EVERYTHING CONNECTED – Numorpho's Book of Business

20240909 – @ IMTS 2024

At IMTS 2024, Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) had the opportunity to further explore and validate our business model by engaging with numerous existing partners and potential collaborators. Throughout the event, we strengthened our focus on the two key aspects of our business purpose:

  • Cybernetics 2.0 – defining the next evolution for Process Engineering and Manufacturing Execution Systems using GenAI, Simulation, AR/VR and Inference Engines, and
  • Additive Manufacturing – evolving our “Born, not Built” theme for next generation manufacturing using 3D printing using composites and metals.

These facets serve as the foundation for our process engineering platform, which enables the development of smart, connected products, and services to promote the adoption of Industry 4.0 that enables smart manufacturing, and morphing to what we call Industry and Services 5.0 that will usher in the era of intelligent solutions.

By fostering strong existing relationships and forging new alliances, we aim to demonstrate the immense potential of our innovative approach to Cybernetics 2.0 and Additive Manufacturing. As we continue to refine our platform and gather support from industry leaders, Numorpho is poised to revolutionize the manufacturing and maintenance processes across various industries.

It was great to see the focus that more that 3500 companies convene in the largest conference in the world that occupied all the North, South, East and West halls of the McCormick Place in Chicago and the progress they have made in the past two years. Some key aspects were:

  • Advances in Additive Manufacturing particularly Metal 3D printing and the use of AI in real time monitoring of the build. Also, the consolidations that are underway in this domain.
  • The utilization of the Cloud to manage industrial processes with AWS, GCP and Azure taking the lead.
  • The advances in materials technologies.
  • Cobotic ROS and the precise and safe movements of ARVs.
  • The use of Industrial Copilots, the use of LLM and GenAI in PLC programming and other industrial operations.

Our participation in IMTS 2024 has provided valuable insights and feedback, which will be instrumental in our pursuit to deliver cutting-edge solutions that drive efficiency, sustainability, and innovation. We look forward to nurturing our partnerships and building on the success of this event as we pave the way for a transformative future in manufacturing and technology.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DAY 1

Opened the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show and even got a 3D printed Token from Würth Additive Group.

A lot of our smart helmets are going to be on display, so come on by to McCormick Place.

@West Wing of McCormick is mainly about Additive Manufacturing and is going to be the focus for Day 1.

Great meetings with Würth Group, @AMSolutions, Stratasys, @RevAMfg, Formlabs, Dyndrite, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, KEYENCE CORPORATION each having a unique perspective on the future of AM. It is amazing how AM technology has progressed.

Great bumping into you David Ramirez, Carolyn Carta, MS, PhD, Derek McMullen and Kat Seale.

Afterhours with AWS and NetApps

Thank you, Terry Guzowski, Donna Yasay and Yossi Gabay for inviting me to your after-hours meetup during the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show at the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant on the south side.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Web Services, NetApp experts and key industry partners and peers had an evening of connections and discussion around smart manufacturing and the future of product engineering workloads.

We had a real good discussion on the future of PLM and how a cloud enabled provisioning would elevate it to accommodate for smart manufacturing needs like additive manufacturing, optimized supply chain and the infusion of GenAI in product innovation collaboration.

Thank you Russ Sagert (NetApp) and Tarun Philar (Capgemini) for the invigorating pre-discussions on the future of manufacturing.

Albeit, PLM has been slow in lifting and shifting to the new paradigm, “change is coming”. We are seeing a lot of companies adopt a cloud first strategy to harmonize the end-to-end management of the product from understanding technical debt, duplication and replication, reducing product development timelines and optimizing supply chain.

Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) is committed to envisioning a future where process engineering is intelligent, collaborative, integrated and interoperable with all connected systems coordinating in the activities that our platform, the Mantra M5 will help orchestrate the make, manage, move, market and maintain activities.

