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Low Tech Goes High-Tech
Even the most hidebound industries now dwell in the digital domain
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Business New Haven
9/6/1999
By: Russ Madison
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Everyone knows we live in an age dominated by technology. We are surrounded by cell phones and computers. We can send faxes and e-mail from jet planes. What people may not be so aware of is the degree to which technology is revolutionizing even fields commonly regarded as "low tech," such as agriculture or construction.
As one might expect, many of the developments in these fields are computer-related, but by no means all of them. Advances in the fields of lasers, biology, microbiology and chemistry are responsible for others. Still others are the product of plain old Yankee ingenuity.
There can be no minimizing the wide-ranging impact the computer has had. One example of a field that has been utterly transformed by computers is that of sign-making. John Miller, owner of Autografix in Branford, has been in the business for almost 30 years.
Miller's background is typical of many who went into sign-making years ago - he was a fine artist who wanted to make some money on the side to subsidize his painting. A fine arts background was common in the field because signs were lettered by hand, preliminary sketches were done by hand; in short, artistic ability was an essential requirement for the work.
The equipment needed was minimal. "You could invest $100 in brushes, paint, and a tape measure and go into business," says Miller. "And," he adds, "I can still use those brushes today."
Today, Miller says, "Anyone who wants to invest money can go into sign-making." The transformation of the industry began with the introduction of computerized sign-making machines, first manufactured on a large, popularly-priced scale by the Gerber company of South Windsor. Gerber machines (as they are commonly called) can be programmed to cut letters of almost any font out of vinyl or other materials. The early machines sold for around $5,500. Miller says that with that single investment his gross quadrupled in a single year.
Within the past eight years many other types of equipment have become available to sign-makers as well. All are CAD-driven. There are machines that cut three-dimensional letters out of wood, letters which once had to be laboriously hand-cut with a jig-saw, then carefully sanded and finished. There are laser-equipped machines that can cut letters out of steel, and water-jet machines that can cut them out of stone or glass. There is even an electrostatic printer - similar to a gigantic ink jet printer - that can do four-color process printing on surfaces as large as 16 feet high.
For the customer, there is no question but that the new computerized machines have improved the sign-making industry. Creative signage options which once were beyond the price range of all but the wealthiest large corporations are now affordable. As for the sign-makers themselves, the progress is a mixed bag.
"There's a whole lot more business involved now," says Miller. "Now you can't even start for $20,000 - and in a couple of years your equipment's all outdated. It's much more commercial now. I miss the artistic part of it."
Computers have also played a central role in changing the way in which large projects are handled in the construction industry. They are not, however, the only thing responsible for advances in that industry.
According to Peter Arcoma, owner of PMJ Construction Services of Bridgeport, at larger firms schedules, budgeting and field instructions are all computerized. Paperwork is transacted via e-mail, and on-line meetings between the various contractors involved in a project are common.
"Electronic technology is pretty much taking over the office," Arcoma says.
Michael Barbaro is general manager of Construction Related Services of Branford, a division of the Omni Business Group. His company has implemented what he calls "project Web sites."
Typically, when a project goes out to bid, several copies of the blueprints must be made and then sent out to all who might bid on a phase of the work. Now Barbaro simply gives bidders a password and a special viewer and they are able to access the plans on the Web site. "This will allow us to put together a project more quickly, and makes it less expensive to put out to bid," he explains.
"In terms of the hands-on aspect [of the building trades]," says Barbaro, "technology is there and advancing, making it a little easier to do the job, but not revolutionizing it."
In one area of construction, however, great technological strides have been made: excavation. Here, lasers and chemistry have played key roles. Excavating equipment equipped with lasers and other electronic devices are capable of assuring that large surfaces which must be completely flat, such as Bridgeport's Ballpark at Harbor Yard or large supermarkets, are within just one inch of exact level for their entire extent.
There have also been important advances in the additives that go into concrete. "Additives allow you to pour in cold weather, and in hot, dry weather," says Arcoma. "They allow you to work on concrete earlier, and putting microsilica [tiny fibers] in enables you to get added strength." He adds that, for exterior surfaces such as parking lots, "They've pretty much solved the cracking problem."
