Know Why You Should Use Manufacturing Automation Solutions
There are several reasons that you should use manufacturing automation solutions in your business
. You really should understand what the reasons are and make them the objectives as you apply automation to your processes. One of the best reasons for building manufacturing automation solutions into your business is that it will increase productivity. The manual steps that are currently being done in the factory will be replaced by high-speed, accurate robotic work stations that never miss a beat. They work very quickly and work very accurately. On top of the increase your production processes will be stabilized into extreme consistency. A much higher number of products coming off the line will be made to specifications and easily excepted by customers. Overall your factory will just do things better and faster.Reduction and stabilization of cost is another excellent reason for applying manufacturing automation solutions. Because of the consistency in automated manufacturing there is less scrap and rework in the production process. Cost of production can very well be at the very least, stabilized. Improvement and stabilization of the quality of products falls in line with the other consistencies. The products created by automation are not impacted by human mistakes. People get tired or sick which can effect the production quality of the items on which they work. Robotics helps to improve the safety of the factory and help a company to be in regulatory compliance. There are some tasks in the production process, like painting, applying coatings, and using chemicals that are best left to automation. This will assist a business in complying with government and union regulations about the safety of the work place.
As the capability of production increases, the fixed cost of production increases. Any time that machinery is added to the process, there is a cost for that machinery. This is true in any manufacturing operation. However, the cost of adding traditional manufacturing equipment to the process is significantly more than adding robotic automation to perform the same tasks. If there is a demand from the market place for an increase in production, there will be a cost associated with the addition of production equipment to the process. The cost of adding traditional equipment will likely be greater than the cost of the addition of automation to perform the same production tasks. The initial configuration or reconfiguration of the manufacturing operation is much easier with robotics than with traditional machinery. Robotic workstations usually occupy a smaller area than the traditional equipment that they replace. The lead time to have traditional equipment in place on the production line can be from 12 to 24 months, while the lead time for robotics can be as little as 8 months.
Robotics have a low capitalization cost when compared with traditional manufacturing equipment. There is less preparation and cost required for the installation of robotics as opposed to the more time consuming and expensive installation of traditional equipment. There is a great difference in the "training" or programming of robotics as compared to earlier production equipment. Robotics can be programmed from the CAD model for the equipment away from the factory floor and will not occupy factory floor space and delay other processes when being programmed. Traditional equipment requires setup processes on the factory floor that can interfere with other manufacturing processes to be accomplished. There is no need for your business personnel to go through a learning curve for the implementation of manufacturing automation solutions, like they probably did for traditional equipment. There are integrators that have all the necessary skills to integrate and install the robotics in minimum time. This robotic infrastructure is very mature and can design the best implementation for your production processes in a short period of time.
An increase in competitive advantage is a definite positive that is gained from manufacturing automation solutions. Having products produced more economically, shipped to the customers on time, and have the customers see the higher quality that is arriving on their shipping docks is a great boost to goodwill. As time passes the customer will wish to see that same quality in other products that they require to sell or use in their production facilities. It is almost a sure thing that the customer will request your ability to produce the new demands that they may have in their organization. Manufacturing automation solutions will have a positive domino effect on your process of manufacturing. Sales will have an increase in requests similar to "Can you make this for us?" because of the consistency that you have delivered in the past.
Once automation has been put in place, the entire production process will run much smoother. As the steps in the processes are integrated with one another the flow of work is less likely to be halted by human errors that will slow down production.
The auditing process is much simpler than when it was done before automation. Because of the consistencies created in the entire production process, there is little need to do in depth analysis of how processes are done and what are resource origins and what are their costs. This will reduce overall facility down time during auditing and inventory. Manufacturing automation solutions will give a manufacturing operation many more benefits than it will give the business liabilities.
by: John Mitchell