Chicago, Ill.), the largest production technology show in the Americas,” said Douglas K. Woods, AMT president. “However, increased foreign direct investment and a doubling of orders in aerospace and construction equipment through the first half 2010 resulted in an acceleration of USMTC orders rather than the typical slow down.”
The United States Manufacturing Technology Consumption (USMTC) report, jointly compiled by the two trade associations representing the production and distribution of manufacturing technology, provides regional and national U.S. consumption data of domestic and imported machine tools and related equipment. Analysis of manufacturing technology consumption provides a reliable leading economic indicator as manufacturing industries invest in capital metalworking equipment to increase capacity and improve productivity.
Rockwell Exec on Federal Manufacturing Panel
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke issued a call to action Thursday to revitalize the nation’s manufacturing sector. “A vibrant manufacturing sector isn’t just critical for the millions of Americans whose jobs depend on it,” Locke said as he appointed new members to the 2010 Manufacturing Council. “Manufacturing is absolutely central to driving the innovation that fuels the American economy.”
Among the 24 manufacturing leaders appointed to the Council, was Michael Laszkiewicz, Rockwell Automation’s vice president and general manager of the company’s Power Control Business.
Laszkiewicz said the Council’s work comes at a critical moment for American manufacturers.
“Ten years from now global manufacturing will look nothing like it does today,” Laszkiewicz said. “We hope that the federal government will join forces with American manufacturers to foster the next round of technological innovation that will create highly efficient smart factories.”
Locke said the Council will bring him ideas for ways the federal government can support manufacturing and exports.
Motivation
I’m currently reading Danial Pink’s latest book, “Drive” about motivation. He cites research with perhaps startling conclusions. For thought work, if you pay enough to take the issue of pay off the table, additional money is actually a disincentive for increased productivity. Here is a short video recap done in an animated style (kind of like the UPS guy at the white board).
Net Generation Isn’t
This person posting on Slashdot cites a study that seeks to debunk some of the myths around kids and the Internet. They may not be as native as popular media seek to portray. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/08/08/2139210/The-Net-Generation-Isnt
MEMS Technology Summit
The MEMS Technology Summit which will take place on October 18-20, 2010 at the Stanford University. The conference will feature a mix of leading worldwide experts who will share their extensive experience and review from today’s perspective the critical academic and commercialization developments of the past and offer personal insights into future directions. The program content will provide attendees with valuable lessons to be used as stepping stones to the future success of MEMS. In addition to the featured speakers, a number of panel discussions are planned including “Monetizing MEMS” which will conclude the program.
The cost of the event is $595. before September 1, 2010 and $695. thereafter. Click for more information on schedule details, agenda, speakers’ bios and abstracts, housing and other incidentals.
