August 17, 1998 Design News
EDITORIAL
Manufacturing relies on trust
Paul E. Teague, Chief Editor
Stroll the aisles of next month's International Manufacturing
Technology at Chicago's McCormick Place and you'll find
hundreds--maybe thousands--of examples of engineering
innovation. The creativity behind those new products
is a major reason for the spectacular success of the
U.S. manufacturing sector in the last few years. But,
there's another reason, too: It's trust.
Successful manufacturing companies know their customers
depend on them for innovation, quality, and on-time
delivery. And they, in turn, depend on their own suppliers
for the same. They trust that each will do his part
and do it well.
As working journalists, we get to see that trust every
day as we talk to and visit companies to find out about
the new technology they are developing. On one recent
trip, we visited fluid-power-components supplier Swagelok
in Cleveland. Talk with that company's executives, and
you get a good sense of the pride and commitment that
leads to trust. The company talks and acts like its
biggest asset, aside from its technology, is the trust
customers place in it. "We take that trust very
seriously," says engineer and Vice President Colin
Ingram. So do Swagelok's customers. One major customer
recently accepted Swagelok's seemingly radical recommendation
to use tubing instead of familiar, traditional pipe
in a particular application, then wrote a paper explaining
why and the benefits they accrued.
You'll find another example of trust at Great Lakes
Industry, Jackson, MI. The power-transmission-components
supplier is implementing new machine-tool software from
MDSI, Inc., Ann Arbor, to improve performance and flexibility
on the factory floor. Great Lakes actually began using
the software, called OpenCNC, a few years ago as a pilot
program, before it was a proven product. Based on experience,
Great Lakes trusted the founders of MDSI, and the trust
paid off. The company has been able to replace large
and unwieldy machine-control equipment with PCs and
software. At an impromptu meeting with Great Lakes Vice
President/General Manager Don Werner and engineer Rick
Stafford, someone asked if they had any doubts about
the software or what it could do for them. The answer:
no.
You've probably got a few stories of your own like
those. They're all testimony to the fact that belief
in your own technology and that of your most important
suppliers is one of the most critical aspects of success.
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