Benefits of Automation: Streamlined Manufacturing Processes

February 2023

The automation of manufacturing shows no signs of slowing down. Recent data suggests a year-on-year rise of around 9%.

So, where does that leave your business? Are you ready for this transformation in your manufacturing?

Automation and robotics are two broad and complex creatures, so preparing your business will take some planning.

If you’re new to Automation, it’s worth learning how this technology can transform your workplace. To help you in your journey, we’ve included an overview of some of the key benefits of automation.

Streamline Processes

Every manufacturing business will have established processes that aren’t always 100% efficient.

In even the most competitive businesses, there will always be room for improvement to reduce waste, cut steps, and speed things up.

That’s where automation becomes an asset. You can, for example, improve and automate machinery that will turn a ten-step manufacturing process into a three-step one. And in doing so, you may also be able to cut out human steps in that manufacturing that naturally slow things down.

Of course, machines replacing humans is nothing new, and it’s how some of the leading businesses in the world (such as car manufacturers) became so successful.

But nowadays, we also have robotics, adding another dimension to automated manufacturing. The potential becomes even more exciting when you add AI (artificial intelligence) to automation. This, in turn, allows employees to be upskilled and undertake more rewarding tasks in the workplace.

For example, robotics in manufacturing can take on the task of quality inspections. That replaces having someone manually inspect every product from a manufacturing line.

More Consistent Results

By implementing automation and robotics, you’re reducing the opportunities for human error in your manufacturing process.

By switching from manual to automatic, you will get more consistent results at every critical point in your manufacturing process, including faster setup, assembly, tracking, and quality control.

Automation helps reassure you that each step in your manufacturing process is identical, and in doing so, you have a higher chance that your outputs will be similar.

Having this consistency is essential when you want to grow your business. It’s what customers expect when they see your product advertised on a website or in a shop.

 

Reduced Costs

You probably already do a lot to cut costs in your manufacturing processes. In this case, you may consider how automation can help you achieve those goals.

Firstly, higher productivity and more efficient automated processes will lead to lower costs, and the more work you do to improve processes via automation, the more you’ll see a difference in your long-term manufacturing costs.

This helps you improve your profit margins, reduce product prices, and become more competitive.

If you use robotics and automated technology to monitor your manufacturing process, you can help reduce downtime or a machine breakdown, which will leave you with added costs in lost production and repair expenses. Control systems can now provide predictive maintenance with continuous monitoring of machine equipment. Therefore, this can reduce the time an automated machine is offline, as fixes would focus on highlighted areas retrieved from the machine’s big data.

Away from automated manufacturing, you could also reduce your warehousing costs using automated machines such as intelligent warehouses and autonomous vehicles such as supplied by Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) to manage your inventory and internal logistics, which can also give you a cost saving on your broader logistics setup.

Investing in automation can be expensive for fully automated lines, but it should be implemented for both short- and long-term gains. Looking at the bigger picture, and if planned well, automation can be implemented in stages, therefore spreading costs whilst still gaining production and quality improvements.

Better Product Quality

Continual improvement in the quality of your product design and development is how you innovate and remain one step ahead of your competition. And automation can help you achieve that.

Automation and robotic systems can help you identify and remedy defects in your process or product, paving the way for better quality.

Technology such as sensors and vision systems will help spot flaws, and you can use advanced analytics to help single out parts of your product or process that need quality improvements.

Automation and robotics also help you produce consistent results, significantly impacting product quality. It means customers will associate your company with high-quality standards; that’s a great way to differentiate yourselves.

And, of course, that means you’ll also get fewer customer complaints or product returns, lowering your costs.

Reduce Manual Labour

Employee salaries likely are one of your highest business outgoings. In addition to wages, you’ll pay for HR teams, recruitment, and benefits. So you want to ensure you’re using all this brainpower as wisely as possible.

When you help reduce your employees’ manual, repetitive work, you’re freeing up that talent to work on more important things for your business. Automation or the use of robotics are some ways you can try to reduce manual labour. For example, by switching to automation on the production line, you can reduce the workers you need to man it.

