May 2008 Edition
THE LAST WORD
Kurt Zierhut
Director of
Electrical Engineering
Haas Automation
All is Not Lost
Contrary to what the media says, manufacturing is still alive and well in America
We have been told by the media for many years now that
manufacturing is going away in America. As a large manufacturer, we were
beginning to think we were alone. I must have been listening to the naysayers
for too long, for it is not so. Everything is not going to China. I have
done some careful research on where our components come from, and these
companies are proof that manufacturing is alive and well.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit one of our suppliers
in Northern California. It is a foundry – the kind of place that makes and pours
iron. They are doing well even despite the fact that they are in the middle of a
large city – Oakland, CA.
The foundry makes a lot of pipe using up-to-date automated
equipment. Consider a sand-casting line where no one touches the sand until they
pull the finished pipe casting out of the broken-up molds.
That same day, we visited a smaller foundry that was making
some aluminum casting for us. It was not quite as automated, but it survived
because of its efficiency. Both of these companies are key players in keeping
manufacturing working in this country. We rely on them, as do many other
companies, for what they provide.
Outsourcing is Bad for the Environment
Consider for a moment what was necessary for these companies
to survive what we all know is a tough manufacturing environment. The regulatory
environment in California does not make that any easier, but – let’s be specific
here – that does not make it impossible to manufacture in the state. As is
always the case, the efficiency of an operation will ultimately decide whether
it survives or not. It is also important to keep aware that the regulations
under which we operate are – mostly – those that the people want. We want to
live in a clean state and to have jobs within it.
The iron foundry used a cupola to melt scrap iron. It uses
coke fuel as a heat source. Electric heating might result in less CO2
generation, remember that a large part of the electricity we use today comes
from burning coal. If a foundry, such as this one, were to move to China, they
would still be using the same fuel source while they would certainly not be
meeting the U.S. emissions standards.
Automation Doesn’t Mean Unemployment
Our company builds industrial machinery in Oxnard, CA. It is
not one of the lowest-cost locations in California in which to operate, but we
still can attract and keep the proper mix of people to design and build
machinery. What has helped us to survive in this competitive world, like what
helped the foundries we were visiting, is automation. In our case, it is
automation added to our machine shop where CNC machines already dominate. We are
now adding robot-arm loading and unloading to as many of our machines as we can.
But, some would say that adding automation or robots would be
against the best interest of the workers. The truth is that while we are doing
more, we still are using the same number of people. We are presently shipping
about the same number of CNC machines per month as there are people working here
– a number approaching 1,300. We work to keep a good relationship with all of
our employees and we think that they understand and appreciate what we do for
them. We certainly understand and appreciate what they do for us – they keep us
in business.
Kurt Zierhut is director of electrical engineering at Haas
Automation and has been with the company since 1987
What do you think?
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www.ModernApplicationsNews.com
or e-mail the editor at
pnofel@nelsonpub.com.