Wednesday, June 24, 2009

When did green turn blue?

I must have missed the weekly meeting of the Politically Correct Committee, or something, because I was more than a little confused when, at last week's Laser World of Photonics in Munich I saw large signs stating "The Laser is Blue" on backdrop displays in the exhibition booth of industry giant TRUMPF. I must have missed the weekly meeting of the Politically Correct Committee, or something, because I was more than a little confused when, at last week's Laser World of Photonics in Munich, I saw large signs stating "The Laser is Blue" on backdrop displays in the exhibition booth of industry giant TRUMPF. A naive request to see the company's new blue laser was met with smiles by the marketing staff. Not a blue laser I was told; the company has adopted a goal of making its lasers energy efficient, and a key component in their drive to assist their customers in becoming more efficient also. TRUMPF's new motto is "Powering efficiency – Blue Laser by TRUMPF!"

I asked if this wasn't what we in the U.S. call "green". Well yes, sort of, but German automakers apparently have latched onto the blue idea and passed it on to their vendors. And so blue is now the new green, I guess.

This was confirmed at the 9th International Laser Marketplace meeting, held concurrently with the lasers show, where Günther Braun, CEO and President of Rofin-Sinar Technologies, used the same term to describe social and business factors that will be one of the keys to a growing laser marketplace; pointing out that his company is responding with an expanded energy efficient product line.

Well I'm sorry folks, I'm just now coming to grips with all the ramifications, good and not so good about going green and I'm just not ready for blue. I checked out the web and found a Blue/Green Alliance which leads me to believe that this is a compromise because one or the other was stepping into territory already staked out by someone else.

Being a bit of a dinosaur I'll stick with "Green" for now, especially as I have just initiated planning for a "Laser Welding Turns Green" Webcast, organized by Industrial Laser Solutions, to be held in a few weeks. So if my European friends are concerned that I am green rather than blue, convince me otherwise. I guess I could always go teal then I can cover all bases.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Hoffnung in München

Munich is a lovely and vibrant city, perhaps one of my favorite places to visit in the world, and I am here as you read this. Munich is a lovely and vibrant city, perhaps one of my favorite places to visit in the world and I am here as you read this. Before you comment on the time of year and the beneficial weather we are experiencing as the cause for my euphoria, be advised that I have also been here in the dead of winter or when the infamous Föhn wind causes high temperatures that melt Alpine snow and produces conditions that depresses Munichers. The spirit and bonhomie of the locals always makes the city an inviting place to go. And the great beer isn’t a bad reason either.

Yesterday I was relaxing in the sun, nursing one of those great beers, observing the crowds filling the Marienplatz, gathering to see the famous Glockenspiel show atop the city hall. ILS has a heavy schedule of meetings at the World of Photonics show which is the reason I and my fellow PennWell editors are here.

A lot is riding on the outcome of this show and the attitude of the exhibiting companies. This is the big one, held every two years, so impetus developed here will carry through for the next 24 months. If activity is high, and we have no idea what the total attendance will look like, and the buying mood of the attendees is up, then we will all agree this was a great show. If otherwise, we will reassess our view of the next six months. I’m posting dispatches on the ILS website so check them out if you want my perspective on the show.

The first thing we will look for will be the crowds in the aisles of the exhibit halls. Traditionally German show attendees travel to shows on the first day so the big attendance day is usually the second. We already know that the concurrent Congress will be well attended as the hundreds of papers being presented always draw well. Unfortunately, a concurrent Congress makes it difficult for ILS to cover both events. I’d like to cover some of the sessions but I will have to spend most of my time on the exhibit floor as my trusted associate will not be with me this year due to travel budget restrictions. And a chunk of my time will be spent participating in the 9th International Laser Marketplace where I will present updated numbers on the world market for industrial lasers.

This year the show organizers have made an extra effort to attract users of industrial lasers by focusing on processing systems and expanding to an additional hall to accommodate these exhibits. The current economic situation however stifled larger participation and only a portion of this hall will be set aside for production laser systems.

Many of the throng in the Marienplatz were here for the World of Photonics, and it’s always good to see so many familiar faces. We all agreed that the success of this show will color our thinking for months to come. We hope (hoffnung) to leave Munich euphoric; if not, at least the beer was great as usual.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Could it be the end is in sight?

