Hello + What You’ll Find Here

I help create manufacturing software that connects machines, people, and data to keep production flowing with minimal drama. This site will be a collection of things that worked, dead ends I wish I’d skipped, and anything personally relevant. Note that this is a static site. Posts are plain markdown with code, logs, and step-by-step procedures. I will try to incorporate visuals and interactive elements as possible.

What to expect

• Traceable data. Schemas, time handling, and queries that survive audits.
• Vision in the loop. From “model trains” to “operators trust it,” plus monitoring and drift.
• Events over polling. Message design, versioned payloads, and retention strategies.
• Operable containers. Service layout, health checks, upgrades, and repeatable deploys.
• Home lab as testbed. Networks and automation that behave like small factories.
• Energy notes. Back-of-envelope models grounded in thermodynamics.

What to expect

• Manufacturing data. Tulip/MES patterns, SQL for traceability, and connector configuration.
• Vision in production. Some of my notes about vision systems on the manufacturing floor
• Event-driven OT/IT. MQTT topic design, historians, and push vs. pull.
• Containers. Docker/Podman/Quadlet for reproducible services and reliable operation.
• Home lab. Local-first home automation, OPNsense setup / management, and OpenWRT.
• Energy. Back-of-envelope models grounded in thermodynamics.

For work, I typically work with copy-pasteable configs, small scripts (Go/Python/JS), and post-mortems with real metrics. Expect that to shape some of these posts. This is no cure for my forgetfulness, but hopefully some practical guides will help others as well.

Upcoming posts

• A “virtual pick-to-light” tool with SVG + MQTT control
• landing.ai vs Azure Custom Vision: training time, lighting, and false positives
• Rootless Podman + my learning to leverage systemd/Quadlet containers
• MQTT topics for shop-floor events (UNS-style) with schema examples
• Heat-pump efficiency vs gas furnaces

Ground rules

• Everything here is my own opinion.
• There is no client data anywhere near these posts.
• Everything is re-engineered from scratch.
• Code and configs will favor safety, observability, and rollback.

If you want new posts, subscribe via RSS. If your interests overlap or would like to inquire about anything, please reach out or open an issue on the repo.