Try Humor to Connect to Younger Manufacturers on Social Media
Shop Floor Automations is trying something new: a Web comic intended to catch the attention of up-and-coming machinists on social media.
![](https://d2n4wb9orp1vta.cloudfront.net/cms/shopfloor-humor-blog-post.jpg;maxWidth=600)
Hey, have you heard this G-code joke?
Well, y'know what they say?
%
O1234
(THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE)
G28 X0.0 Y0.0 Z0.0
M30
%
Get it?
That’s the opening tweet from @ShopFloorHumor, a Twitter account set up by Shop Floor Automations (SFA), a reseller and distributor of CNC hardware and software, particularly machine monitoring software. With an eye toward a younger manufacturing audience, the company has launched a Web comic series called “Shop Floor Man Presents” with the intention of carving out a space for manufacturing-related humor on social media, especially Twitter.
The comic appears in two-panel stories in which the main character, Shop Floor Man, shows life with SFA’s software solutions compared with exaggerated horrors he faces elsewhere, as in the tweet below.
There is a distinct difference between a #FridayFeeling WITH and WITHOUT good tech support #machinist #mfg #ThingsMachinistsSays #cnc #dnc pic.twitter.com/EvgczjCMYE
— Shop Floor Humor (@ShopFloorHumor) September 23, 2016
Other comics will riff on familiar trials faced by machinists everywhere as well as other industry-related humor, like this one released for Manufacturing Day 2016 a couple weeks ago.
Here is our newest Shop Floor Man comic, themed for #MFGday16 #WorldSmileDay #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/kswJUizfwb
— ShopFloorAutomations (@sfa_inc) October 7, 2016
Obviously, the comic serves as a marketing and promotional tool for the company. But it’s also an intriguing entrance into a sphere not many other manufacturers have explored to date, one with the potential to tap into the lived experience of younger, millennial audiences.
“Having a footprint online aside from just a website is so crucial,” says Amanda Rosenblatt, SFA’s marketing coordinator and the comic strip artist. “You have middle school kids, high school teens and college-age young adults who we are trying to get into this industry, or people like the military veterans being trained at organizations like Workshops for Warriors. These people of these various age groups are attached to their devices and social media; we can reach them and show them this industry is a community.”
In the sometimes convoluted Venn diagram of manufacturers, millennials and social media, Web comics could be a particularly effective way to bridge culture gaps and to foster community through shared experience. A lot of web comics are shared on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and many of the those popular among young adults cleverly comment on the existential questions that inform many of their (our) tweets (@SarahCAndersen and @poorlydrawn_lol come to mind as notable examples).
— Sarah Andersen (@SarahCAndersen) October 12, 2016
In a similar way, the scope of Shop Floor Man could be described as commenting humorously on the existential issues of life as a machinist. In fact, even the “poorly drawn” aesthetic is something that may be familiar to many younger Twitter users who read web comics. Concerning the art, Rosenblatt chuckles and says, “I think it is a bold statement because, really, [Shop Floor Man] is purposely drawn badly. That’s why we have the tagline ‘Our solutions are better than our comics.’ No one at the company, including myself, has the time to draw or commission someone to make an amazing comic, but we have the humor, stories and resources to make people laugh. There’s charm to him.”
She adds that the comic has even contributed to SFA’s own internal community-building: “We gather ideas and feedback on comics from the whole company, so it’s fun for them to get involved, and the final product is a group effort.”
Find more of the company’s antics by following @ShopFloorHumor on Twitter.
*This blog post originally appeared on Techspex.com.
Related Content
Can Connecting ERP to Machine Tool Monitoring Address the Workforce Challenge?
It can if RFID tags are added. Here is how this startup sees a local Internet of Things aiding CNC machine shops.
Read MoreHow I Made It: Amy Skrzypczak, CNC Machinist, Westminster Tool
At just 28 years old, Amy Skrzypczak is already logging her ninth year as a CNC machinist. While during high school Skrzypczak may not have guessed that she’d soon be running an electrical discharge machining (EDM) department, after attending her local community college she found a home among the “misfits” at Westminster Tool. Today, she oversees the company’s wire EDM operations and feels grateful to have avoided more well-worn career paths.
Read MoreSame Headcount, Double the Sales: Successful Job Shop Automation
Doubling sales requires more than just robots. Pro Products’ staff works in tandem with robots, performing inspection and other value-added activities.
Read MoreWhen Handing Down the Family Machine Shop is as Complex as a Swiss-Turned Part
The transition into Swiss-type machining at Deking Screw Products required more than just a shift in production operations. It required a new mindset and a new way of running the family-owned business. Hardest of all, it required that one generation let go, and allow a new one to step in.
Read MoreRead Next
A History of Precision: The Invention and Evolution of Swiss-Style Machining
In the late 1800s, a new technology — Swiss-type machines — emerged to serve Switzerland’s growing watchmaking industry. Today, Swiss-machined parts are ubiquitous, and there’s a good reason for that: No other machining technology can produce tiny, complex components more efficiently or at higher quality.
Read MoreEncountering Surface Finishes in the Everyday World
Surface measurement is becoming increasingly important to ensure proper performance of a manufactured product. Advanced surface measurement tools are not only beneficial in the manufacturing industry but also have unconventional applications.
Read More3 Mistakes That Cause CNC Programs to Fail
Despite enhancements to manufacturing technology, there are still issues today that can cause programs to fail. These failures can cause lost time, scrapped parts, damaged machines and even injured operators.
Read More