While visiting Provo Utah, we stopped to have dinner at Guru's, a small cafe in the center of town. As we talked, I happened to look up at the ceiling, and noticed the "track" lighting. The track they have is not for lighting - well that is not the original intent. Suddenly, it was a flashback to a custom machine build of several years ago.
They have Flex track to support the lights, which is cool, and it certainly brings back memories for me.
The custom machine that creates the track was both designed and built at Synthesis. The track design is from our customer, as is the punch press that forms each track section, but the strapping in the track as well as the packaging is part of the automation custom machine build by Synthesis. A huge, and very rewarding project.
This track is really for creating curvy walls, and it is normally inside the wall, not exposed like this. It is actually a pretty cool off-script use of the stuff. It has holes every 4" or so to hang it, and to hang the lights. The track itself makes a good place to lay the wires out of sight and out of the way. Kudos to whomever thought to use it that way.
Well, here is a quick video flashback of the non-traditional use of the flex for hanging lights in the cafe. I am sorry about the poor lighting, and resulting poor video quality, but I hope you can see enough to enjoy it anyway.
Non-Traditional Use Of Flex For Track Lighting
I suppose most people wouldn't think twice about it, but since we built the machine that creates it, and spent so many months doing it, I obviously recognized it immediately. Pretty cool.
While this is kind of fun for us, this video flashback probably has little meaning to most people. The more interesting videos are those of the actual custom machine in action. We have two videos of the machine running, producing the track. Both are on the SIM Demonstration Videos Page along with a lot of other information about it. There you can read about 'the big machine', and about how this "track" is made. There are also links to additional materials on that page.
Thank you for visiting, and thank you for indulging our Video Flashback!
Celebrate Creativity
When I see things like this non-traditional use of flex track, I always pause to celebrate the creativity that someone brought to the party. We think creativity is awesome. Can you become more creative? We think so, and all it really takes is some good stimulation - like the need for something interesting for hanging lights.
When we do the design for a custom machine build, we pull in all sorts of non-traditional product and material uses. So when we see things like these light, it makes us happy. Sure, seeing something we had a hand in producing is one thing, but celebrating creativity is really the cool part.
Do You Need A Custom Machine Build?
At Synthesis we design and sometimes build custom machines for manufacturing, for production support, and for custom fabrication. Also, machines for On-The-Jobsite operations. A machine can certainly make big jobs easier, and repeating jobs much faster - or even automated. Or, in this case, make the work safer for the employees. A custom machine build like this is just one of the many things we do.
And, it is not just for automation equipment. We also design a lot of custom tools, specialty jigs and production fixtures, to improve speed, quality, and flexibility. It is all in the category with "Custom Machine" to us because they improve efficiency and productivity. Please see our Engineering Services page on Custom Machines for a lot more information and examples.
Next Article Up: Humans Versus Automation - Balancing Efficiency and Humanity With Custom Machines.