Automation of a manufacturing process provides many advantages that help make a business more competitive, and open up new avenues that weren’t available before. We’d like to walk you through some of the benefits of automation:

Increased Consistency – Automation produces parts in a reliable, repeatable and identical fashion each and every time. This lack of variation in manufacturing leads to a more consistent quality in the parts produced.

Less Scrap – Automated processes can be tightly controlled. This results in less scrap per part. In addition, a more consistent manufacturing process leads to less defective parts, decreasing scrap overall.

Improved Safety – Some operations are inherently dangerous. By automating these processes you remove employees from this danger.

Data Collection and Reporting – By tracking each and every part manufactured, automated systems offer complete traceability. They can record information during testing, during assembly—really at nearly every point in the manufacturing process. This automation is capped off with a serial number printed on each part. Through this recorded data and serial number system, information can be retrieved on a defective part. Using the data you can determine where in the process the defect occurred. And if a large number of the same product is defective, this data can help you discover the problem in your manufacturing process.

Better Use of Physical Space – Automated systems take up less floor space than manual systems. As a result, you get a better return on the capital you have invested in facilities.

This last point leads into the most exciting benefit of automation—providing your company with the ability to grow. Replacing manual systems with smaller automated systems frees up more of your facility for additional equipment. You can add more of the same equipment to increase output, or add a new machine entirely to enhance your capabilities.

This same opportunity for increased production or product diversity occurs not just on a facility level, but on a system level as well. Automation dramatically increases production output. For that reason, it takes much less time to satisfy orders. With this added time, you can continue to manufacture the same part and supply a larger customer base. Or, by purchasing additional tooling you can provide a variation on your part, or produce a new part entirely.

There’s nothing more satisfying than watching your company grow and expand. So if you’re looking to take your business to the next level, consider automation and the many benefits it holds.