Instead, you can reassign those teams to look at more value-added tasks, such as quality control, product development, or process improvements. Perhaps when you have one product line automated, you can get your team working on designing your second product line instead.

Investing in robotics will also help you reduce human input. Modern AI technology can do lots of intelligent tasks in a manufacturing facility. It won’t need continuous manual input to get it all running smoothly.

Improve Productivity Levels

High productivity has a direct impact on your profile margins. So, investing in automation that helps you become more productive as a manufacturing facility makes financial sense.

When you have automation and robotic technology in your factory, you can program those machines to work at a specific speed.

But more importantly, because you’re dealing with machine learning, you can improve on that rate in a way that’s almost impossible to do with manual work that requires human input.

And when approaching manufacturing from a productivity point of view, accuracy is as important as speed. And that’s where automation can help drive those sorts of improvements.

High productivity via machines will help you deliver under pressure, too. If you have a peak in demand (say, because of a Black Friday sale), it’s easier to ramp up your production when you have automation than if you are doing things manually.

Reduce Waste

Productivity is also about reducing waste. If you can minimise errors and discarded products, you’re closer to running an efficient, profitable business. So automation is also going to help you reduce waste in your business.

The first way you’ll manage waste better is via more accurate manufacturing and reduced errors. With the proper setup, you’ll have fewer discarded products that don’t meet your quality standard.

You’ll also have the chance to track these metrics, which means you can work on a waste reduction project for your business that is easy to set up, monitor, and manage.

You could apply this to your inventory management, too. You can put in place automated systems to manage and optimise your inventory. That means less waste from your raw goods inventory and less demand on your warehouse facilities.

Improve Safety

We’ve already touched upon the idea that automation reduces human input in your manufacturing processes. And there is a side benefit of this change in your business, and that’s to do with health and safety.

When you reduce your need for employees to be around factory floors and machinery, you’re helping to improve safety in that environment.

In addition, you can even adopt automation and robotic technology to help manage safety in your organisation. An example of this is automatic detectors for smoke, fire, or water.

Many other safety features are built into modern automated systems, such as automatic shut-off features during a malfunction and safety distance monitoring (i.e., ensuring people keep a safe distance from hazardous areas).

Using robotics also means your staff can remain at a safe distance from machinery by using tools such as robotic arms.

Lower Energy Consumption

Using less energy will help your company be more environmentally friendly, and it’ll also help you save money on your energy bills. But how does automation help you achieve that?

One answer is through productivity and increased efficiency. If you can get more done within the same time, you can expend less energy in that period.

More advanced systems will also have specific features to help you reduce your energy use, like automated sensors to adjust settings when needed, and by also incorporating big data monitoring to optimise machine power consumption. Well-designed modern automation machines, such as those designed and built by SP Automation, will have the ability to track and monitor consumption.

You can also invest in AI that will help you monitor your energy use for your streamlined manufacturing processes, leading you closer to identifying those areas where you can make reductions.

Embrace Industry 4.0

Using less energy will help your company be more environmentally friendly, and it’ll also help you save money on your energy bills. But how does automation help you achieve that?

One answer is through productivity and increased efficiency. If you can get more done within the same time, you can expend less energy in that period.

More advanced systems will also have specific features to help you reduce your energy use, like automated sensors to adjust settings when needed, and by also incorporating big data monitoring to optimise machine power consumption. Well-designed modern automation machines, such as those designed and built by SP Automation, will have the ability to track and monitor consumption.

You can also invest in AI that will help you monitor your energy use for your streamlined manufacturing processes, leading you closer to identifying those areas where you can make reductions.

Benefits of Automation: Next Step

It’s an exciting time to be in manufacturing. With so many technological advances, you can dramatically transform your business. Now you understand the benefits of automation, it’s time to take that next step.

Our bespoke automation and robotics at SP Automation may be just the right investment for your business. To find out more, head here to contact us directly, and our expert team will advise you on how we can help.

 

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