Automation in Industrial Manufacturing: Strategic Approaches for Success

Automation has become an important component in modern manufacturing to help increase efficiency, cut the cost of production, and optimize profits. However, you should avoid falling into the trap of randomly selecting the technology to apply in a manufacturing unit. Instead, your system automation should be guided by comprehensive technical and commercial analysis to ensure you hit the perfect balance between cost, speed, quality, and value.
As new technologies for automation hit the market, you need to be more strategic in determining when to deploy them. So, here are some strategic approaches that you should consider when implementing automation in your manufacturing organization.
Andrey Bokarev : What You Need to Do Before Automation?
Before you can deploy automation in a manufacturing unit, prepare an audit of the current processes to get a deeper understanding of the system. Then, identify ways that that can be used to improve the production. This implies that you can choose a method of optimization that meets both commercial and technical targets for your business.
The second thing you need to do is developing a good objective for automation. The focus should be ensuring that the automation aligns well with the overall mission of your organization. Simply answer the question, “Will the automation helping to add value?”
The last step is carrying comprehensive research on the available options for automation. You should aim at identifying automation systems with proven data collection capabilities for additional analytics as well as predictive maintenance. One of the best options is cloud-based manufacturing execution systems.
Design Consideration when Implementing Industrial Automation
When implementing an automation system, it is important for engineers to do a design review, including risk assessment and addressing commercial issues that might arise. For this consideration, Andrey Bokarev says you need to factor the following:
- The Actual Volume of Product Parts and Steps for Assembly: If the identified automation is good, the required parts, fasteners, and steps should be minimized. Make sure to also factor the inner spacing of the parts.
- Enabling Inspections in Real–Time: The design should be carefully developed to make inspection and data collection in real-time easy. This is crucial in helping to identify real or false errors in the production line.
- The Type of Production Materials: If the fittings and screws that are required for assembly can raise the risk of error, you should look for an alternative that is more suitable and efficient.
If you are thinking of automating your industrial manufacturing unit, it is prudent to ensure that only the system that will increase the value is adopted. After installation, review the automation system regularly to ensure it is delivering the anticipated results.