DAY 2

@HARTING

It was wonderful to meet my former colleague Amanda Marx who now leads Digital Strategy and IT at HARTING Americas.

We had a long chat reminiscing our past projects, the one particularly where we helped lift UL Solutions from brick and mortar to a consolidated online presence both for their marketing and customer relationship portal. We toured the world training the UL staff to author and manage web site content in the then fledgling WCM tools and search engines (circa 2008). This was during our stint at Acquity Group that was later part of Accenture Digital.

Founded in 1945, Harting is the gold standard for connectivity for industrial environments and mission-critical applications. Working in conjunction with Microsoft and Siemens, they have created a generative AI tool that enables the creation of a custom connector using prompt engineering that runs their own LLM in conjunction with Siemens tools to create a CAD model of an optimized connector based on the Harting catalog to meet the requirements you specify in simple text form.

Developments like this are key for us at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) as we build our agentic process engineering platform to collaborate with what are called Industrial Copilots to facilitate manufacturing using generative AI and inferencing. The make, manage and maintain portions of our Mantra M5 platform will be integrated with tools such as this to enable digital twinning and the orchestration of what we call Cybernetics 2.0, the coordination of command, control and communication with the use of feedback loops.

Mo Omer, Geoffrey Clark

@SANDVIK

My dad worked at Sandvik Coromant for more than two decades (1969-1989) and it was always fun to visit him in their office at the Air India building (my first time in an elevator) in Bombay (Mumbai). Albeit, they were located on the 7th floor, it was always a rush to take it all the way upto 27 in one of the first skyscrapers built in India in the reclaimed Marine Drive area in Bombay south.

Sandvik made tungsten carbide cutting tools and was the largest supplier of parts to the Indian Railways and had/has a large manufacturing plant outside Pune.

It was great to see Sandvik at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show yesterday and meet with Glenn Nordh who is also a lifer at Sandvik where both his dad and grandfather have spent careers at.

Sandvik has since grown to a large corporation having done multiple acquisitions, some of them being showcased here at IMTS2024. Their focus is “simplifying complexity” by inculcating habits to improve manufacturing wellness (they have a monthly newsfeed on this) by shaping the future together as is evident from their video casts.

Of particular interest to us at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) is their subsidiary called @Osprey that makes medal powers and alloys with controlled thermal expansions. This is of particular interest to us as we move into 3D metal printing which has already gained quite a momentum in the Additive Manufacturing domain as is evident from companies like Markforged, Desktop Metal, Würth Additive Group, Dyndrite, Farsoon Technologies (Reduced supports) and others that I am going to visit today.

cuttingtools, 3dmetalprinting

DAY 3

@Wurth Additive Group

Day 3 of my ubiquitous stop at the Würth Group booth. Thank you for showcasing the Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) smart helmets. Your advice and partner contacts were invaluable in its development and progression into a full-fledged PPE (Personnel Protection Equipment).

Grant Michel
Alexander Stemper
AJ Strandquist
Jacob Ayers
Michael Johnson
Benjamin Franklin Cybulski III
Tyler Brown
Felix Münch
Katelyn Lennon
Javier Pacheco

Sabina Terzic

Thank you Jeffrey Wernette and Kat Seale for demoing them!

@Lift

Day 3 at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show and attended two sessions by a former colleague Tony Bromwell who is now with LIFT (not Lyft), which is part of the Manufacturing Innovative Institutes (MII) subset of Manufacturing USA portfolio of companies.

As VP of Advanced Development, Tony focuses on advancing material developments for extreme environments, multi-threading processes to account for issues in equipment malfunction and supply chain vagrancies and planning for next development of composite materials.

– Session 1 at the FormNext stage on the west side focused on how MIIs accelerate material development.
– Session 2 was about multi-threading manufacturing processes.

Both these sessions are of particular importance to Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) as we utilize advances in additive manufacturing to compose our helmets for the different constituencies where the composition of materials and the fill patterns will be key for safety and weight considerations – two attributes that pull in opposite directions.