It's been three months since these weekly blogs started and I thought it might be interesting to revisit the first one, which dealt with a ridiculous idea that was presented to get readers smiling as they absorbed daily doses of bad economic news. It's been three months since these weekly blogs started and I thought it might be interesting to revisit the first one, which dealt with a ridiculous idea that was presented to get readers smiling as they absorbed daily doses of bad economic news. I introduced the DABometer Recession Gauge, designed to give a completely unscientific view of the daily state of economic and financial news that crossed my computer screen.

It is simple in concept--just count all the economic, financial, and business news items and stories that appear on my screen each day to see if these are positive (good news) or negative (bad news).

In the first few weeks the news was generally negative; that is, on balance more bad than good news was being generated. But slowly, as the weeks went by, the shift was to neutral, at least over a five-day-week period, and then, gradually positive, to the most recent days when it has been definitely positive.

Note, the measure is how I see the news, so that the current deluge of dispatches from and about Detroit are, I consider, positive as long as they deal with the survival of these companies. After all, the alternative to the bankruptcies would be disastrous. Now mind you, behind the Detroit news lurks a raft of bad news for suppliers to the auto industry, but for now, the news about their pending problems has been overshadowed by the General Motors/Chrysler headlines. I imagine that once the settlements are made the readings could shift to the negative as the reports start to come from those who monitor Detroit's supplier industries.

But on the whole, setting auto aside--and that's a hard thing to do--the news is better than it was in March and April. I don't know your political leanings, but you have to admit that all the activity by the current administration in Washington is having some effect, if nothing more than morale building. Setting aside politics, it looks like the end of this mess we are in is beginning to be visible--the only disagreements coming from the cognoscenti concern during which quarter this will happen.

Two months ago I couldn't find a serious reference to a bottoming out or upward turn. Today the news has one at least every day and a learned body of economists, who always are responding after the fact, have overwhelmingly decided the recovery start can be by the end of this year. The only obnoxious fly in the ointment is some body of "experts" who are self-appointed official arbitrators of the beginning and end of recessions. And they are stubbornly holding out for no relief for many quarters--I don't pay them much attention because they were the ones that announced the recession had started a year after we all knew it had.

So take a deep breath, readers. The end is now coming into focus, even though we all know, and are constantly being told by the hedgers including the President, that bad news will continue for some time. But many of the key indicators are up, or at least neutral, and the DABometer has a definite swing to the right, so much so that I am inclined not to check it every day.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A walk down memory lane

Last week I was invited by Amada America Inc. to give a presentation on the history and the current status of laser sheet metal cutting in North America. Last week I was invited by Amada America Inc. to give a presentation on the history and the current status of laser sheet metal cutting in North America. Thirty-five years earlier I had the audacity to present this technology, as reality, to a disbelieving audience at the first National Modern Machining Processes Conference in Chicago. At this meeting not a single attendee knew what I was talking about.

At the Amada event when I asked how many in the audience were familiar with laser cutting, I was pleased that about half raised their hands. In more than three decades laser cutting has grown from a non-conventional fabricating process to become a key operation in thousands of plants across this country, with more than 11,000 units installed, many operating profitably in small job shops and major corporation assembly plants.

Four years after my introduction of laser sheet metal cutting, the first industrial unit (adapted to a turret punching system) was sold by Strippit and two years later Amada introduced the first standalone laser cutter. Progress in North America was with Japan and Europe leading in annual installations. About the mid-1990s, the U.S. fabricating industry began to appreciate the process and before long all of North America became a good market for the technology.

I don’t lay claim to being a Johnny Appleseed--sowing the knowledge of laser cutting across this land on fertile but untouched ground--but I believe I played a role in its early days, and the eventual success is very self-satisfying. It’s not too common for an individual to see the fruits of their early labor payoff so spectacularly. When it does, it makes thoughts of all those frustrating early years vanish.

I told my hosts at the Amada event that the research for my presentation was a walk down the memory trail; bringing back memories of all those individual and equipment suppliers who worked so hard to make laser cutting the largest revenue industrial laser system application today.