Similar additives have also made for better grout and mortar. While the masonry trade hasn't changed too much - "You still have to put one block on top of another," Arcoma says - new materials have produced superior results. Paints are also improved.
A field that people rarely associate with technology is that of farming. Yet here, too, a combination of computer-driven devices and advances in other fields - especially biology - have also made for noteworthy new developments.
The nursery industry is one of the most important agricultural sectors in Connecticut. Greenhouses, with their ability to control the growing environment, play a central role in the cultivation of most nursery plants.
According to Rayona Hobbs, head of the Connecticut Nurserymen's Association, many greenhouses today have their climate controlled by computer. The farmer simply sets certain parameters - temperature or humidity, for example - and the system automatically opens and closes vents and turns the heating system on and off in order to maintain those parameters. While the decision to water is still a human decision, the greenhouse computer can be programmed to water certain rows at certain times and for a certain length of time.
Other ingenious innovations in greenhouse design, while they may not involve computers, have improved the environmental soundness of farming techniques. Len Van Wingerden of Grower Direct in Somers raises spring annuals, autumn mums and Christmas poinsettias for such retailers as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Van Wingerden is the first in the state to employ greenhouses that water the plants by flooding the floor.
The floors of his greenhouses function something like large shallow swimming pools. These are flooded with one to two inches of water which the plants absorb through holes in the bottom of their pots. The water is then drained, filtered, and pumped back in to large reservoirs to reuse for flooding. "About 80 to 85 percent of the water is recycled," Van Wingerden says.
Grower Direct greenhouses also have the latest in ventilation technology: the entire roof opens, eliminating the need for the electricity to run fans.
Biological research is also having significant impact on local agriculture. According to Louis Magnarelli, vice director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, scientists are developing new varieties of plants that grow especially well in Connecticut. These include several varieties of corn as well as crops in demand by certain ethnic groups, such as sweet potatoes, artichokes and Chinese cabbage.
"Many farmers are no longer producing potatoes, as other states do better with them," Magnarelli says. "They are switching to these new ethnic crops - a new niche market." Geneticists are also working to develop plants that are more resistant to the stresses of sunlight, insects and disease.
New varieties of plants can also now be reproduced much more rapidly by the use of micropropagation, or the use of just a few cells from any given plant to produce thousands of new plants. Micropropagation makes it possible to introduce a new plant into the industry much more quickly, and also to detect any problem inherent in a new variety more rapidly.
Another focus of biological research that is helping farmers is pest management. According to Richard Cowles, advances are being made in the development of chemicals that harm only one type of insects, so that beneficial insects are not killed along with the harmful ones.
Work is also being done with non-chemical approaches to pest management. These involve the use of predatory creatures such as nematodes (eel worms) that subsist on a diet of insects. Cowles reports that nematodes have been used successfully to control black vine weevils, which attack strawberries and which are nearly impossible to kill with chemicals.
Food processing, a companion industry to agriculture, has also been much affected by technological developments. Computers, of course, play a central role. Today, says Bob Tetrault of Country Home Bakers of Shelton, "knowledge of computers, software and mechanical engineering are just as critical as your knowledge of the foods you manufacture.
"Sure, we have not yet gotten to the point where the human sense are no longer needed," Tetrault explains, "but in most instances your basic process parameters [temperature, viscosity, relative humidity, product color, etc.] are continually being monitored and adjusted by very sophisticated computer programmed equipment."
Microbiology has likewise led to advances in food processing. More rapid methods of testing for bacteria have improved the safety of processed foods. Richard Lacalamito, of Country Home Bakers' quality-assurance department, describes something known as "lightning equipment" that can tell instantly if there is bacterial contamination on equipment.
"You know right away whether your cleaning is effective. You used to not know for two days," Lacalamito says.
In short, today it is increasingly a misnomer to speak of certain industries as "high tech" industries. For nowadays, even low tech is high tech.
\cutline\Branford contractor Barbaro can now field project bids over the Internet.
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