Convenience

Posted by stephens on Mar 8, 2010 in Automated Transactions, Engineering Decisions, Web Technologies | 0 comments

My son has a 1st grade homework assignment that requires him to interview me on how technology has changed since I was a 1st grader.

This got me thinking about how much change we have seen in the die business in the past 20 years.

Most in the business today take solid modeling and formability simulation for granted.

When I got started, it was all manual. The only computer we had to rely on was our brain.

Die processing was done from pure experience. Tipping panels was done by picking points with dividers. Manually. On mylar layouts.

Binder developments were constructed two-dimensionally in the drafting room before a plaster model was built in the die room.

Dies were designed on vertical boards and drafting machines. With paper and pencil.

Today, a panel is tipped in a single mouse click.

A few mouse clicks later, the addendum is developed.

Click another button and the computer will run the formability simulation in the time it takes to go get a coffee.

In fact, you can process, quote, run simulation, and design a die on a laptop computer while sipping on a Venti White Mocha at your favorite Starbucks coffee shop if you really wanted to.

That is convenience.

Most people have become reliant on technology. When my cell phone died and I was getting ready to drive 2,000 miles across the country, my family thought I was crazy to go without a new phone.

“I drove cross-country without one just fine 15 years ago,” was my response.

To me, technology is just a tool. But, it is only useful if the technology makes things simpler or faster. Technology should not be a substitute for making sound engineering decisions.

Just like the mobile phone, I don’t need a piece of software to tip a panel or process a job. But, having the technology at your fingertips does make things easier.

Technology is really just a matter of convenience.