Blue Shirts, Black Pants, and New Technology

Thinking of attending IMTS 2012? Will you be looking for ways to improve your shop’s productivity? To improve quality? To find technology solutions to compensate for a shrinking pool of manufacturing labor talent? If so you’re in luck since there will be much to see and experience throughout McCormick Place. But going in you should ask yourself, “Am I willing to consider and accept some level of change to the way I’ve always done things?” Not just for the sake of change but for the opportunity to reach maximum efficiency and productivity and be more competitive.

If you take a look inside my closet you’ll find a row of nicely pressed blue dress shirts beside a row of men’s black slacks – my weekday wardrobe. I would argue that the shirts do vary in shade and some have some sort of a stripe or a pattern, but for all intents and purposes, yes, they’re ALL the same - blue.

Some have said Brian just doesn’t like change. I prefer to say I like to keep it simple and not have to think when sleepily turning on that awful fluorescent closet light in the morning to suit up for another busy day at Okuma.

So what about this notion that I have an aversion to change? Yes, I’ve never lived outside of North Carolina, I’ve driven the same car since 1991, and have had the same hair cut since I was 14 (the 80s mullet notwithstanding!), so I will cede that point, but with a qualifier. I do like change where it counts – and that is when adopting new innovative technologies improves my productivity.

For 20 years at Okuma I’ve worked with our cutting edge technology and CNC controls and I have promoted the productivity and quality benefits our unique breadth of products offer the CNC machining industry. Unfortunately, when sharing the differentiating features of Okuma’s THINC^®-OSP CNC control I often hear an echo of that “blue shirt, black pants” thing in some form of “I’m afraid to change because all my operators already know brand X or brand Y. I need to keep it easy. All controls do the same thing anyway.” Fair enough, but what if they’re not all the same, not just different shades of “blue” like my shirts? What if changing what you’re doing actually did make a difference and actually made it easier to be more profitable?

If you want to answer the question for yourself, I invite you to visit us in Chicago to “Try it” for yourself. We will have 13 THINC-OSP demonstration stations for you to experience our new OSP-P300 CNC control with six of those stations designated as “Try It” stations – hands on, guided demos that introduce:

• Easy operation for multi-tasking setup and use with Collision Avoidance and tool management - Easy interactive on-machine or offline programming and simulation
• Easy connectivity to peripheral devices such as measurement equipment for automatic offset adjustments
• An easy set-up to have the CNC control email your mobile phone right there on the show floor when an alarm occurs!

Whether you’re new to Okuma’s THINC-OSP CNC control or a veteran Okuma user interested in experiencing an easier way to improved competitiveness, come Try It. With CNC machine monitoring solutions, MTConnect implementations, and our Constant CARE online service tools also on display, our team will make it worth your time.

Where is your productivity gap? What kinds of change would make a difference in profitability for you? Bring us your questions at IMTS. Or post your comments below. Together we’ll find a way.

As for me, I think I’ll wear a green shirt tomorrow.

Brian Sides is Director of Technology, Okuma America Corporation