Successfully Combining Custom Automation Equipment With Your Manufacturing Workforce
From assembly lines and quality checks to engineers and overseers, people have always played a vital role in the manufacturing of products worldwide. However, in recent years the need to exceed the expectations of the vast and growing economic patterns, manufacturing automation has slowly taken over and changed the way companies operate. From complex robotic systems to custom machine automation solutions, many roles once held by large individual workforces have been replaced, but also, human interaction has been reallocated to other positions needed to support industrial automation processes.
Benefits of Custom Machine Automation
Which Industries Benefit Most
Without manufacturing automation, a number of industries would crumble, especially in today’s demanding economy. Automation helped automotive manufacturing companies recoup losses after the recession during the labor shortage. Electronics manufacturing is thriving thanks to the high output production talents of AI. In fact, it is the only way they can keep up with consumer smartphones, tablets and other electronics. The healthcare and social assistance industries have also seen a rise in automation due to the amount of information that needs to be shared.
Types of Employment Generated by Automation
One of the setbacks of automation is that certain jobs will be lost. However, as a U.K. Deloitte study of automation revealed, there are millions of jobs created in place of the ones no longer required. As robots can handle more labor-intensive tasks faster and more accurately than their human counterparts, that type of employment may decline to leave in its place better quality, higher-paying, technical jobs. This includes employment in robotics, AI, digital marketing, and more.
Areas Where Automation Excels
Although there are a few areas that automation cannot replace a human element, like management and interface, there are several places it can effectively be utilized. According to McKinsey & Company, automation has covered 478 billion working hours in a variety of manufacturing fields alone. They also found 60% of factories can benefit from an automation solution like collecting and processing data and of course, up 90% of predictable physical tasks. It can also help out with unpredictable physical elements.
What To Consider Before Investing in Custom Machine Automation
Loss of Loyal Employees
There are some things about automation that are less ideal. When making the switch, as many as 80% of your labor workforce could be displaced. Workers unwilling or unable to augment their abilities may also have trouble finding work at a comparable rate of pay. The industries most affected are storage, manufacturing and transportation.
Less Personal Contact
Another issue with utilizing automation instead of a human workforce is that robots and AI can’t duplicate an empathetic and personal relationship with customers.
Flexibility Loss
Also, programming and reprogramming take time and effort so using automation software and AI may challenge the ability to make frequent changes to the process once it has been determined.
Expanding Horizons
While seemingly true that the role played by men and women within the world of manufacturing is now dwindling, thanks to the new robot-run facilities, the truth is that it has only shifted. The concentrated need for human involvement now lies more heavily in other fields such as robot designers and engineers. The software development, research and marketing departments are also in high demand. So there is no cause for alarm because for the foreseeable future the manufacturing workforce and custom automated machines will need to lean on each other in order to reach new heights.
Ready to discuss how custom industrial automation can elevate manufacturing productivity? Call us at (866) PLC-GUYS and let’s talk about improving the efficiency of your manufacturing operations with custom automation.
