ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING is the magazine devoted to industrial applications of 3D printing and digital layering technology. We cover the promise and the challenges of this technology for making functional tooling and end-use production parts.
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MAY 2016 Additive Manufacturing 20 By Tim Shinbara, VP – Manufacturing Technology, AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology We live in an era of increased "open- ness." While it seems to evoke feelings of goodness, few folks outside of software programmers and device integrators really know what that means (or why it's even "goodness"). There are reasons to be both aware and understanding of the nuances, benefts and characteristics of open architectures in the manufacturing technology domain. To begin there needs to be some lay of the land to help navigate the aspects of openness. Let's look at the details between open architecture and open source. Open Architecture Versus Open Source Open source is probably the term most have heard or at least many think is the term for all things "open." However, there is a diference between open source and open architecture. First, open source generally refers to a computer program where the source code is available to the general public. The key with open source is that such code is intended to be accessed, improved and provided back to the community at-large. In comparison, while open architecture still may include How Ideas Start the Innovation Process: Open Architecture's Role in Advancing Manufacturing software, it also includes hardware, and is more focused, generally, on enabling the addition, upgrading or swapping of components. Second, there are diferences in the enabling features of each. Open source is generally developed around free licenses and interactive communities with a more de- centralized model of production. Open architecture is gener- ally designed around published frameworks that describe how interfaces, expansions and substitutions may be realized in its application. Third, you could grossly diferentiate by saying open source is for the programming of devices and open archi- tecture is for the connectivity, utilization and networking of the devices. In open architecture scenarios, users are provided partial if not full access without proprietary constraints. In a closed scenario such access is either not allowed or is licensed, usually per fee, as a proprietary solution to the marketplace. Generally, open architectures are founded upon fundamental intellectual property (IP) but make the application, integration or further development available to the customer to best advance the capability to their needs. In contrast, generally, a proprietary solution encompasses more of the solution as its own IP which may increase reliability, but may also reduce the potential for customers to further advance for their needs. A critical point of open architecture is the balance between minimal open coverage with the high levels of reliability expected by indus- try. Therefore, it is important in requirements development to identify how reliability can scale and where dynamic, future criteria may still best be met. Advancing Manufacturing Open architecture has potential application in manufacturing from shopfoor devices (such as machine tools; in particular their controllers); hardware platforms (servers, PC-based hard- ware); operating systems (Windows, iOS, Android); or infra- structural (data models and services such as TCP/IP or HTTP); and informational models (MTConnect, OPC UA, ISA-95, etc.). It is not happenstance that things like TCP/IP and HTTP which are most synonymous with the internet and its myriad protocols are also being incorporated in the advanced manu- facturing environment. Scalability, extensibility and reliability are the founding tenents that best prepare an industry for the dynamics and speed of innovation that is today's production economy. Many times even specifcations themselves need in- teroperability such as the manufacturing technology semantics Device Maker Use Case for MTConnect Companion Spec to OPC UA. SOURCE: MTConnect Institute