IEN (Industrial Equipment News) is the leading resource for industrial professionals, providing product technology, trends and solutions impacting the industrial market. IEN reaches manufacturers, designers, distributors & supply chain professionals.
Issue link: http://ien.epubxp.com/i/730284
38 IEN / OCTOBER '16 www.ien.com editor's note E very two years, I spend several weeks in late summer organizing a schedule of meetings at IMTS, the International Manufacturing Technology Show. It takes pre- cision and lots of planning – no more than one meeting every 30 minutes, and the geography must be divided up carefully. Anyone who has been to McCormick Place knows that zip- ping back and forth between the East and West concourses all day results in major delays and blisters from the extra steps. At the close of IMTS Day 1 this year, I was speaking with IEN's associate publisher Chuck Marin, who urged me to consider trying to squeeze in an extra appointment the fol- lowing day. I was reticent – my dogs were already barking! – but those of you who know Chuck know he is relentless. He had stumbled upon an exhibitor called WARDJet that afternoon and determined that I couldn't leave IMTS without seeing what they had on display. You see, besides just having a gigantic booth featuring massive waterjet cutting systems, WARDJet, of Tallmadge, Ohio, was hosting the fi rst ever "Build It! Challenge." The event, which was co-promoted by industrial cutting compa- ny Hypertherm, was part of the SmartForce Student Sum- mit, a promotion IMTS has offered for the last decade where students and teachers can attend the show for free and take advantage of exhibits and a career fair. WARDJet's event asked industry professionals to go head- to-head with students to build 1 of 2 WARDJet waterjets. At the end of each day, both waterjets were quality tested, with the winner to be crowned at the end of the week. Second- ly, all teams and attendees who participated in the Build It! Challenge were entered for a chance to win a free WARDJet waterjet for their business or school. The booth was stocked with cool technology: A virtual reality headset with Micro- soft's HoloLens technology offered a view of a completed machine, and attendees were even able to remotely cut a part at WARDJet's production facility – directly from the show fl oor via live video. The Build It! Challenge was a fun addition to the educa- tion-heavy SmartForce Student Summit, but it turns out it also dovetails WARDJet's business strategy quite well. The concept of taking ownership of the equipment that you use is being mirrored in a solution WARDJet offers its customers. In a program called WARDKit, an E-Series waterjet cutting machine is offered for customers at half its normal price, on one condition: the customer must send a team to WARD- Jet's headquarters to build the machine itself. WARDJet's President, Richard Ward, explained that the program also develops the skill set of the customer's team. So, essentially, they are training their own service techni- cians. And even though WARDJet offers fi ve hours of fol- low-up tech support for the buyers, Ward says none of the customers who have built their own waterjet systems have ever needed more than that. This really got me thinking about the issue of continuing education. The manufacturing industry has been beating the "skills gap" drum for years, but rarely do we see this type of endeavor from a company, where the focus is two-fold: the existing manufacturing workforce, and the up-and-comers. And, of course, this makes business sense for WARDJet too. While these customers may not need the aftermarket support that they once would, they will probably become advocates for life. The machines will function better, and for longer, and these customers will gain the confi dence and training they need to get the most out of their investments. Meanwhile, the students take an interest in the development side and never forget the name of the manufacturer who al- lowed them to tinker with a piece of capital equipment worth many tens of thousands of dollars. Win-win-win. -Anna Wells Anna Wells David Mantey Jeff Reinke A Teachable Moment at IMTS Here I awkwardly explore HoloLens technology at the WARDJet booth, IMTS 2016.