Shop Talk With the Publisher

How are we looking? — Visual diagnostics and other issues

By Carol Carman

Real GDP, inflation, unemployment, production—they’re the topics of interest around the world as companies and countries calculate and compare ours versus theirs in a world economy that more and more moves into “local backyards.”

Next month in Atlanta, the world gathers at IWF2000 to calculate and compare woodworking machinery, and supplies and services. International choices will be made based on what it will do, how much it will cost, the kind of service it will offer, and most of all, how it will increase productivity, reduce operating costs, improve quality, maintain safety in the workplace and, oh yes, make the company profitable.

Numbers, whether carefully calculated or “guesstimated,” are nevertheless interesting barometers of how we buy, when we buy, what we spend, and how gullible we are at “predicticators” (our word). Someone issues a report that inflation is rising and buyers get cautious — well they used to before the economy got so strong that inflation doesn’t seem to matter. Unemployment numbers on the other hand, do send us all into a tail-spin. As qualified or trainable workers dwindle, automation becomes even more important — or maybe it’s automation that has driven crafts-oriented workers into other job areas, letting their hands do the walking over computer keys instead of warm and inviting wood.

No wonder automated machinery continues to bring out more innovative product requiring fewer workers or at least reducing time and costs in usage. One item we especially find intriguing is “visual diagnostics.” Buy a machine, get a camera to go with it. If there is a problem down the road, hook up via the internet to a technician in Germany or Grand Rapids or Charlotte, point the camera at the problem and get it solved live and in real-time — no costly travel or time delays sending a technician across country or across the world, and production keeps rolling. Two companies that we know of will be showcasing this technology at IWF2000. Check it out at Stiles Machinery (through its Homag group) and at Holz-Her.

Don’t miss all the international flavor of IWF2000! And visit Modern Woodworking at Booth 2E30, Georgia World Congress Center.

 

Carol Carman, Publisher & Editorial Director
3308 Dunwoody-Gables Dr.
Atlanta, GA 30338
e-mail: ccarman@randallpub.com

 

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