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CNC Machining Magazine | ||||||||
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This is the word that keeps coming to mind as I travel the world visiting customers. I recently returned from a trip to Europe – one of those four-countries-in-eight-days trips – where this word came to mind again. Long flights provide plenty of time for thinking. Leaving LAX on Saturday, I arrived in Belgium on Sunday after an uneventful flight – the best kind these days. I started off Monday visiting our office in Brussels, where the applications engineers showed me some of the projects they were working on. Working together with customers to improve their processes, they were using unique tooling and clever programming to help them achieve their goals. One customer was trying to reduce the setup and load time of his parts, while maintaining the necessary accuracy and improving cycle time. When I left Tuesday night, the resourceful engineers were doing the final tweaking on the application – another unique part, and another unique application made better by today’s technology. On Wednesday morning, I flew to Stuttgart, where I visited a customer with yet another set of unique parts and manufacturing opportunities. Walking through the factory, I was impressed with the productivity they had achieved, and with the sheer volume of parts being manufactured. Their skillfulness was amazing. Then it was back to the airport for a flight to Zurich and another visit. This visit showed the inventiveness of the human mind, and revealed a completely different use of machine tools to make parts. I can’t give you more information, as the parts and applications are proprietary. (Thank goodness many of our customers do let us give you more information, or this magazine would not exist.) Late Wednesday, I’m on another plane, this time to Venice, followed by a short drive up to Pordenone, Italy. I spent Thursday at a machine tool trade show that featured most of the machines built by our industry. The show was crowded, both with equipment and with people buying and selling their wares. It was a gigantic bazaar, if you will: a mixture of machines and people from all over the world, speaking at least a dozen different languages.
On Saturday, I visited with friends, and saw a new, and resourceful, way to ride a skateboard. I guess when you’re 3 1/2 years old, it’s easier to lie on your stomach and ride face down – you have better control coming down the incline of the driveway. I think I saw a future Olympic gold medal winner in the luge in the making. Saturday night I caught a train back to Zurich for the early morning flight back home on Sunday. I think the word ‘ingenuity’ really struck me as I was flying home after this visit. When you compare the history, the beautiful ancient buildings, the narrow streets and the sense of family you see in Europe with the modern equipment and manufacturing processes of today’s world, the contrast seems more distinct. Seeing all that can be achieved – from the cathedrals built by hand 500 years ago, to the parts being manufactured bigger, better, faster and cheaper today – it gives me hope that maybe we can have peace in the world one day . . . and we won’t have to line up for hours to clear security to get on an airplane. ~~
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