The Benefits of Automation Technology

The Factors That Can Make or Break Your Manufacturing Automation ROI 

In today’s manufacturing landscape, companies are increasingly turning to automation to streamline manufacturing processes and gain a competitive edge. However, true automation success requires more than just installing new equipment. It demands a comprehensive approach that spans innovation, integration, and market dominance. This is what we call an automation edge.

Brandon White, Director of Sales at the +Vantage Assembly & Metrology Division of Acieta, discusses the benefits of automation technology and how people-centric partnerships, leading-edge technologies, and vertically-integrated solutions come together to help manufacturers dominate their market.

The Three Facets of Gaining Your Automation Edge

The benefits of automation technology extend beyond reducing human error and completing repetitive tasks. Automation technology has the potential to improve operational efficiency, provide cost savings, and even enhance customer satisfaction by reducing lead times and improving product quality consistency. Integrating automated systems and gaining a competitive edge includes three major facets:

1. Innovate the Process: The first step is innovating your business processes by looking at what can be changed, improved, or streamlined to maximize return on investment. This involves carefully analyzing your inflows, outflows, production methods, and even energy consumption to identify areas that would benefit from optimization through automation.
2. Integrate into Your Facility: White explains that simply putting new automated equipment on the floor is not enough. True integration means making automation an integral part of your operations, production lines, and workforce. A carefully planned and executed automation strategy is necessary for operations to be successful.
3. Dominate the Market: When innovative processes are fully integrated, you can dominate your market by becoming one of the strongest, most efficient producers of your goods or services. Automation in manufacturing empowers companies to enhance productivity and build resilience against labor shortages, helping them meet demand and stay in business.

“By combining all of these different business units, we’re capable of looking at projects with specialized groups of engineers based on the technological challenge at hand,” says White. “We can be the complete turnkey system provider by working with multiple business units to provide specific technologies for your process.”

Turnkey Automation Solutions From a Single Partner

Implementing automation for enhanced efficiency is about more than just the equipment itself. Successful automation systems require an experienced partner to guide you through the entire process, from analyzing needs and ROI to understanding the types of automation that might benefit you to training, support, and continuous improvement.

+Vantage Assembly & Metrology | Acieta positions itself as that complete turnkey automation partner, with an approach that involves:

• In-depth consultation to understand specific customer needs, production flows, and technical requirements.
• Combining expertise from multiple specialized business units to create integrated business automation solutions.
• Providing training, startup support, maintenance, and continuous operational analysis to enhance production output and reduce operating costs.
• Partnering with the customer long-term for maximum uptime and process improvement.

This comprehensive partnership is key, as White explains: “Launching automation is not as simple as putting equipment directly on your floor and expecting everything’s going to go smoothly. You need a partner in your corner who’s going to be there to hand off from your manufacturing group that launches the automation to your production, and then ultimately to your operation, for a multi-stage approach.”

The Advantages of Vertical Integration for Your Automation

In the past, automating your production processes typically required multiple partners. Today, the advantages of vertical integration include seamlessly unified, economic turnkey systems for complex applications like automated assembly lines with 100% integrated quality inspection.

For example, White cites a customer who initially sought to create a new assembly line by sourcing different inspection, testing, and marking capabilities from multiple vendors and a separate integration partner.

“Originally, the way that they went to market is they went to leak test companies, then they went to gauge companies, and they went to a laser marker company to try and put all this together as one package, and then a third-party integrator to connect it all,” says White.

“Eventually, they found +Vantage Assembly & Metrology | Acieta, and we were able to come in and build all of this entirely in-house, vertically integrated. It was not only a more economical offer, but a more aligned offer with all common spare parts, minimized screens, and common communication between all the cells. This allowed us to take complete ownership for the outcome of the project.”

The vertical integration simplified project complexity, minimized potential points of failure, and gave the customer turnkey automation solutions with continuing support from a single company.

People-Powered Automation

Ultimately, the key differentiator for any automation partner is its people. “People come first in automation. Although equipment is a capital expenditure, what you’re truly buying is a partnership. You’re buying a pool at that company because, in the end, we’ve got to work together to bring a solution from start to finish,” says White.

“Also, you’re not just buying that piece of equipment to have it as a pretty object on your floor. It’s going to be running production for years following that installation. And the most key aspect of that is the people who work for our company and are here to service and support you as a single group devoted to our customers and excellence in automation.”

This hands-on expertise allows our people to effectively collaborate with a customer’s manufacturing and quality teams to fully leverage the advantages of automation. By aligning processes and goals, they can ensure success lasts well after the launch with continuous improvement in automation.

While the latest robotic automation, sensors, and control systems are critical enablers, people are what truly power the development of your automation edge. The company’s focus is providing a partnership that applies automation to systematically drive innovation, integration, and market dominance.

Download Your Free Infographic on Our Process

With a focus on operational excellence, continuous improvement, training, service, and support, we enable customers to successfully implement and maintain their automation process while maximizing uptime and ROI for business growth. Discover more about how we play an integral role in supporting manufacturing robotic automation by downloading your free infographic of our process!