Growth in Factory Tools Has Come From Computer-Controlled Electrical Devices - Machines

It's easier to carve an apple with a knife than an axe. The same goes for manufacturing, where plants are increasingly building things with precise, programmable electric tools instead of machines run on compressed air. Industry groups say most of the growth in factory tools in recent years has come from computer-controlled electrical devices - machines that are replacing the older pneumatic tools that used to dominate manufacturing. For some Northeast Ohio businesses, such as industrial equipment giant Parker Hannifin and niche parts supplier Nook Industries, that shift is leading to new sales opportunities. Educators say the shift also is providing jobs for a new crop of skilled tradesmen who can operate computer numeric controlled tools -- or CNC, in industry terms. "That's really the field we see huge growth and huge potential for training and employment," said Jerry Pavlik, supervisor of the manufacturing program at Lorain County's Joint Vocation School. "There are so many manufacturing jobs unfilled right now. The challenge is finding skilled people to fill them." Opportunity Joseph Nook founded Nook Industries in 1969 to supply and later build the screw drives used in electrical machines. Most new garage-door openers, for example, lift the door by turning a screw. Nook has made screw drives to open stadium roofs, to open the doors on Oprah Winfrey's television stage and to flex joints in high-tech prosthetic feet. Now run by Chief Executive Officer Christopher Nook, the company has seen a big increase in orders in recent years from machine tool companies that would have ordered pneumatic systems a few years ago. "Guys like us are getting better at handling the heavy loads that industrial buyers need," Christopher Nook said. "Years ago, we weren't the go-to solution for factories. Now, we are." For example, when General Motors Corp. retooled it plant in Lordstown for the Chevrolet Cruze in 2009, it replaced all of the pneumatic tools in its final assembly area with electrical ones. Industrial giant Parker Hannifin sells parts and equipment used in electrical and pneumatic tools. Paul Horvat, vice president of development for Parker Hannifin's automation group, said the company has invested in electrical components in recent years because of the expected growth. "There are a lot of things being done electrically that would have been done pneumatically 10 or 15 years ago," Horvat said. Precision The biggest reason for the growth in programmable tools is that U.S. manufacturing has gotten more technical in recent years. It hasn't been a favorable trend for Ohio. Several tooling experts said precision manufacturing is the bulk of what's left in this country. Less-finicky things that can be made easily with pneumatic tools have gone to China and other low-wage countries. "The kind of manufacturing that we do here in the U.S., we do high-end stuff here," Horvat said. In precision manufacturing, electrical tools have a huge advantage because they are programmable. Engineers can tell a drill to make a hole exactly 3.2 inches deep. Machine operators can calibrate pneumatic tools by setting the air pressure flowing into the machine. But the non-computerized process is less precise. If the dial position on pressure valve shifts a bit, the tool can apply too much or too little force, Nook said. Computer-controlled electrical tools are also more flexible. As high-volume manufacturing has left the country, the factories that remain often must be able to switch between dozens of different products to keep running. Using electrical tools makes switching between products faster and easier. "When you switch over from product A to product B to product C, you hit one button and everything resets itself," Horvat said. Doing the same with non-programmable tools could mean re-calibrating each tool on the floor by hand. Cost savings Another driver in the shift to electric tools is operating costs. Electric tools don't need big air compressors. Horvat said it takes less electricity to run a tool from a power line than it does to run giant air compressors to power pneumatic tools. "People are looking to save energy wherever they can," he added. Horvat said electric tools have long held the cost advantage in energy use, but they were too expensive. Many companies couldn't justify the high up-front costs because it would take years to realize and savings from lower energy use. Peter Borden, president of the American Machine Tool Distributor's Association, said that as electric motors have gotten cheaper and tougher in recent years, they've become much more popular in factories. "Certainly that's been a trend in the industry with the advent of the latest generation of electric motors," Borden said. Nook said the tools are getting so cheap that some Asian manufacturers have begun retooling their plants. Factories that used to rely on low-cost labor and cheap tools are upgrading to more precise systems as well. "One of the big growth markets that we're looking at selling into is China because they're automating their processes right now," Nook said. He added that as those factories upgrade, "they're not going to want pneumatics. They're going to go electric." Source: cleveland.com