2016: A Spatial Thinking Odyssey

When Robert Burns penned “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788, a work that was itself based on an even older oral verse, he probably didn’t envision the tacky party hats and annoying noisemakers that accompany that song today.

In fact, the Bard of Ayrshire was posing an interesting philosophical, and largely rhetorical, question in his poem. He essentially was asking if we should forget old times and old acquaintances for the flash and flare of something new.

Short answer: No, of course not.

However, learning from our past, both the good and the bad, is how we get better as people and in our jobs.

So as we look back at another year gone by – another 940-million-kilometer trip around the sun – it’s a good time to reflect on our recent 365-day journey to see what we have learned. By examining data we can identify patterns to solve our problems. It’s the basis of spatial thinking mathematics. Here are five patterns I have identified:

5. The Internet is for more than just streaming movies. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) already is changing manufacturing by enabling new, complex machines to collect more data and change parameters on-the-fly. This technology now is also retrofittable for older machine tools to prepare for Industry 4.0.

4. The cloud will replace local data storage. If you aren’t currently using Microsoft®’s Office 365, chances are you soon will be. This is just one example of the move away from local storage, such as computer hard drives, to solely cloud-based computing. CAD, CAM, ERP, MRP, and all the other acronyms will soon follow suit.

3. Robots. Are. Coming. Yes, it’s true, so get ready for it. Automation, and more specifically collaborative automation, is now in its infancy, but it will gain traction if it truly provides enhanced safety and productivity. My colleague Rob Colman summed it up nicely last month in his View From the Floor column when he wrote, “Any repetitive task on a shop floor that could lead to worker injury or strain will no doubt be fair game for technologies of this sort, provided the cost is not prohibitive.”

2. Additive manufacturing (AM) will replace subtractive manufacturing … sort of. AM currently is like a puppy. It’s still learning its boundaries, learning what it can and cannot do, and getting all kinds of attention. However, it’s getting ready for prime time.

1. Enjoy the ride, because you never know how long it will last. Loving what you do and who you do it with improves productivity and profitability. And, I don’t need to know what a kaizen event or an arc of engagement is to understand that.