In a world where machine performance and delivering results are of paramount importance, Norgren, the leading pneumatics expert, is looking to a future where performance is bought and sold while the products themselves become the conduit. Sean Toomes, Norgren's international marketing director paints a picture of a pneumatics industry very different from the one we recognise today. Norgren's most recent innovations, including the industry's first fully-comprehensive and automated online ordering system - Norgren's 'Webstore'.
Last year the company also launched online technical support, giving customers 24 hour access through the Internet to Norgren specialists and engineers, and a free three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) facility for pneumatics engineers via its website.
So it's no surprise that the Internet figures large in his vision of the future, a vision which has more in common with the aerospace and digital television industries than with the pneumatics industry of today.
The concept is radical - yet so simple as to make immediate sense.
Toomes can see a day when Norgren will not necessarily charge customers on a per-unit basis for individual valves, actuators and FRLs.
Instead, the company will be able to sell whatever is of most value to the customer - be it cycles in the case of a valve, strokes in the case of an actuator, or throughput in the case of air-line equipment.
In his words, "customers should have the option of paying for usage, not units".
"What's most important to an engineer - the price of a unit or the fact that it is guaranteed to deliver a certain amount of service before it has to be replaced?
Engineers like to deal with certainties and I believe there is scope for us to meet this need".
Toomes points to the aerospace industry as an example.
Here jet engine manufacturers are starting to charge aircraft manufacturers not for the engines themselves, but for units of thrust delivered by each engine during the lifetime of the aircraft.
His point is that it is not the engine which is of value to the aircraft manufacturer, but what it actually delivers in terms of thrust.
"You are buying what you value, not what you need in order to deliver that value".
Performance So what he is selling, in fact, would be 'up-time' - a guaranteed rate of performance for a given price?
"Yes and no.
If a piece of equipment - be it a valve, a filter or an actuator - stops working, then why should the customer have to pay for it?
It's not the product itself which a customer wants - it's what it can deliver.
Under the Norgren model you would be buying what you value, not simply 'up-time'.
You could specify to us what it is that you value and we could tailor our arrangement accordingly.
If what you want from your automation system is measurable we could sell it to you, be it cycles, strokes, volume, speed, accuracy - anything".
Toomes calls the concept a service innovation, where the focus is on delivering exactly the service of greatest value to the customer.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The benefits to the customer of this approach are legion, he says.
Total cost of ownership is driven down as the risk of ownership is transferred from the customer back to Norgren.
This includes costs associated with administration, maintenance and in-house design.
And cash-flow is streamlined through the elimination of initial cash outlays and a planned, pay-as-you-use approach.
Norgren would benefit from such an approach in that it would move up the value chain.
Where its competitors remain suppliers of components, Norgren would reinforce its position as a service and systems provider and a partner in the day-to-day operation of its customers' businesses.
The next question is obvious.
How would Norgren be able to tell how many strokes any given actuator had delivered, or how many litres of air had been pushed through an FRL?
How would it be practically possible to charge a customer for the exact number of cycles delivered by a valve?
Internet This, according to Toomes, is where the Internet comes in.
"We already have our V20/V22 valves which can communicate through a fieldbus to an operator, warning of impending failure or advising which particular valve in an island needs replacing.
It's only a short step to build in a monitoring capability which would let the equipment communicate with us at Norgren, advising us how hard it has been working today, this week or this month.
Norgren is already practically investigating a scenario in which pneumatic components would have their own IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.
Bluetooth and broadband technology would allow these components to access the Internet, and Norgren, from anywhere on the customer's factory floor.
"No mess, no fuss, no additional wiring", Toomes explains.
"The technology to let us work this way exists today - and we are in the process of applying it to what we do".
He draws an analogy with a family.
"Your kids grow up and spread their wings.
But you keep in touch, you communicate with them - you know how well they are feeling, what they are doing, their highs and their lows.
The fact that we could now choose to have a similar relationship with our products opens up a new range of potential business models, and this is what we are exploring at the moment".
But what of the time-scales involved?
Toomes is cautiously optimistic, saying that it would not take a huge leap to develop the scenario from where the industry is today.
Months, not years, is his verdict.
Norgren's 'Smart' suite of pneumatic products - launched at the Hanover Fair this year - has the monitoring and diagnostic capability required.
Linking these to the Internet would be the next stage in the process.
Norgren expects the potential 'selling value' business model to be of particular interest to high-volume, high-unit value industries such as semi-conductor wafer fabrication.
Other areas where it sees the model working well are with larger machine-builders and process-oriented industries like assembly and printing.
Toomes is excited about the concept and the potential it represents.
"We're not talking just about an incremental increase in performance or technology", he said.
"We're talking about a complete revolution in the pneumatics industry and the way it is structured".