Tony is a big proponent of ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) where the composite/alloy is formed digitally using atomic, nano, micro and macro sizes before being physically formulated. Lift is also involved in building a cohesive multi-threaded manufacturing process that accounts for issues and can sense and pivot to changes in the set-up due to unforeseen conditions. This matches well with our Digital Twine reference architecture where systems conjoin in a series of digital threads and digital twins to fabricate the process details.

We look forward to future interactions with Tony and Lift especially with our adventure into the realm of material formulations using PETG, PETG-CF, ABS and ASA with gyroid infill to optimize the product for different conditions. As mentioned in prior posts, we are working with the Würth Additive Group to build test coupons (aka Mini-Me) to represent characteristics of the actual product and is also printed in-situ. This is a great case for non-destructive testing in Additive Manufacturing. Wurth’s Digital Inventory System (DIS) would also be the basis for streamlining additive manufacturing processes that and be part of the multi-threaded manufacturing process management that Tony refers to.

Carolyn Carta, MS, PhD, Edu Sciammarella, Dr. Federico Sciammarella

@EOS

Spent some time with the EOS team discussing the needs for shell printing and padding for our smart helmets.

Thank you, Dave Krzeminski, PhD, Matt Held, Noha Peter for the wonderful discussion we had.

Digital Foam is the term they use to define their 3D printing Technology to produce flexible and adaptable polymer products with additive manufacturing.

We at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) will be looking at how we can harness the potential of materials like TPU and PEBA to provide the needs for foam and padding in the interstices of the helmet where the needs for graded attenuation of impact and cushioning are key for comfort and safety, proper functioning of the helmet and for it to meet certification standards.

We would like to integrate the EOS Digital Foam technology with our Digital Twine process where the creation of the lattice is governed by engineering and physics using lattice structure simulation to optimize the structural capabilities of the helmet which then gets printed to form a physical product. Here is where we potentially can interact with simulation software from CAE vendors like Ansys, nTop and General Lattice using agentic interactions and our Tendril Connector in our generative AI process engineering platform, the Mantra M5 to enable the integrations to enable the “make” of the product.

Check the images herewith where we have placed our helmet next to two production helmets they were showcasing. Also check the 3D printed bike seat.

Carolyn Carta, MS, PhD Edu Sciammarella Dr. Federico Sciammarella James Shaw

DAY 5

@Markforged

It was great to meet with Douglas Piazza and Joe Winter from Markforged at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show.

Markforged was Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) first partner as we embarked on our journey with Addititive Manufacturing (AM).

Precision, quality and reinforcement have been the hallmark of the digital forge, Eiger fleet and continuous reinforcement technologies at Markforged and we are excited about continuing our relationship as we advance to utilizing AI and ML in our Born, not Built theme for creating smart and connected products.

@Shining 3D

Visited the East Wing of McCormick Place at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show and it’s all about Metrology – measurements.

For us at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) it’s about validating the 3D print vs CAD to ensure that the physical is corresponding to the digital. In some of our other use cases it is also about re-engineering to recreate a part that does not have it’s original CAD. This is true about parts in legacy equipment where the OEM no longer exists, or the part was created before the advent of CAD.

Scanning and measurements from the atomic to nano to micro and macro was part of yesterday when I visited Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and it’s Center for Complex and Active Materials MRSEC but that is a story for another article.

@Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

Of course, had to “drive” a nascar – at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence booth at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show. Thank you Grant Michel for taping! I think I won the race!!

A bit about Hexagon. Albeit it has been focused on making manufacturing smart, it also has two other divisions that relate to our business purpose at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO):
1. The Metrology division that also includes 10xICME aka e-Xstream aggregates tools, solutions and providers into 10 modules to enable material engineering solutions in an integrated portal. icme
2. MSC Software division that provides CAE simulation solutions to validate producers virtually before physical build. My first job out of college was with Universal Analytics where I helped develop design optimization (now called generative design) and stress & strain material definitions in NASTRAN which was acquired by MSC the largest engineering software company in the world.

