Is there still room for analog in our growing digital world?
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Continental’s ContiTech headquarters here in North America and spoke with Andreas Gerstenberger, CEO of ContiTech USA, as well as Luis David Almanza Padilla, Product Manager of Digital Solutions Americas ContiTech. Stay tuned for more updates from these conversations in the coming weeks. But speaking about all things digital with Padilla got me thinking.
Padilla showed me ContiTech’s Shop in a Box, which includes all necessary systems for completing a hose assembly — saws, cleaning tools, reels and, of course, crimpers. Most importantly, it features smart crimping technology, which allows manufacturers to send updates through the cloud to the crimper, resulting in fewer mistakes in hose and fitting assemblies. Gone are massive catalogs containing every crimp spec known to man. The machine knows exactly what die to use and exactly how long to hold the crimp for the proper design.
This makes so much sense for crimping technology — if there is an update to a product line, ContiTech sends it to the crimper, eliminating the risk of a technician not knowing which die to use or losing a printed update card.
A collage of catalogs from Hydraquip UK, Parker Hannifin and Hydraulic Supply.
When I started covering fluid power 20 years ago, massive catalogs were everywhere. They contained technical details on products, installation and assembly instructions, engineered illustrations and sometimes technical engineering briefs that could educate the user on some basics of the technology. But these are mostly gone, supplanted by online catalogs.
This is good in many ways, as the online catalog should be more easily searchable and saves countless trees. Most books are available in an online format, whether as a PDF or web-based. But do paper catalogs still have their uses?
Recently, I’ve seen several conversations on LinkedIn by folks loyal to such catalogs and engineering handbooks. Pages would be dog-eared where they referenced critical information more than once. Most of the engineering information contained therein is still accurate today. And some of that useful text may be more difficult to find online through search functions versus a bookmark of some sort.
As someone in the business of publishing, I hold paper copies of my work dear. Not because I am old-fashioned and hate change, but because I know how easily online work can be erased. My earliest work predated most online journalism, so I still have every newspaper page with my byline. However, much of my early writing about fluid power was erased when my name was completely removed from all articles because I went to write for a competitor. It’s easy to erase things online. But if you have that tangible copy, no one can take it from you.
I know that just because it’s in a book doesn’t mean it’s true. But if it’s in a book and it IS true, it’s hard to disprove that with online inaccuracy and misrepresentation. Anyone can publish just about anything these days, including AI and disinformation. And changing content online or hacking in is very easy. But a book, a journal, a catalog? Those words will hold true as long as someone still reads them.
Let me conclude by asking you this: Are you strictly an online reader? Or do you hold on to your books, journals and other items as frequent reference in your daily lives?
Mary C. Gannon • Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/marygannonramsak
Filed Under: Digital Issues
