Thoughts on the Coming End of Year

End of year is coming. I’m sure you’ve noticed. Christmas shopping is in full swing. I enjoy the end of year pause. Its a great time to reflect. Sometimes a great opportunity to reflect on the big issues of life that take a back seat during the rush of the urgent daily events that occupy our time.

End of year in the business world has its own peculiarities. I’ve gotten a couple of notices from motion control equipment vendors. Spend your budget before the year ends. Special pricing available.

The rationale is to spend the funds you have been allocated so that you don’t get shorted in next year’s budget cycle. Use it or lose it. This may not be the best logic for purchasing something, but it is sometimes a reality in our business processes. Read more

What is Mechatronics?

It seems as if one of the “new” buzzwords in the industrial controls arena is mechatronics. What was for years, motion control, was reinvented as mechatronics for a variety of reasons. In part, the motion control term didn’t communicate the mechanical nature of the problem. And that is a very important distinction to consider. Good motion control solutions come from good mechanical design. It is almost impossible to fix a mechanical design with high performance motion control hardware. But an elegant mechanical solution with good motion control technology is a beautiful thing indeed. Read more

Energy and Politics

Yeah, we’re going to get into the “Green” technology issue. But I want to consider the public policy side of energy conservation. This is at least as big a topic and will require several installments, but for today, we’ll talk in terms of motors and controls.

My clothes washer quite recently. The centrifugal switch on the dual winding ac motor got clogged and the motor burned out. It would cost about half the price of a new machine to replace the motor if I did the repair. And we would still have a 12 year old washing machine that had some problems. Read more

Profits and Progress

Consolidation in the motion control industry has been very significant in the last few years. Many smaller suppliers have been bought by larger companies. Thomson Industries, once the largest supplier in the actuator market, was purchased by Danaher, now the dominant supplier in the overall motion control market.

After an intense period of mergers and acquisitions, things may be slowing dow. Maybe there’s nothing left to buy for the giants. But in the race to build empires, who wins and who loses? One man’s opinion on the value of a brand or product may result in the demise of a valuable technology if it is deemed to have poor growth potential or a lower rate of return than other products. Read more