This is the 60th column marking five years of the Science of Forming. Reviewing past columns reveals many facets of how science plays an important role in running a successful press shop. However, the difference between sheet-metal forming as an art and a science has never been discussed here. An artisan, whether painter, chef, welder, sculptor, musician or any other skill-based occupation, commonly learns the trade by one of two methods. The first method is by formal instruction, which can be provided by listening to a teacher in the classroom, reading a textbook, undertaking an apprenticeship or nowadays interacting with a keyboard and computer screen. The common thread of instruction is passing information from one person to another. For sheetmetal forming this information usually is focused on how to do something.
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