The biggest challenge we may be facing is the need to adapt to the technology around us. I am sure that there were amazing wagons being designed and built when the automobile first hit streets. Stories can be told over the radio, but it sure is nice seeing them in black and white or maybe even color. As a child, I remember our first cordless home phone. You could talk on the phone in your home and not be attached to the wall in the dining room. My children will never know what a home phone looks like. Stay mad at MTV for not showing music videos, while you search YouTube for the current hit song stuck in your head.
In every facet of our lives, things are constantly changing. We can choose to live with existing technology and be happy. How much extra work are we burdening ourselves though? When I watch a video of a robotic arm cutting wood to length and then splitting it for firewood, I can’t help but think of the poor guy with an axe. He works very hard to get the wood prepared, but takes ten times as long and lies down with a sore back when it’s all over. I’m not just talking about wasted time in physical labor.
I remember getting my first TI-85 Graphing Calculator. Our school teacher wasn't entirely sure what to make of them. The problem was that the students quickly realized the power of the devices in saving time and double-checking math. I began to write my own executable programs to perform problems that provided a result based upon variable inputs. I would write out the math, step-by-step, to show that I knew the process. However, using the calculator to rework the problem was cheating? A short time later, teachers were telling us to format our calculators in hopes that we would not ‘cheat’ on exams. Obviously, the calculator was a tool and I was still responsible for knowing the material.
Spreadsheets quickly became a great tool for developing ways to perform repetitive calculations. Engineering can involve many varying possibilities. Why spend many days hand calculating the information when it can be done in a spreadsheet or specific program in hours or less? Now imagine that those calculations have a direct effect on the design documentation. What does that mean?
Drafting is truly an art. Taking an idea and developing it on paper with pencil is not easy. Representing the idea in 2D based on three dimensions takes a trained eye. Now we are modeling in 3D and trying to find ways to document the 3D into 2D to represent the 3D. But are the 3D models, created manually, taking just as long as the man with the axe? Wouldn't you want the robotic arm helping out?
Some people have accepted BIM and 3D modeling because it was required in order to get the project. The problem is there isn't any benefit to a 3D model that is manually developed just to produce documents. Why limit yourself to a manual process when there is the potential to automate it? Why not use modeling content that is designed around the entire industry? Why do it the way it was done last year, only because that is the way it was done last year? Isn't it beneficial to spend some time finding a quicker way that will save more time in the end? Why accept mediocrity and not continuously push the capacity to perform work in a more accurately and timely manner?
-Craig
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