TAMS · Products and their production records
Connecting physical products to manufacturing data
A manufactured object can carry a permanent link to information about how it was produced. Made is a TAMS demonstration of that connection: a physical product, an engraved identity, and associated MTConnect manufacturing evidence.
TAMS connected the machine, collected and reviewed its production data, and demonstrated replay of selected evidence. Explore how that foundation could help manufacturing context remain useful beyond the factory that produced it.
Follow the connection
The object is the starting point. Its web identity makes the context and evidence behind its production discoverable.
Physical product
An item you can hold, use, or pass on to someone else.
Serial and QR code
An engraved serial identifies the item. Its QR code points to a permanent TAMS URL.
Permanent product page
The same web address provides a place to find the item's serialized record over time.
Production metadata
Material, manufacturing date, equipment, and batch describe the associated production operation.
MTConnect evidence
An associated .mep package makes archived manufacturing information available for inspection.
For example, serial TAMS26-0047 corresponds to
https://tamsconnect.com/made/TAMS26-0047.
That address identifies the physical item even when the way its data is stored changes.
Information that remains discoverable
What an MTConnect Exchange Package demonstrates
An MTConnect Exchange Package (.mep) is a proposed, experimental container format for packaging MTConnect information. It has been proposed to the MTConnect Institute in connection with the Capabilities Working Group. It is not an approved MTConnect Standard or approved Institute specification.
In this prototype, the package holds archived manufacturing evidence associated with an item's production operation. Keeping that evidence discoverable from the product lets a visitor move from seeing an object to exploring its manufacturing context.
Our goal is an openly specified format for offline MTConnect data that multiple tools can produce and consume. Acceptance as an open standard is an ambition, not the current status of the proposal.
The item, its description, and its evidence
The serial identifies the physical product. The page describes that product and its production context. The associated package contains the archived technical data.
The web record also expresses the relationship in structured metadata that software can read. The intent is to make manufacturing information easier to find and understand beyond the system that originally captured it.
This is an exploration of how physical products and manufacturing information can stay connected. The evidence available depends on what was actually captured during production.
One physical item, a shared production operation
The initial demonstration uses TAMS promotional magnets for IMTS 2026. Several magnets can be made from one sheet during the same Glowforge operation.
Each finished magnet has its own serial and permanent page. Magnets from the same operation can reference the same batch-level MTConnect capture and .mep package.
That association does not establish individually isolated machine observations for every magnet. It connects the serialized item to the operation in which it was produced, with the scope of the record explained on its page.
The same approach can be used for future serialized products. The magnet is the first example of the connection.
Inside the IMTS 2026 magnet demonstration
From machine connection to verified replay
Made on a Glowforge. Connected through Edge-Connect.
The Glowforge Pro that manufactured the magnet blanks was connected through an Edge-Connect MTConnect Adapter. Revolution's data collector collected the machine data from that Adapter. The Glowforge was the sole source of the manufacturing data in these packages.
In Revolution's NC Program Map, TAMS manually reviewed the captured operation and carefully selected non-sensitive data related to each batch for export as a .mep file.
Each magnet has its own permanent identity. Multiple blanks from the same operation share the associated batch production evidence.
Exported from Revolution. Replayed in Edge-Connect.
For the first batch, IMTS26-0001, TAMS imported the Revolution-exported package into Program Replay in the Edge-Connect web application running on the OnLogic computer monitoring the Glowforge.
The package did not include an Edge-Connect dashboard configuration. Using Map to Current Dashboard, TAMS mapped the imported observations to the existing Glowforge dashboard by DataItemId and successfully replayed the captured manufacturing activity.
Verified for the first batch in the existing Glowforge configuration. This demonstrates that selected evidence remained usable after export and import between TAMS applications. Other packages and receiving configurations require their own compatibility checks.
Put manufacturing data to work
Edge-Connect and Revolution powered the magnet demonstration. Explore the tools behind the captured evidence, replay manufacturing activity, or try exporting and exploring your own experimental .mep packages.
Shop-Connect
The Shop-Connect web application supports .mep export and import through Program Replay, allowing you to revisit captured manufacturing data.
This functionality is also available on Edge-Connect, where TAMS verified import and replay of the first magnet batch's Revolution-exported package.
Revolution
The Revolution monitoring platform supports exporting .mep files from NC Program Map, making captured manufacturing information portable.
For the magnet demonstration, Revolution collected the Glowforge data, and TAMS used NC Program Map to manually review and select the batch evidence for export.
Experimental MEP Export Extension
Generate a portable .mep capture using the MTConnect Reference Agent with the free TAMS style extension. Archive or share manufacturing data for later investigation and analysis.
The extension is provided by TAMS. The .mep format is proposed and experimental, not an approved MTConnect specification, and this package is not an official Reference Agent feature.
MEP Explorer
Explore what a captured manufacturing operation can tell you about execution activity, process preparation, production counts, and the evidence behind the data.
Start with a Made production example, or analyze a supported .mep file when uploads are enabled. These summaries describe observed states; they do not establish OEE or standards conformance.
What if your next component arrived with its manufacturing context?
A component can reach its customer while useful production context remains scattered across its supplier's machines and software. This demonstration connects a physical item to selected evidence from its manufacturing operation.
Our Integration Journey: Connect, Validate, Monitor, Analyze, Improve provides a foundation for making machine data useful. Extending that usefulness across organizational boundaries also requires agreed evidence requirements, preserved production context, and appropriate access arrangements.
TAMS is seeking partners to demonstrate that next step: one supplier, one receiving organization, one manufacturing operation, and one question the receiving team needs the evidence to answer. Together, we can define the handoff and measurable acceptance criteria.
Discuss a supply-chain demonstrationExplore the data behind a product
Scan the item's QR code to visit its permanent product page. Read the production context, then request the associated package when it is available.
The request form asks for your name, company, and email. After a successful request, you can download the .mep package from that product experience. Check the product page for package-specific viewing guidance and its verification status.