In her article titled, "What's next for our industry?" Mary Gannon, our Senior Associate Editor does an excellent job of putting together ideas and thoughts from several industry leaders on the new and long term future of fluid power. There are several key take-aways from this article.
The concept of power density as an advantage for fluid power is a recurring theme in this article. Mary states, that no other technology can pack the same punch when it comes to power density. John Treharn of Parker Hannifin agrees that the power density and flexibility of fluid power have always been key advantages.
Tim Hanson of Sauer-Danfoss adds that fluid power will contineue to expand because there is still no economical replacement for the power density of hydraulics in agricultureal, road building, and construction machines.
These are powerful words and provide endless optimism for the future of fluid power technology. Taking the theme a step further, William Van Arsdale of Eaton Corp. states that putting the power density and efficiency of hydraulics together with the intelligence and responsiveness of electronics opens a whow new real of application opportunities.
The article ends with a challenge to industry and academia to continue the expansion of fluid power education. We need to continue to attract the bright minds at engineering schools into careers in fluid power. With the optimism and excitement expressed by our industry experts, there is great reason to expect that those bright minds will be attracted to our industry.