As we progress with our Tendril Connector that integrates agentic tools in our GenAI platform the Mantra M5 in this case to make, manage and maintain, we will be looking at the trifecta of Hexagon to enable engineering of processes.

@INFOR

So, this is about Enterprise Resources and Planning (ERP) Systems, in particular Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) that Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) is evolving via our Cybernetics 2.0 based Mantra M5 platform to enable activities in make, manage, move, market and maintain.

SAP and Oracle (with PeopleSoft and NetSuite) have been the leading providers of such tools that require a great deal of customization which has been the bane of existence for companies like Accenture who have provided back-office support for managing and operating these tools.

In my career as a middleware Integration specialist, I have helped large corporations by architecting blueprints to obtain information from local servers and making them accessible online and also enable them via cloud provisioning and big-data analytics.

In 2016 Koch Industries was evaluating such a lift-and-shift and invested in Infor. As part of a team, I helped evaluate the migration of certain MES systems for their subsidiary Georgia Pacific and to enable them via remote access through the cloud. Post the successful evaluation, Koch consistently upped their stake in the Infor platform to eventually own it completely.

Shown below is the process flow diagram from Infor’s booth at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show. It was good to meet with Brian Delaney (thanks for the beer!) and others that made me reminisce my past with the Georgia Pacific in the 6+month project in Atlanta.

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As we evolve our Cybernetics 2.0 platform to enable communication, command and control via virtual interactions (AR/VR and digital twins) and appropriate feedback that add intelligence to our systems, we will be looking at integrating it with systems such as Infor to provide for the digital thread in our midstream implementations to conjoin with our upstream (product development) and downstream (marketing, sales and aftermarket) digital twine fabric.

To achieve a comprehensive and integrated solution, Numorpho will incorporate robotics, AI/ML, and agentic interactions into our Mantra M5 platform using the Linked Solutioning partner model. Cloud connectivity from providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud would be needed to provide the data “infrastructure” for such undertakings.

By combining these advanced technologies, Numorpho aims to enhance Manufacturing Engineering Systems (MES) by coordinating with system like Infor and foster seamless collaboration between various components within the manufacturing ecosystem. This digital twine fabric will enable end-to-end coordination, driving innovation, efficiency, and overall business growth.

Mo Omer, Jeffrey Wernette, Brian C Knapp

Sidebar with Dr. CC: PLASTICS AND AM

What do they say about plastics? You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!! Such is our adventure with Additive Manufacturing when it comes to using composite materials whilst 3D printing.

At Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) we have used a plethora of materials from PLA for initial prototyping to ABS for strong, ASA for intermediate and PETG and it’s variants PETG-CF, PETG-HF for its sustainable to more exotic ones made by our partners at Markforged (Onyx), igus Inc. (iglide, igumid,….), Mholland3D (Braskem) and the Inland, Protoplast varieties from Micro Center.

On a couple of initiatives that we are embarking on with our partners, our goal is to include tenets of circularity to recycle support materials with companies like Shifting Shap3s (Ghazaleh Afrahi) taking a lead to convert them back to filaments, albeit a Frankenstein version as Michael Johnson from Würth Additive Group aptly described it since its properties will vary based on the left-over material being used. But it will help validate prototype design and reduce waste by recycling it. And who knows we might discover new composites with unanticipated properties too.

Our commitment to using cutting-edge materials for Additive Manufacturing, combined with our expertise in AI-driven design and optimization, allows Numorpho to create innovative and sustainable solutions for our clients. We aim to drive the transition towards Industry 4.0 and beyond, leveraging AM and advanced materials to unlock new possibilities in product development, manufacturing, and customer enablement.

