Technology certainly has changed the way I do my job. In fact, in many ways, it’s changed the entire industry I’ve chosen to build a career in. When I graduated with a Construction Management Degree, the construction industry was wide open. But selling production saws for the Wood Frame and Heavy Timber world never entered my mind.
Back in the day, production saws were simple. Simple machines with hand cranked adjustments. Set-ups took time. The goal was to cut wood. A lot of wood. The term Sawyer was widely used in the industry to refer to someone who could keep the saw running. Sawyers created “cheat sheets” for each saw because you couldn’t trust the settings and they knew the tricks to maintain precise control.
Now, we’re faced with a brave new world. But the goal of this article series is not to impress you with the advanced power of the servo—it is to impress upon you how technology is changing our businesses and our industry. We will all need to keep up, in one way or another.
Servo = The New Sawyer
You’ve heard the word “servo” hundreds of times by now but probably haven’t spent much time thinking about the meaning. For a straight-up servo motor definition, we can turn to Wikipedia’s entry:
“A servo motor is a rotary actuator or linear actuator that allows for precise control of angular or linear position, velocity, and acceleration.”
That middle part is the most important—“allows for precise control.” And then look at what it can control—“position, velocity, and acceleration”—a powerful combination of elements. Taking that even farther, companies like Hundegger adopted the servo and computer numeric control (CNC) technology mainly to eliminate as much of the inaccuracies caused by human control tolerance, temperature changes, and wear in the mechanical saw system, and we strove to address how these conditions can affect performance. Then, added to this were two more abilities—monitoring to facilitate immediate adjustments and cataloging the unlimited data potential of CNC saws.
So, it’s one thing to build an advanced product, but it’s another to have it accepted throughout an industry. In 2003, Hundegger decided to enter BCMC as an exhibitor with just a video. I will never forget when one of the most well known manufacturers of the multi bladed saws told me, “That idea will never work in the Truss Industry.” It was fun. Soon after that, the light bulb went off, and the same equipment manufacturer was building his version of a single blade machine. Servo motors improved accuracy by 30 times, and without a sophisticated hand cranked control. The industry realized that there was a whole new world of opportunities in search of tighter tolerances and faster set-ups.
The truss industry has come a long way since the early 1980s. Linear saws have long since replaced much of the human expertise once needed to run the saws. The equipment revolution has experienced the advent of complex machinery, each fitted with thousands of different static and moving parts. Simple controls have now developed into fully automated systems run not by humans but by computers, sensors, and inverters. Today the industrial manufacturing world is highly interdependent and competitive.
Evolving Technology = Evolving Roles
Traditional Sawyers are a thing of the past. Plants are highly mechanized, and a day of lost production has a high impact on the company. In this challenging scenario, Equipment Operators and Maintenance Technicians have an unenviable and daunting task of not so much controlling and running equipment as much as diagnosing and maintaining the equipment and systems. I’m talking about keeping all this new equipment in the best of health to meet the needs of the company. Knowing how to change a saw blade or replace a bearing is not enough. Today’s Sawyers need to know more. I’m talking about adopting the best of modern maintenance management techniques.
Yesterday’s Sawyers are today’s Technicians. Manufacturing Technicians need to provide a unique support; they need to know the equipment. They need to be the eyes and ears watching and listening for potential issues like loose sensors or faulty actuators sounds and movement. Today’s Equipment Operators need to be up to speed on production, maintenance, safety, testing, and process improvement. And they need to work together with the manufacturers’ representatives to accomplish these tasks.
Maintenance/Operating Technicians need to be able to read schematics, electrical line diagrams, perform testing and troubleshooting on electronic, robotic, and mechanical components, equipment, or systems. They must gather, maintain, format, compile, and manipulate technical data using established procedures. A current resume posted on a technical manufacturing company’s website lists 16 bullet points of responsibilities for the Technical Manager (Manufacturing Maintenance) that run the gamut from keeping critical equipment running, to developing costs analyses of equipment and programs, to leading teams and developing staff, to being on call at all times if needed to support the plant. Although these requirements may be a bit much for many wood component manufacturers, consideration must be given to train or hire a Jack-of-all-trades Technician as this is now becoming the lynchpin of running a lean manufacturing company that buys technology to improve productivity.
The Pace of Progress
Little did I know how much industry would evolve when I left college with that Construction Management Degree. What’s more, it continues to evolve in ways we didn’t foresee 10, 20, or 30 years ago. The servo innovation was a great step forward, but many more are coming too. Now one thing is certain—with the servo, roles have changed. The end user should be building a workforce of Technicians who can assist the servo saw and keep it running. Do you hire Technicians or are you still looking for Sawyers? Because it could mean the difference in minimal down time and big up time.