People who are not familiar with the world of industrial automation might have some doubts about it, “What is Automation? How does automation work? What are the advantages or benefits of automation?” For those inquiring minds, here are some answers.
The Basics
Starting with the basics, industrial automation can be explained as minimizing the human intervention required in industrial processes and machinery by adding computerized and electromechanical elements, such as control systems and information technologies. This simplified explanation is just a glimpse of what industrial automation is. Before I go into more automation details, I will give you a scenario that can better show the impact of automating industrial processes.
How It Works
For instance, let’s say you have a company that produces chairs and for this, you have an assembly line of several people working. Now, I am no expert in how a chair production company works but let’s imagine it works this way: You have the guys that cut the wood, the guys that assembly the chair, the guys that paint the chair, and lastly, the guys that wrap/package the final product. Currently, you need 20 people to work in the assembly line; however, if you decided to improve your company by automating, you could easily cut 20 guys to 10, and if you wanted to, even 1-2 people—you will still need a supervisor for the automated production line.
With the help of engineers and the right robots or machinery, industrial automation gives you the possibility to have a completely automated assembly line; the engineers will program the robots to perform the different tasks that those 20 people used to do.
The Benefits
Now we have a different picture, the robots/machinery will be doing almost all human work and your labor cost will be significantly reduced, since these robots can do the work of 3 to 5 people, depending on the job. Remember, robots/machines have no schedule, no overtime, no wages, among many other factors. Not only will your production cost be reduced, but your productivity will also increase, and therefore, your revenue will be increased.
On the other hand, industrial automation gives you the opportunity to program production’s speed and quantity, to reduce human errors in production, to prevent accidents, to have a safer work environment (with the help of automated safety methods), to reduce factory lead times, to offer a much higher quality product, and most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to get ahead of competitors. These are only some of the many benefits that industrial automation can bring to you and your company.
The “Why”
With this explained, I hope you can now answer all those questions at the beginning and see why industrial automation is so important to every production company; it is the future and it is constantly changing, evolving, and bringing more benefits with each “upgrade” for every different industry process—industry processes range from different sectors such as the food industry, aviation, machinery, hospitality, manufacturing, agriculture, media, and more. There are infinite examples that demonstrate why industrial automation is the future of production and industrial evolution.
However, there is SO much more that goes into industrial automation, and while this is just a sneak peek of it, it is enough for someone to understand the basics of why industrial automation is important and beneficial.
You don’t have to start by automating your entire production, you can define your automation goals and prioritize them so you can optimize your desired task. In the end, even with small automation changes in your production, you could make a big difference in your company.
In The Industry
Some of the most recognized-top brands in the Automation industry are Siemens (From Germany), Schneider electric (From France), Allen Bradley (From USA), Omron (From Japan), GE FANUC (From USA), STECK (From Brazil and acquired by Schneider Electric), among many other.
If you would like to take that step and start automating your company, you can contact us at “ICA” and we will guide you all the way through. We offer the services of the most skilled and professional industrial engineers as well as the top brands for automation products in stock! We can guarantee you will be in good hands; your production process and your product will thank you.
The possibilities with automation are endless!