Interviews from the Rhombus Room where sometimes your angles of perception are opposites or could be equals, it is for you to decide.
If you did not catch our first interview in the Rhombus Room, welcome to the series of interviews with the solution engineers from RSA, Inc. I am Eldrige Golar.
A quick bio on me would include my witnessing the Roswell Alien spacecraft crash, pulling the still-living alien from the wreckage, and then having the alien impart future technologies to me telepathically. My life’s goal is to impart, as humans are able to cope with them, new technologies that will result in the betterment of mankind.
Sometimes, humans have proven able to use and understand my gifts, think automatic windshield wipers, and other times they have not, think the Internet. Ah well, maybe someday humans will rise to a level where all of my gifts are used for good. For this series, Interviews from the Rhombus Room, I have decided to interview a rare breed of engineer, the automation solution provider. This group of engineers are required to constantly work using a highly cross-disciplinary skill set that few people have acquired. The engineers I will be interviewing will be bringing a lifetime of learning to bear in creating the solutions needed to solve their customers automation problems.
Today I would like to introduce Jeff Johnson of RSA, Inc. Jeff is a BSME graduate from Purdue University. He has 27 years of experience providing automation solutions to RSA, Inc. customers. Jeff is expert in all things motion, machine control, machine vision, product sensing, communications, and personnel safety.
EG: Good morning, Jeff. Could you please give us your elevator speech as to what you offer as a solution engineer?
JJ: Thank you Dr. Golar, it is a pleasure having an opportunity to speak with one of the great engineering pioneers of the motion control industry. I have always been impressed with the Growler motor you developed as it was a technological leap in machine control.
I have experience in applying motion and machine controls in a broad spectrum of applications. From small desktop mechanisms to the largest machine tools made in the US (at the time). I constantly train to stay up on the technologies we provide to flatten the learning curve in adopting and implementing these technologies.
EG: Thank you. I happen to know that you were an early adopter of the stepping and servo motor technologies I originally shared in the 1970’s.
JJ: When I came into the RSA family, we were working with some of the best developers of stepper and servo motion/control at the time. It was considered mostly black magic at the time. However, the early experience ingrained the engineering foundation required to understand how motion control works. Think of it as knowing how to do arithmetic by hand before being presented a calculator.
EG: When you receive a request to assist in an automation solution, how do you start the process? What questions do you ask?
JJ: The initial questions are designed to fully define what the customer really needs the machine to do. If the process required is well defined, the solution often presents itself. Having extensive experience with a variety of different machines and mechanisms allows me to recognize and recommend solutions that are proven in similar applications.
EG: Interesting.
EG: As you develop the concept with the customer, how do you bring in challenging perspectives to help them in designing the best solution? Does this alienate them or inspire them?
JJ: I approach each design from the perspective of a Mechanical Engineer. The best controls in the world can’t fix bad mechanics. Good mechanics can often be controlled with fairly basic hardware. Back in the day, we were able to do complex applications with hardware developed on the 8088 and 60000 families of processors. Today’s controls are much more powerful, but still will not control a poorly designed mechanism. Again, once the mechanics are properly defined, the control solution often presents itself.
EG: If you challenge an engineer, how do you help guide them to change their ideas. Obviously, they have their experience and opinions on how things should be done.
JJ: It relies on a level of trust that I know what I’m talking about. Customer experience is very important as it often was developed by finding what didn’t work. The customer knows their specific machine better than any outside consultant/vendor. However, their experience may be based on ‘the way we always do it’. Our experience with a wide variety of applications and deep understanding of the engineering behind our technologies allows us to present solutions with the ‘numbers to prove it be successful’.
EG: Can you give me an example of a highly successful “concept change” that you helped someone with recently?
JJ: Two come to mind. First was an architectural change where the customer needed a solution to control a physically large machine line. We showed how using distributed controls with a bus network allowed greater flexibility and reduced costs compared to everything being in a centralized control cabinet. As the application developed, additional motion axes were added without having to reconfigure what would have been a very full enclosure.
Second was a technology change to a machine that had been historically controlled with hydraulics. We were able to show how using electronic motion control provided the same level of forces with improved position and velocity control. It also alleviated the inherent drawbacks of hydraulic systems.
EG: How do successes build trust for long term partnerships with your customers?
JJ: It usually starts with solving fairly minor problems that are an irritant to the engineer. Success in one application leads to additional opportunities for more complex challenges. If we provide and support solutions that work, we become a trusted resource the engineer can rely on.
Every engineer I work with is strapped for time. Successful solutions allow the customer to trust me being an extension of their engineering department. I recognize the importance of this trust as my success is their success. With limited R&D time and resources, mitigating risk is about trust (and visa-versa).
EG: Fascinating! What do you think you can do to reach more engineers and be able to spread the success of your work to others?
JJ: Continue to show new technologies developed by our principles. It requires being with them and listening to their challenges. Be conscientious of their time constraints.
It is also important to develop and maintain trust with our manufacturers to leverage their marketing and customer outreach.
EG: In closing, would you like to share any other keys to how you bring profitable success to your customer partners?
JJ: We stand behind our products and our expertise. We also recognize the responsibility and trust our customers place in us. There are almost always multiple hardware options available to solve a customer’s application. Working with RSA presents the best option for a successful machine due to the experience, knowledge, and support we provide.
EG: Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate your insights and your time with me today. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Well folks, that is all from the Rhombus Room today. I look forward to sharing my next interview with you next month.