Product Flow LLC Engineering Services

“Let's start by saying automation is not just robots.” 

Automation is a journey requiring adjustments around business goals, sustainability initiatives, key metrics, products, and services that engage consumers. At the core, automation must support enterprises' business objectives and the internal and external resources to solve and prevent waste and inefficiencies. Additionally, automation enables predictable results through harmonious and predictable tools. 

Many industries, whether multinational organizations, mid-size, or small family businesses, face higher costs, product shortages, and labor disruption. Not to mention any pre-global disruption operating with high-cost variances, labor inequities, and bottlenecking innovation and renovation of producing entities with underperforming operations. Topline sales growth is stymied, internal operations face employee morale issues and simply stated times are changing due to technological advances. With technological advances, capital equipment options are more available, yet they require the right partnership to match what is correct for your organization. 

The reason to automate drives excellence in several areas if done correctly. It is a significant value-added set of tools that transforms, changes paradigms, and drives sales. Benefits include reducing operational costs, eliminating waste, reducing variable costs, creating predictable supply chain goals, allowing continuous learning, and building morale across the organization. At the core, automation must work within an organization's culture – the question to ask is, what are the critical heartbeat requirements the client seeks? Define the winning statement and measure against automation capabilities. 

Automation provides various benefit' buckets,' they include: 

• Labor Savings through deploying and utilizing resources in the correct value-added functions. 
• Eliminating and reducing ergonomic challenges (health and safety issues) 
• Enable businesses to be nimble – operate quicker to react to changing market conditions. 
• Driving sales growth. 
• Predictable and quality revenue based on strategic internal metrics – products.
• Operational flexibility empowering product and brand innovation – renovation.
• Ensuring product quality and consistency that drives sustainability goals. 

Again, the formerly mentioned position on globalization and its impact on the supply chain. The industry is rethinking its outsourcing plan not so much as a labor and cost metric but from a product on-shelf perspective. What is more valuable to an organization's initial lower manufacturing cost, leveraging more global suppliers or, in parallel, improving local manufacturing operations – cost to be competitive and on the shelf? When an enterprise loses shelf presence, competition will take the space. 

“Drive down internal manufacturing costs to compete holistically.” 

There are many essential goals driving automation. A critical starting point must consider the customers' tolerance for change and the use of an incremental plan. The industry requires more definitive results, not just pre-sales bells and whistles. A few driving goals and metrics to exceed in considering automation include the following: 

• ·A solid ROI must challenge the prior baseline model to a model for a payback period of less than 2 years.
• TCO, specifically the cost of ownership after the sale, what % of the sales price annually.
• Alliance with sustainability goals such as alternative energy sources, eliminating material waste pre- and post-consumer experience, earth-friendly packaging materials that work with existing manufacturing lines, or the lines can adapt to the evolving changing materials.
• Automation goals must consider the initial levels and the 'premium' of the automation (price) to the product(s) shelf life that drives organizations' revenue (short and long term). 
• The customer product shelf life and relation to ROI. 
• Deliver sustainable and predictable results year over year. 
• ESG goals, specifically sustainable aspirations. 

Finally, automation can be a horror story for small and large enterprises. There are many stories about correct due diligence that ultimately produced adverse results. Do not be a victim of cost overruns, underperforming manufacturing, the inability to hit your forecasts, low morale due to inefficiencies, unbalanced SKU rationalization, and supply chain shortages. In closing:

• Decide where automation adds tangible value. 
• Reason through the right levels of automation, you can handle. 
• Source the right partners and strategy.

Robert Champion

11/14/2023

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