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What Determines the Cost of Custom-Built Automated Machinery in the Medical Industry?

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February 2020

McKinsey and Company reported in 2017 that automated machinery is projected to impact 60% of all occupations soon. McKinsey’s research also informed them that automation would be performing one-third of operational activities for cross-industry companies. If that’s true, the next question needs to be what does investing in automated machinery cost?

In the medical industry, automated machinery has already reached revolutionary status. Everyone from engineers and production managers to operation managers are beginning to automate processes in manufacturing, operations, and testing.

If you’re in the medical industry and want a machine designed for a specific process, do you still need quality control and monitoring? The below information will answer those questions and more. There’s no exact formula for how much automated machinery saves the medical industry, but there are factors that break some value components down.

Read on to learn about the factors presented that provide answers in determining the cost and value of automated machinery.

Medical Industry Trends

The medical industry trend in automated machinery is using the benefits to increase production at a lower cost. Some of the medical industry trends for using automated machinery are in assembling, testing, packaging and more. Most of the automated machinery deliverables use vision systems, ABB robots, collaborative robots, etc.

It’s the overall general feeling of the medical industry that the cost of automated machinery investments is recovered in a short period. But who and what determines the cost of building bespoke machinery? The cost factors you need to consider have answers by asking targeted questions like:

Does the automated machine need to work in a cleanroom?
Does automated machinery still need quality control and standards?
Is there additional monitoring and tracking integrated into automated machinery cost?

The challenge right now is getting people in the industry to be inspired to use and integrate into their medical manufacturing, automation solutions that perform job tasks quicker and cost less.

Automated Medical Solutions

What makes automated medical machinery cost-effective to build? The technology used in automated machinery and its processes delivers data in a continuous feedback loop. This feedback loop allows medical manufacturers to improve themselves by being more effective and efficient.

The result is automation processes that are efficient and effective in reducing repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and upskilling staff. Increased productivity is almost a guarantee when integrating automation into most medical solutions. Robotic automation is designed for repetitive movements.

These are the same movements humans find boring or challenging to maintain for long periods. Automation benefits include giving employees more opportunities to learn more job skills or expand their work into other areas. Ultimately, this benefit enhances employee value.

There’s no amount listed beside the value for employees being able to learn new job skills due to automation taking over their repetitive tasks. That’s because part of its unlimited value is that it helps companies increase accuracy and eliminate redundant orders.

Automated Machinery is Transforming the Medical Industry

Automated machinery offers the transformation of the medical industry, but trying to figure out when it will be cheaper or even more expensive to build is a challenge. Several factors impact the cost of automated machinery in the medical industry. They are as follows:

In the medical industry, there may be many activities, especially in manufacturing, that can be automated. However, the medical industry will often ask if it’s technically feasible based on their budget for the activities to be automated.
The cost of developing and using the hardware and software needed for automation is a huge factor to consider when deciding to move forward with using automated machinery.
What’s the cost of your labour and any supply, as well as the demand dynamics related to automation? In other words, if there are a lot of workers available that have significantly less cost than automation, many companies will be conflicted as to which way forward works best for them.
The value and benefits you gain beyond labour substitution include things like higher levels of output, fewer mistakes, better quality work products, etc.

It is the value and benefits of higher levels of output, fewer mistakes made, and better quality work that help frame why the medical industry has been so progressive in its use of automated machinery.

Integrating Automated Machinery Into the Medical Industry

Cutting edge industries are working every day in programming and outfitting industrial robots so they can perform automated manufacturing tasks. Most manufacturers who are automating are advised to work with reputable integrators, and special teams are trained to integrate programs and maintain and troubleshoot systems being used by providers.

Robotic system integrators help your company with studies and activities like:

Feasibility studies for projects
Determine the correct robot type and tool it for applicational services
Provide training on the systems to all operators
Commission a fully operating system in its facility location

Many manufacturers in the medical industry want to provide leaner fiscal practices that help save them money. Many manufacturers are committed to providing cost savings through industrial automation solutions.

Custom-Built Automated Machinery in the Medical Industry

Medical device manufacturing is moving towards automation at Mach speed. The more complex and large the volume production is, the more automation is used. That’s why automation machinery is used so frequently in medical device manufacturing and pharmaceutical testing facilities.

When trying to determine the cost of the automated machinery you intend to use, it’s important to define your budget for the volume of automation you need. That helps give your operational budget parameters and defines what you’ll be able to do. You want your automated machinery budget to work for you and not cause you additional stress and concern.

To determine your budget for an automated machinery solution, you need a budget that covers the life of the machine vs. the beneficial manufacturing or operational results you’re able to get by using the automated systems. Before you invest in automated machinery for your manufacturing process, there are steps you can use to assist you in determining how cheap or expensive it will be.

Automated Machinery Cost Formula

In the medical manufacturing industry, you want to understand how and when you will know your project or task has been successfully implemented. So, the first factor in determining if automated machinery will be worth the cost is defining what you want it to succeed. You need to define your success so you’ll know when automation has delivered the capacity or production rate you need to define the process as successful.

Many manufacturers define success as when they’re able to cut overhead or reduce waste. There are almost always increased long-term financial returns when you start automating your processes. A cost analysis is the usual second step, and it’s here you’re able to determine what you’ve gained in creating a more consistent product vs how much rejected parts are costing you or automated machine breakdowns, etc.

The Intangible Costs of Automated Machinery

The bespoke machinery decreases your costs with its ability to assemble, test, package, load, inspect, and more. With such clear and concrete benefits, you need to determine the cost of the abstract intangibles that are always possible and sometimes used for automated machinery. Some of the intangibles can be things like missing a product schedule due to a machine’s breakdown.

You’re getting a lot of customer complaints about products that have defects in them that weren’t caught during the manufacturing process. While your cost analysis may be the hardest to do, it’s also the most important one to figure out. You have to understand the costs involved if you change your manufacturing process to be able to justify the investment in machinery automation when needed.

Automated Machinery Return on Investment

Your automated machinery typically solves a gap in your manufacturing process. That gap has money you are losing attached to it. Automation allows you to focus on improving the processes that are taking the most time.

Now that you’ve identified the processes you want to improve, you’re able to determine if automation upgrades are financially justifiable. It’s at this point it’s beneficial to have a collaborator who can provide the bespoke automation you need. Through innovative designs that are manufactured to suit the exact process gap need, any special purpose machine building can be successfully created and implemented.

Discuss your budget ranges with your automation machine builder and find out if the changes and budget are feasible.

Latest Trends in Automated Machinery in the Medical Industry

Automation in the medical industry is increasingly being used for product testing, packaging, retrieving and storing. The packaging requirements during assembly processing sometimes have various layers. Every packaging need and step has to know the placement of the devices, the labelling required, and the literature that’s inserted and must have reinforced checks for tampering.

Integrators have to determine the scale of automation needed to keep up with the assembly equipment. Vision-based error-proofing is vital for any medical industry manual assembly operation.

All of the above are medical industry trends in automation. All have invaluable benefits.

When You’re Ready for Automated Machinery

There are all kinds of technology adoption questions with automated machinery and its use in the medical industry. There’s no firm cost you can give someone about how much automated machinery saves in their industry. What you can say is the adoption of automated machinery is growing across industry sectors and countries’ borders.

When you’re ready to find out what automated machinery can do for you in your industry, reach out to SP Technology. SP Technology Automation and Robotics provides end-to-end solutions for industries that need cost-effective special-purpose machinery. We’ll answer your questions and show you why a future that uses automation makes the world better for all of us.