If someone in the metal fabrication industry described a tube fabrication machine equipped with a sophisticated electronic control package, an onboard diagnostic system, the latest sensor technology, automatic loading and unloading, a combination of hardware and software that allows it to change from one job to the next quickly, and remote access capability so the manufacturer could do some diagnostics and troubleshooting without visiting your facility, what would you think? You’d probably guess that the machine was one of the latest laser cutting machines or a sophisticated, mandrel-capable, multistack, left- and right-hand bending machine, wouldn’t you? These would be two possibilities, but they wouldn’t be the only possibilities. Believe it or not, this description fits some traditional metalworking machines, those that do the bulk of the work in the fabrication industry. These are hydraulically driven machines built with custom-made tooling. These are modern versions of conventional machines. Machines that rely on tried-and-true hard tooling, updated with essentially everything the modern world has to offer. While state-of-the-art lasers and CNC benders have taken tube fabri...