A process can be simple

When it comes to the manufacturing environment, the process has to be efficient and effective. But that does not mean it has to be complex.
That is the message Wonderware pushed today at its WonderWorld Conference in Las Vegas.
“We have a tremendous amount of challenges going on right now; industry challenges, manufacturing challenges, organization challenges,” said Rashesh Mody, vice president of global product management at Wonderware during his keynote address this morning.
“We are being challenged to be more creative and innovative today and we can’t do that all alone,” said Mark Davidson, Wonderware vice president of global marketing. “We have to work together.”
Innovation is the key word and Martin Eberhard, co-founder of Tesla Motors talked during his keynote address this morning about how he was able to innovate and create an electric-powered sports car by using some simple level headed thinking.
“Fuel cells were hot in 2003 and everyone said we were in the hydrogen economy and we were all going to be driving fuel cell powered cars. But you had to think where the hydrogen came from. One important ingredient to make hydrogen is electricity.”
After analyzing the situation, Eberhard thought why not just go straight to the source and use electricity without creating a process on board the car to generate electricity.
He said with today’s solar energy technology, he can power his car and house and have some electricity left over. So why use a fuel cell to generate power, when you can do that at home to power your car and home.
His car, however, could not be just a typical looking “glorified golf cart.” It had to be cool looking. That is why he partnered with Lotus and created a sports car run on battery power.
That is where another innovation came in. That is the type of battery the car should use. Traditionally, electric cars used the acid based battery, but Eberhard wanted to use a lithium ion battery, the same product used in a laptop computer.
With that innovation, and quite of bit of trial and error, Tesla Motors is now out in front of all the major auto companies in producing and electric car.
Staying out in front of products is key in the industry today and Wonderware talked about its product roadmap for the next quarter and for the next two years.
“If you look at it, we have people, assets, processes and information,” Mody said. “We think those are four key things we need to address using software, hardware and innovation.”