Resistance to Technology
Back in 1811 England, a group of highly-skilled textile artisans (named Luddites after their leader, Ned Ludd) staged a revolt against technologically-advanced looms that allowed relatively unskilled labor to cheaply and quickly produce textiles.
While weaving fibers into cloth doesn’t share much in common with joining metal through high current loads, they do share the same skepticism toward technological advancement.
It seems we all know one of those guys who will take their 1970’s era welding machine any day over the high-tech machines being manufactured today. There’s no denying the level of skill and artistry those guys have developed over long years of fidelity to their nearly indestructible machines — artistry that, like in the Luddite example, is in many ways being replaced by technology.
One of the primary goals in the design and engineering of welding equipment is making it easier to use. So, while the machine may be more complex on the inside, tuning in the proper settings and laying down a high-quality weld has never been easier.
Unlike the issues caused by the advancements in looms, however, advancements in welder technology don’t carry the threat of job loss. In fact, cutting edge welding technology has the effect of making an average welder good, but also making a good welder excellent.
So why the resistance to modern welding technology? The Miller Industrial Results Web site is chock full of examples of real companies that realized significant improvements in their operations and profitability through the implementation of modern welding machines.What are your thoughts? Do you see a similar aversion to technologically advanced welding equipment at your place of work? What are the impacts of this skepticism and resistance? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.
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April 18th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Remember that little kid ‘Mikey’? (hint: “Get Mikey to try it, he hates everything”)
Over the years I have noticed a large amount of both shop owners and employees alike that are just like Mikey when it comes to trying new technology.
When a person gets accustomed to using a particular piece of equipment, they become hesitant to change, to leave their ‘comfort zone’. Unfortunately, when you get stuck in a rut, you get left in the dust!
When it comes to TIG welding, I have seen first hand how the new technology used in the MILLER DYNASTY 350 has given the operator ‘total arc control’ as never before possible. Yes, there is a brief learning curve, but it’s not rocket science and rewards are well worth leaving your ‘comfort zone’……..and remember, in the end……Mikey liked it!
April 18th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
I am all for new technology if it will actually make life easier or improve my welding. I have however found that many of the new new fangles controls on welding machines do not improve the quality of the weld, only increase the headache of setting the machine up. For instance, the shop I work in has a number of Miller MP-30’s (1973, I believe). I have yet to use any other mig welder, any where, that has a nicer arc than these machines. There is a difference between being stuck in a rut, resisting change and sticking with what works. Change for the sake of change is simply a waste.
P.S. Those Licoln LN-7 wire feeders, on the other hand, have got to go!
April 20th, 2007 at 8:34 am
I think that, until fairly recently, much of the resistance wasn’t the purported advantages of the technology so much as the reliability of the equipment, one example being failures of inverter-based machines.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:01 am
I am the welding tech. for Alberici construtors, Ihave been in this position for almost eleven years. our company has one of the largest fab. facility in the midwest here in St. Louis. BC says the reliability of inverter equip. is not the best. Our fab shop recently started a capital improvement program where we are now around 75% complete all of the 45 new XMT456 machines have been performing very well, with only 3 problems to date all of which where on machines that were out of warranty. I have found the inverters to be much more reliable than our old DC600 power sources, not to mention much easier on electric usage. The bosses where leary of the technology at first but now all of the power sources are being replaced with inverters.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I notice that codes are as much as ten years behind processes. Unless a company is willing to spend extra dollars on qualifiying the new equipment we can’t use it. One example is that we cannot use pulse mode even though our machines have it.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I worked in a fab shop that had a large hobart powersource and wire feeder and also a bunch of new miller powersources and wirefeeders. That Hobart machine had to have been 40-50yrs old. It ran the nicest, smoothest beads every time. Beat the New Miller machines hands down for flux core. Now with the Tig machines, it was a different story. The old machines were really bad and everybody wanted to have the new Millers in their booths. I guess it depends on the machine and the process. Old technology is not always a bad thing.
July 14th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
business is forward or backwords there is no neutral ,follow the leader and move forword, does anyone have a new welding unit they would live without, now not when you bought it?
August 29th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
When I was in high school, every machine we had in the shop was pre-1978, the old “buzz boxes”. These machines nowdays practically set themselves. Invertors are a great example.