Monday, July 10, 2006
The operational wish list: what manufacturing people would really like - Produce - wish list of what automotive parts and equipment makers want
WE ASK SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTUALLY INVOLVED IN PRODUCING PRODUCTS WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE TECHNOLOGY VENDORS TO PROVIDE, SOME OF THEIR ANSWERS ARE SURPRISING. ALL OF THEIR ANSWERS OUGHT TO BE ADDRESSED BY SOME ENTERPRISING ORGANIZATIONS.
Next month, the 2002 rendition of the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) will be held by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) in Chicago's McCormick Place from September 4-11. In all, there will be some 1,300 exhibitors showing the latest equipment, systems and accessories in an area measuring 1.3-million [ft.sup.2]. To provide attendees with a better sense of what's where, there will be specific areas called "pavilions."
The nine pavilions for this event are: Metal-cutting; Machinery Components/Cleaning/Environmental; Controls and CAD/CAM; Gear Generation; EDM; Quality Assurance; Tooling and Work-holding Systems; Metalforming and Lasers; Business Services; Abrasive Finishing/Sawing/Finishing. And for those who are more interested in learning about the trends and developments in the manufacturing arena (from equipment to strategies), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, in cooperation with AMT, is hosting a concurrent manufacturing conference. You can learn all about this by going to www.imtsnet.org.
What will be exhibited at IMTS 2002 is what product vendors have developed to address customer needs. But what about the needs that seem not to be addressed? What about the things that people in industry are really interested in? What if there was a proverbial magic wand that could be waved? What would people really want?
As we were wondering about that "If you could have anything, what would it be?" question, we put it to some of the leading manufacturers in the industry. What we discovered is that while some people may think that "manufacturing" people are solely interested in things that cut or form metal or plastic, or things that screw or otherwise put things together, their actual areas of interest are significantly broader.
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