More and more evidence of how mobile technology has infiltrated the factory floor comes across my desk/screen everyday. However, nothing is more defining than when I speak to the 25-40 year old Process and Design Engineers. They just expect touch screens, connectivity, real time data, Apps, remote process monitoring and MES integration from their 21st century fluid assembly equipment. Whew, glad we’ve got that covered with the SmartDispenser®
Now we all have to do is think ahead about what the incoming college class of 2016 will be expecting. Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. Here are some that caught my eye;
- they have never needed a paper airline ticket, nor seen a bound encyclopedia
- 1/4 have hearing loss from ipod/MP3 addiction
- before they purchase an assigned textbook, they will investigate to purchase as an e-book
- they were born into cyberspace and they have therefore measured their output in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds, most of their news comes from Jon Stewart!
Next week’s CIO Manufacturing Technology Summitt in AZ with speakers from Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar (both Fishman® AirFree® customers) and various Solution Providers, in their Executive Exchange Session will address “How to Take Manufacturing to the Next Level; to where Productivity and up time are such crucial drivers in the manufacturing industry, where machine downtime can cost more than $1 million per day and with some level of wired or wireless connectivity now standard on these machines, manufacturers are remotely collecting, monitoring, and analyzing the machine data. As a result, machine up time is improved, travel and operational costs are reduced, and next-generation products are designed to map to actual customer behavior.” How do they set the bar even higher?
Industry Week in their 8/22/12 newletter, points out out that there are other ways that US Manufacuring is moving forward with disruptive, technology inspired, initiatives. They highlight robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and nanotechnology and addtive manufacturing. So it appears manufacturing is gearing up for that Class of 2016….