The other day I saw a TV commercial for a new Nissan model — I don't know which one — and it went into a rather detailed explanation of a new technology that "instantly" reads changes in weather and road conditions and adjusts the operation of the wheels accordingly. Which sounds great; a leap forward in safety and all that, and given the way the weather changes in Chicago, it's a technology that seems worth paying for.

But all I saw was another electronically complicated system with sensors that will malfunction at the drop of a hat and cost $1,400 to repair, because of course the entire system will have to be replaced. No car repair is ever simply a matter of replacing a ball bearing or tightening a loose screw anymore.

No doubt I am reacting to a series of auto ills we've experienced this season at our house. Both rear turn signals are out on the truck; that's several hundred dollars apiece to replace the entire component. A headlight conked out on the sedan; we were quoted well over a thousand to fix that issue. This, on a 16-year-old car whose Blue Book value may very well be less than the cost of the repair.

Cars aren't the only machines that, thanks to electronics, have complicated what is a fairly simple mechanical task. The labor shortage and the rising cost of keeping the production line stocked with human beings is bringing all kinds of automation within reach of meat processors. Thanks to amazing developments in virtual reality, lasers and yes, those pesky sensors, robots can effectively and profitably carve the valuable meat off of the carcass. And robots don't get carpal tunnel.

But the technology that can make your head spin in a demonstration on the trade show floor will surely behave differently when installed in a plant, where the weather is always cold and wet. And like car repairs, these computerized wonders are rarely easy to fix and certainly not cheap.

In all the talk about advances in automation and the way it's going to change the meat game, I haven't heard much about the cost of maintenance and repair on these marvelous machines. Or the impact a malfunctioning robot has on the production line. These are costs that processors need to factor in over the life of the machine. While all those costs added together increasingly are coming in lower than the cost of hiring and retaining humans to do the work, they still have to be accounted for. And considering the way that cars — er, machines — conk out at the most inconvenient times, processors would be prudent to assume a worst-case scenario.

Before you invest in that new technology for your company, make sure that you can afford it — not only the payments and the depreciation but the maintenance and repair. Make sure that you have ready access, either on-staff or through an on-call service, to technicians with the electronic savvy to keep those machines healthy; gone are the days when a canny mechanic knew just which bolts to tighten to keep the equipment purring.

And while you're at it, go a step further and invest in training and educating the next generation of machine whisperers at your local high schools and community colleges.

Because you're going to need them.

Of cars, weather and meat

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