Social Networking - The Next Great Enabling Technology

Few would disagree that the digital servo has been the great enabling technology for packaging operations over the past 15 years. Could it be that social networking software as exploited by YouTube and MySpace may be the next great enabler?

Servo technology, itself enabled by the impact of Moore's law on computing and the explosion in digital networking, created a new paradigm for packaging machinery during the 1990's, just as it did for machine tools during the previous two decades. Computing and software technologies developed in the USA were first applied in Europe to create motion systems for high-end packaging machines. These technologies started to come back into the USA on machines in the first half of the last decade and have, as should have been expected, reached into all types and classes of packaging machinery as costs came down and performance and ease of use went up.

Digital servo motion control on packaging machines has moved from being a novelty technology to becoming the baseline technology for machines built around the world. This enabling technology has provided benefits for both machine builders and packagers. Higher performance, better reliability, faster changeover, lower costs, smaller footprints, easier integration, and myriad other benefits have resulted. The roles and skill sets of operators and maintenance staff have changed as a result of these new mechatronic machines. Machines have become more commoditized and disposable. At least one technology provider offers a "packaging machine in a box" concept – the controls and software are all provided, just add moving parts.

As the price / performance ratio for this technology continues to fall, virtually all packaging machines, no matter how small or simple, will be servo-based. If you as a builder or user aren't yet using this technology, I would predict that your business is in peril.

For those who are mature users, some for 15 years or more, you must be looking for the next great enabler – and I have a thought on that. Michael Copeland has described five waves of computing. The first wave in the 60's was the corporate mainframe followed by the minicomputer of the 70's, the personal computer of the 80's, and the internet of the 90's. The fifth wave hasn't got a simple and lasting identifier as of yet, but perhaps the best description currently is social networking. In Copeland's words; "Cheap computing, infinite bandwidth, and open standards are powering an epic technological transformation that will churn up huge new opportunities – and perils for those who can't adapt." Mr. Creativity, John Kao adds to this thought that "the move to social software opens up new collaborative possibilities…vastly magnifying everyone's access to nearly unlimited content, whether it be online information, community, opinion, services or entertainment".

I can personally attest to more or less successful efforts to apply the first four waves to process control and factory automation. Don't be fooled by the sometimes frivolous nature of what we see our children doing with social networking. The fifth wave will be no different and its application to factory automation is already underway.

In Kao's statement, focus on the words everyone's (including operators, maintenance technicians, supervisors), unlimited content (including training, manuals, college courses, customer orders, performance data), community (including operators of like machines around the world), and services (including coaching, troubleshooting, repair, changeover, preventative maintenance).

Use these words in combinations of thought, letting your mind run wild. Keep in mind that the interactions go well beyond text messaging or email to include both live and recorded video and audio and real-time language translation. These social interactions are no longer constrained by access to a wired personal computer. And, the ah-ha moment for me was when I realized that these social interactions will not be limited to sites like YouTube and MySpace, just as the internet is not limited to AOL. Social networking will become the baseline technology for what we now think of as the internet.

I believe that packagers, machine builders, and technology providers who best employ social networking innovation into their products and services will ride the next big wave of technology-enabled business success.

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