The manufacturing industry is faced with a massive gap in skilled labor. Despite many STEM students working their way into the workforce, there’s still a large vacancy for skills in the newly created jobs.
Luckily, automation in this industry is fast becoming a solution for many manufacturers. It promises faster production, more flexibility, and better efficiency with minimal need for human supervision.
Machine tending automation is one aspect of automation that can drastically change an industry’s labor needs. How?
Here’s how you can use machine tending automation to address the labor needs in your industry.
1. Take advantage of its flexibility
One of the most significant benefits of investing in automation is the flexibility it offers. Most robots can complete more than just one production task- and the machine tending robot is no exception.
So, even when short-staffed, machine tending robots can help complete some of the tasks you have pending. Furthermore, there are numerous robot designs and sizes for every industrial need.
Modern robots also come with easy reprogramming capabilities, which allows almost every worker to operate them. Therefore, you can use the machine tending robot for grinding, injection molding, compressing molds, welding, stamping, trimming and forging, etc.
This reduces your need for more workers for these different tasks and allows you to remain as productive as ever.
2. Take advantage of the speed and reliability
Another characteristic of robotic automation is speed and reliability. Working without adequate skilled workers can really slow down your production process. This results in delayed market delivery and the inability to meet the market’s demands.
However, with robotic machine tending, you can utilize the robots’ speeds and reliability to increase your production output.
The robots work much faster than other workers and with more precision. As such, you consistently produce high-quality products in large volumes to meet market demand.
Furthermore, machine tending robots can work consistently, day and night, without taking breaks, save for a few maintenance downtimes. They can’t get sick, and they don’t need a vacation or weekend off, and so, the automation ensures the business runs as usual.
Consequently, you get to enjoy better productivity and output, with minimal labor costs.
3. Take advantage of the safety
Statistics show that manufacturing industries incur the most losses when employees are out sick or injured. They also record the highest cases of employee injuries on the work floor.
Therefore, in an industry lacking many skilled workers, having your workers off duty is a big blow to your productivity. Why not use robotic machine tending to improve your workplace environment?
Deploy the robots in those dangerous environments to handle the excess heat or cold, corrosive chemicals, and sharp objects. With proper programming, the tending machine robots will work correctly and report to the CNC machines without faults.
Meanwhile, your employees can work on much safer environments, where they can put their skills to good use. Collaborative robots can even work safely with your employees without harming them!
Robotic machine tending also relieves operators of that strenuous, physically demanding, repetitive tasks. Instead, they can now monitor the robot’s functioning and ensure that it’s in optimum condition.
4. Take advantage of the quality
In the manufacturing world, oftentimes, the quality of a product is more important than the quantity. So, an industry producing large volumes of merchandise can fall short profit-wise to an industry producing small volumes of the same product in high quality.
Robotic machine tending allows the industry to do just that. Owing to its precision and accuracy, the machine tending robot ensures that all your products are top quality.
The robot can take care of the quality inspection, ensuring that even the tiniest of flaws are spotted and fixed. This way, you can leverage your small team and robotic machine tending to produce the best products in the market.
Final thoughts
The gap in the manufacturing labor force is one big reason for manufacturersto worry. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed either. With robotic machine tending, you can utilize the automation technology to boost your productivity and improve your market performance.
So, instead of worrying about your industrial labor needs, start thinking about how to take advantage of it!