Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2021 - 2

EDITORIAL
Bill Visnic
Editorial Director
Bill.Visnic@sae.org

EDITORIAL
State of the industry: ubiquitous broadband is key
Bipartisanship and infrastructure: More
of the former will (hopefully) help secure more of the latter. That sums up a
recurrent theme during the Association
of Equipment Manufacturers' (AEM)
mid-January media call to discuss the
2020 elections and what the results
mean for the $288 billion equipment
manufacturing industry in 2021.
Top of the list for the industry's policy
priorities is infrastructure. " Passing policies that modernize U.S. infrastructure
will allow our nation to address the 21st
century global economy, and that's
through further investments in our nation's roads, highways, bridges, rails,
ports, airports and also to deliver broadband access through all of America, "
said AEM president Dennis Slater.
The issue is one that traditionally garners wide bipartisan support - but not
necessarily action. " I feel a heck of a lot
more confident this year than I have in
the past, " Slater said of a comprehensive infrastructure bill being introduced
and actually passing under the Biden
administration and the 117th Congress.
Renewed optimism for a long-term
infrastructure initiative is buoyed by the
belief that perhaps more can be accomplished now that the same political party controls both the executive and legislative branches. President Joe Biden
stating that his administration's economic recovery proposal will include
" historic investments " in infrastructure,
manufacturing, R&D and clean energy is
another reason for a rosier outlook.
Prior to his inauguration, Biden floated
a $2-trillion price tag to build a cleanenergy economy and new infrastructure,
focusing on electricity grids and universal broadband, among other areas. How
to pay for such ambitious investments is
another issue entirely and is likely where
bipartisanship splinters.
" The 2021 definition of infrastructure is
significantly extended from what it was in
the mid-20th century when much of the
country's current physical infrastructure
was built, " said Steve Berglund, AEM
2 February 2021

chair and executive chairman at Trimble
Inc., a tech services company that allocates about three-quarters of its development resources to software. " Imagination
will be important in developing a program that incorporates concepts such as
autonomous vehicles or drones, digital
construction, a connected but decentralized workforce, and ubiquitous high-reliability broadband connectivity. "
There it is again - ubiquitous broadband. Customer expectations in terms of
technology and access to more and faster data have amplified since the onset of
the COVID-19 pandemic, said Bob Crain,
AEM vice chair and senior vice president
and general manager of North American
operations at AGCO Corp. But many of
its customers are in remote locales.
" This is going to be a necessity for our
customers to be competitive, " Crain
stressed, particularly as off-highway machines become increasingly defined by
how well they fit into an information architecture enabling the entire construction site or farm to be managed together.
" As part of an infrastructure bill, we
would love to see expanding broadband
into rural areas for our customers to be
competitive with their worldwide competitors, with the availability of all the
latest and greatest technologies, " he said.
The experts agreed that mobile is
preferable to fiber-optic broadband.
" The new generation of applications,
either for farms or remote construction
crews, increasingly rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning concepts,
which in turn depend on access to big
data, big databases, " said Berglund.
" Without a robust wireless connection,
you deprive work crews in remote areas
access to those applications. "
Commenting on the greater demand
for connectivity, Slater asserted: " When
you hit a time of crisis, technology
starts to rise up. " For the sake of the
farmers and contractors looking to be
more efficient and competitive, let's
hope bipartisan action also rises up.
Ryan Gehm, Editor-in-Chief

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TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2021

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