Factoring in Automation

As tech­nol­o­gy pro­gress­es, ris­ing labor costs and increased com­pe­ti­tion demand the need for automa­tion. How­ev­er, sev­er­al impor­tant fac­tors must be con­sid­ered before automat­ing a fac­to­ry or assem­bly process.

The return on invest­ment should be the first fac­tor to con­sid­er when automat­ing a new or cur­rent process. How long will it take to pay back the ini­tial invest­ment on robots and automa­tion equip­ment? With tech­nol­o­gy improve­ments and cost reduc­tions, ROI is like­ly to be mea­sured in months instead of years. An esti­mate should be made of the company’s cur­rent costs of pro­duc­tion and then com­pared to an auto­mat­ed robot­ic solu­tion for a ball­park fig­ure of how long it will take to achieve pay­back. Robot ven­dors and sys­tem inte­gra­tors can help with these calculations.

The most suc­cess­ful auto­mat­ed robot­ic solu­tions are reserved for com­pa­nies that have a com­plete under­stand­ing of their cur­rent process. If the com­pa­ny is extreme­ly knowl­edge­able about the appli­ca­tion, a robot ven­dor or sys­tem inte­gra­tor can design ide­al auto­mat­ed robot­ic solu­tions. There­fore, it is cru­cial to know the cur­rent process before attempt­ing to automate.

There must be a clear moti­vat­ing fac­tor for automat­ing. There are sev­er­al rea­sons that automa­tion is ben­e­fi­cial, such as increas­ing pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, low­er­ing costs, and improv­ing qual­i­ty. The moti­vat­ing fac­tors should be spe­cif­ic, so that one fac­tor does not over­shad­ow the rest, which could prove detri­men­tal to oth­er aspects of the company.

Final­ly, research into robots is essen­tial. Specs might not cov­er all aspects of what a robot can do. Each spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tion demands more infor­ma­tion. Pay­loads, reach, and cycle times are all impor­tant to know when research­ing robots. Sim­ply because a robot has a cer­tain cycle time does not mean it can com­plete the company’s spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tion in that amount of time. If an appli­ca­tion is sim­u­lat­ed, the cycle times will be more spe­cif­ic to the company’s pre­ferred process.

Robots​.com can help you decide which robot would be best for automat­ing your pro­duc­tion process­es pro­vid­ing the most effi­cient facil­i­ty you can have. Con­tact our experts online or at 877−762−6881 for more information.