According to Mike Carrier, Miller's engineering manager, that experience convinced the company to install a wireless network for downloading data such as NC programs to machines on the shop floor (a procedure often called DNC for direct or distributed numerical control). This wireless network replaces the cables that physically connect the machine tool CNCs. "Fortunately, we had only three machines active at the time, or we might have lost more from the lightning strike," Mr. Carrier says. The shop had been planning to connect all of its CNC machines to this network, but the expense and difficulty of stringing wire across the factory to reach additional machines had delayed further progress.

A network that does not need wired connections obviously avoids that obstacle and would make it possible for Miller to use DNC on all of its CNC machines. Wireless connections (often called WiFi for "wireless fidelity" in computer circles) also promise to make it simpler, easier and less costly to move this equipment. That was an important consideration because Miller is a growing, changing company that increasingly relies on its ability to respond to its customers' needs by adding or relocating production assets.