Trailer Bodybuilders Com Sites Trailer Bodybuilders com Files Uploads 2016 01 Comment Tb Bpromo
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Trailer Bodybuilders Com Sites Trailer Bodybuilders com Files Uploads 2016 01 Comment Tb Bpromo

When your press brake cries for help

Jan. 5, 2016
Trailer/Body Builders December 2015 editorial

IMAGINE you are on vacation. You are resting comfortably in your chaise lounge, enjoying the gentle breeze coming off the ocean. You haven’t felt this relaxed in years. Life is good.

Suddenly your cell phone rings. It’s your press brake calling. Yes, your press brake. Nothing serious—just a heads up to let you know that it could use a little more hydraulic fluid. You figure that the plant must be running smoothly in your absence if that’s the most urgent thing you need to worry about. You fire off a quick text message and go back to watching the tide come in. Life is still good.

This scenario, at least theoretically, could be coming to a beach—or manufacturing plant—near you in the not-to-distant future. The technology is already here and was on display at the recent Fabtech exhibition, North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding, and finishing show. Maybe some of these innovations will make life a little better for you.

Multiple exhibitors demonstrated that they are plugging into “the Internet of things,” the buzz phrase that is beginning to be applied everywhere from devices on our wrists to sensors in our roadways.

For those who produce truck bodies, trailers, and the components that go into them, the Internet of things increasingly is becoming more than just an academic concept. You may be in the process of making it the Internet of your things.

The Internet of things is not in and of itself innovation. It might be more accurate to consider it the integration of innovation. Much like the GPS in your car or smartphone is simply the integration of computer chips, voice synthesis, satellite tracking, and compact touch screens, the Internet of things integrates sensors, software, and other technologies to produce a new approach to manufacturing management. It’s an approach that promises to keep the assembly line humming by diagnosing potential malfunctions before they occur. And the data the machines gather—both in terms of cost and efficiency—will help management reduce costs and improve productivity.

Such integration gets its muscle from the same basic machine tools found in today’s truck body and trailer plants. But it relies on computer technology as both the brains and the mouthpiece that tells management how things are going. It also has a nervous system, one that uses sensors placed on machine tools to detect changes in temperature, pressure, or vibrations that could be preludes to machine failure.

It has been said that we need to be able to measure performance in order to improve it. Integrated systems are designed to do just that, collecting the data from machine sensors and delivering it to management via either the Internet or a manufacturer’s local network.

Integration of machines helps coordinate manufacturing. Is there a bottleneck at one machine? A “smart factory” can readily identify underutilized equipment and direct workflow to it in order to pick up the slack.

According to Intel research, 15 billion devices today are unconnected, presenting a major opportunity for integration. And while the cost of such technology has been immense, the price tag has dropped precipitously. In the past decade, the cost of the sensors used for monitoring manufacturing equipment has been cut in half. Bandwidth is 40 times lower, and the computer processing power has dropped 60 times the cost from a decade ago.

The timing of that cost reduction is fortunate because the cost of labor is rising. Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 2.2 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month. That’s not as bad as in China. Labor costs there have quadrupled since 2006. With labor rising and technology costs coming down, plant automation becomes increasingly attractive.

Not surprisingly, one of the key themes in this year’s Fabtech show was an effort to make manufacturing tools smarter, not just stronger or faster. While self-diagnostics did not seem to be widespread yet, a number of companies promoted their product’s ability to report detailed performance data using the company’s local network or cloud service.

We remain somewhat skeptical about grandiose visions of the future. For example, the jet-powered backpacks that were supposed to fly us to work still aren’t here, and we continue to wash dishes because the edible plates that futurists promised have yet to show up. But elements of tomorrow’s smart factory are already here and very well may pay big dividends tomorrow. ♦

About the Author

Bruce Sauer | Editor

Bruce Sauer has been writing about the truck trailer, truck body and truck equipment industries since joining Trailer/Body Builders as an associate editor in 1974. During his career at Trailer/Body Builders, he has served as the magazine's managing editor and executive editor before being named editor of the magazine in 1999. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin.