Optimation Blog

National Engineer's Week in the United States is held every year in February during the week of George Washington's birthday. George Washington, the nation's first President, was also an engineer and a surveyor. He also served as an architect and designed his estate and the buildings at Mount Vernon. Washington also was a design engineer. He invented and fabricated new farm tools including a plow that rotated and dispensed seeds. Washington was a strong advocate for the advancement of engineers in the young country. Many of his military strategies were successful because of his knowledge and use of engineering. One of Washington’s greatest engineering achievements was his work on the Patowmack Canal. Washington’s plan was to allow navigation and access to Ohio by widening the Potomac River and building canals and locks around the most turbulent parts. His engineering efforts were sidetracked for eight years when he was elected president. He went back to the project after his second term was completed but died three years before the entire project was completed.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a turbulent time for many manufacturers and other businesses. Balancing business needs with safety can be challenging, particularly when this pandemic disrupted supply chains, labor availability, and investment. Optimation has continually risen to this challenge by management the disruptions with strategic and thoughtful courses of action. We developed business continuation and risk mitigation plans early which ensured our operations would continue safely.

Many people may not know that Rochester, NY is home to a company with significant contributions to the glass industry, Klug Systems by Optimation. Klug, the name it is most known by, can trace its roots back to the 1920s and 1930s when John Klug first founded the creatively named John L Klug Corporation. In the early years, Klug business was primarily an anthracite coal transportation company, but had transformed into a design and construction firm of coal silos by the 1930s. As the years progressed, John’s interest in the glass industry grew, leading him to investigate how to apply his coal storage expertise to glass manufacturing. Eventually, he would go on to modernize a small part of the glass industry.

2020 was a unique year in many ways for many reasons and for many people. This was true in the manufacturing industries as well as in education, medicine, and entertainment. The trends and the trajectory for manufacturing in the United States have shifted dramatically from what we were expecting a year ago. Many changes were driven by advances in technology but the focus and demands for the technology have been driven by new and unique needs created by the pandemic and government policy, correctly or incorrectly, created as a response to the pandemic. We have seen and will see changes in manufacturing and technology impacted significantly through supply chain, reshoring and plant upgrades caused by shifting resources and strategic necessities progressing as a result of COVID pandemic.

Optimation Technology has 4 new trades apprentices. Cierra Collins from Rochester, Matthew Wise from Ontario, Jake Ingalls from Cuba, and Morgan Spurr from Rochester started the beginning of their new careers on January 25^th, 2021. Out of more than 50 applicants, these 4 rose to the top of our desired list, and we are ecstatic to have them be a part of the team.

The 46^th President Must Prioritize Manufacturing in America.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. was sworn in as the 46^th president of the United States on January 20^th, 2021, urging a bitterly divided country to come together at a perilous time in American history while moving quickly to begin implementing his agenda.

Are Robots the Answer?

During this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our customers, both new and longstanding, have been rethinking how they deploy their employees, and how they utilize process automation to manufacture their products. Mask wearing and social distancing have become the norm for the foreseeable future and guaranteeing the safety of people in their workplace has become a primary concern. With these new pressures as catalysts, our clients are considering automation as a means to space out people on the production floor, with the added benefit of substituting machinery to do mundane tasks so employees can be moved into new roles where they can add more creative value.

Optimation creates some of the most unique and innovative manufacturing processes and machines in the world. In order to do this, Optimation employees about a hundred engineers in a variety of industrial specialties and employs about a hundred tradesmen engaged in the industrial trades. Recently, I have been blogging about a few of our favorite projects in a variety of industries. Some of these projects were done for large established companies while many others have been completed for small startup companies. Some were totally new technologies, some to improve existing processes, and some simply to increase capacity. Optimation has hundreds of clients and completes over 1,000 different projects each year. A large percentage of what Optimation designs and creates includes research and development. Our passion at Optimation is to grow the manufacturing base in the United States. Yankee ingenuity and American creativity provide the innovation that can make this happen. Optimation engineers create the designs. Our skilled journeymen bring these designs to life.

Optimation employees about a hundred engineers and a hundred tradesmen to create some of the most unique and innovative manufacturing machines in the world. I’ve been blogging about some of our favorite projects in the past. Some of our projects were done for large established companies while many others have been completed for small startup companies. Optimation has hundreds of clients and completes over 1,000 different projects each year. A large percentage of what Optimation designs and creates includes research and development. Our passion at Optimation is to grow the manufacturing base in the United States. Yankee ingenuity and American creativity provide the innovation that can make this happen. Optimation engineers create the designs. Our skilled journeymen bring these designs to life.