Specifically for our smart helmets that are 3D printed, depending on the domain and use case, we plan create a perfect recipe that not only contains the composite material but also the complete steps for the part creation and validation. Here we plan to utilize Würth Additive Group’s Digital Inventory System that will be discussed in subsequent articles.

DAY 6

@Raise3D

One-shot printing has been an issue for us at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) for 3D printing all the slats (and housings) of our smart helmet in one go. Although the design corresponds to a Kirigami pattern, the needs of displacing it a bit to avoid sticking and having a (real) brim in some slats prevented us front single printing the whole helmet.

The advantages of one-shot printing are that it reduces the number of times you have to manage the print activities and also sets the same environmental parameters for the whole helmet. This is particularly useful as we start utilizing Würth Group‘s Digital Inventory System (DIS) and our test coupon methodology of creating “Mini-Me” of the part as a true sample of the original.

In discussions with Würth Additive Group and with Grant Michel helping us achieve one shot by using Raise3D Technologies FDM printers we are reviewing them for industrial strength and commercial viability.

Got a chance to visit their booth at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show on this it’s 6th day and met with Brad Sebastian and Jose Luis Rodriguez to review how Raise3D could help us not only with one-shot but also production speed and small batch manufacturing (using their Houston based print farm).

@WURTH DIS

Just because they gave me a sticker to put on my laptop, I guess I have to talk about Würth Additive Group’s Digital Inventory System (DIS).

But seriously, the DIS enables the coordination of processes to enable 3D printing and related activities to be specified using a recipe that has all the “ingredients” of making the part, its validations and record keeping, and if needed it’s encryption for security. You can manage single prints, batch prints or prints to different print farms knowing that the folks on the other side have all the details needed to ensure that the job is done correctly.

This fits perfectly into our agentic architecture of our process engineering platform, the Mantra M5 to help coordinate the Additive Manufacturing process and enable seamless collaboration between the different constituencies of the build process.

We at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) have signed a Letter of Intent to have our smart helmet be part of the DIS catalog and look forward to having an exciting and seamless experience “manufacturing” them.

Thank you Grant Michel, Jacob Ayers and Alexander Stemper and everyone from team Würth Group who were at the IMTS – International Manufacturing Technology Show supporting our venture.

As we move forward with this collaboration, Numorpho remains committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation and integrating cutting-edge technologies into our solutions. Together with partners like Würth Additive Group, we can create a more sustainable and efficient future for manufacturing and maintenance processes.

NITIN UCHIL Founder, CEO & Technical Evangelist
nitin.uchil@numorpho.com

REFERENCES:

As a significant event in the manufacturing industry, IMTS 2024 offered attendees access to multiple stages featuring diverse content, including the IMTS+ Main Stage, IMTS+ AfterWords, Formnext Stage, and the SPS – Smart Production Solutions Stage. Participants could also explore the show floor, searching and viewing various exhibitors, booths, and product categories.

History of IMTS

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Event Overview

  • IMTS 2024 was held at McCormick Place in Chicago
  • It is considered the largest and longest-running industry trade show in the Western Hemisphere
  • The event showcased more than 15,000 new machine tools, controls, computers, software, components, and systems

Attendance and Participation

  • Over 100,000 buyers and sellers from 117 countries attended
  • The show occupied all four buildings of McCormick Place

Technological Focus

  • The event highlighted advancements in manufacturing technology, including:
    • Additive manufacturing
    • Machining centers
    • Automation and robotics
    • Digital factories

Economic Impact

  • IMTS 2024 generated significant economic activity for Chicago
  • It contributed to filling local hotels and restaurants

Industry Trends

  • The show emphasized the ongoing digital transformation in manufacturing
  • There was a strong focus on sustainability and energy-efficient solutions

Educational Component

  • IMTS 2024 featured conferences, workshops, and demonstrations
  • These sessions aimed to educate attendees on the latest industry trends and technologies

IMTS 2024 served as a crucial platform for showcasing innovation and fostering business connections in the manufacturing technology sector.

numorpho

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