AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS
MYTH #1: AUTOMATION IS UNNECESSARY
Let uss address the main elephant in the room: outdated manual processes, including manual data entry, are a massive cause of errors, unnecessary waste, and cost. The average error rate in manual data entry is about one per cent. If you have workers on a production line manually entering data, it won’t take long before a data entry error gets onto your products. Moreover, if you rely on manual processes for quality control, there’s a good chance that error will only be spotted after it Even worse, if a product labelling error enters the supply chain, the cost and waste average cost of a product recall amounting to $10 million, before taking into account the detrimental effect that a product recall can have on a brand’s image.
If automation can help avoid this risk, by mitigating even a fraction of those errors, it certainly isn’t unnecessary.
MYTH #2: AUTOMATION DOES NOT APPLY TO ME
A common argument against automation is that the unpredictability experienced by some businesses makes implementation impossible.
For example, contract packers, who manage and label products for multiple brands, handle numerous product changeovers per down to manage changes in throughput due to seasonality. Many companies believe this level of unpredictability is too challenging to manage using automation. In reality, the opposite is true.
Simple automated solutions can replace the need for manual data entry. A barcode scanner can populate product labels automatically based on existing production orders, or printers can be set up to populate label templates from a central database. To simplify further, in a facility with multiple production lines, coding automation software will allow production line staff to network printers together and automatically populate product label data from a central MES, or ERP system. This can be combined with automated solutions for machine vision for real-time quality control.
MYTH #3: AUTOMATION REPLACES PEOPLE
automation than manual workers. However, these are often menial, entry-level roles that The manufacturing industry is suffering the Manufacturing Institute report suggests that the US manufacturing industry alone may need as many as 3.8 million new roles by 2033, The true role of robotics and automation in manufacturing is not to replace but to
AUTOMATION MYTHS IN
Automation has revolutionised manufacturing businesses’ operations through improved efficiency, productivity gains, and overall business growth. Indeed, since the early 2010s, consultancy giants have been championing the transformative power of automated systems in manufacturing. Yet, despite widespread acceptance of manufacturing automation, some
businesses are lagging behind. A 2023 report by the Manufacturing Technology Centre revealed that UK manufacturers’ hesitance to invest in automation and robotics has notably impacted the country’s recent productivity gains. In addition, in the US product errors linked to inefficient manual processes continue to prove an issue: in 2023, undeclared allergens due to labelling errors were behind half of all US food and beverage recalls. So, what’s behind the reluctance to adopt automation in manufacturing? Adem Kulauzovic, director of Automation, Domino Printing Sciences, uncovers seven critical – and misplaced – concerns around adopting factory automation and explains why, if you are still holding back on your automation journey, the time to move is now.
10 NOVEMBER 2024 |
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