Manufacturing can be a tough industry, operationally, financially and physically. There are many solutions out there that promise to alleviate these challenges, but few realistically claim to service each of these areas as comprehensively as automation. In this blog, we’ll explore the power of automated quality for consistent and reliable results across the board.
While no panacea, automation has the potential to transform a manufacturing operation, boosting quality and efficiency as outcomes.
For example, it removes the potential for human error, especially in mundane and repetitive tasks and where an operation is attempting to increase output, just delivering absolute precision tirelessly over and over again. Automated processes are crucial to a manufacturer’s ability to scale while maintaining a strict adherence to quality and safety standards, making it easier to introduce capabilities such as real-time monitoring.
As the Advanced Manufacturing Report reveals, automation is a priority area for investment:
- 57% report that workflow automation as a 3-year investment priority
- 53% automated quality control as 3-year investment priority
- 41% wanting to automate tedious tasks
But automation is somewhat understandably approached with caution. There are concerns for cost, implementation, integration and flexibility; all founded on the legitimate belief that automation projects can be difficult to get right.
- 35% report underutilised automation
- 60% businesses face at least 3 automation challenges today
Overcoming these challenges requires support from an experienced partner who understands all the hardware and software requirements necessary to make automation a reality. With this support it’s possible to navigate the hurdles and ensure that the benefits of automation, for example in automated inspection, are available not just to multinationals, but to everyone across the value-added chain.
Automating quality
Inspection is a good example of where the benefits listed above can be quickly gained in a manufacturing process. Particularly on large-scale parts, inspection by hand can be awkward and time consuming, with skilled labour becoming increasingly hard to come by.
Automating quality inspection delivers consistency and reliability, enhancing overall quality while at the same time enabling workforce to focus on more creative tasks. Efficiency is enhanced which ultimately leads to reduced costs. This all goes towards building a more complete data picture and completes the loop with design.
Of course, every transformation begs new questions: do you need new robotics experts? Will you have compatibility issues with legacy systems? Is the technology going to be obsolete in a few years?
To help to answer each of these with a resounding ‘No’, companies such as Hexagon are developing automated systems that lower the barrier to entry and empower manufacturers to halve inspection quality cycles while maintaining the precision for which Hexagon is renowned.
Automated inspection cells, such as PRESTO System, have the potential to transform larger scale inspection routines because the whole turnkey cell can be plugged into an existing ecosystem and automates so much of the more challenging aspects of traditional automation, such as the robotics programming. This means that quality professionals working with PRESTO’s intuitive built-in workflows do not also need robotics expertise in order to operate it.
The modular nature of PRESTO solutions also means that obsolescence will never be an issue. As technology develops, you simply swap out the part in question and the system continues to function without ever needing wholesale replacement. The modularity also enables greater agility in response to production capacity demands, helping to mitigate issues related to underutilisation of factories as well as being able to rapidly increase production.
Making the choir sing harmoniously
The findings of the Advanced Manufacturing Report are clear that integration and compatibility with legacy systems is a major headache during digital transformation.
- 34% reported poor automated technology integration
- 42% reported difficulty sharing insights between teams
This means finding software-agnostic solutions is an important aspect of any strategy. It makes implementation and ongoing operation as smooth as possible and reducing risk of malfunction or obsolescence. Having open systems reduces the demand on the workforce in retraining or hiring new staff members with specialist skills.
Openness is an essential part of Hexagon’s offering, including PRESTO solutions. The commitment empowers manufacturers to easily integrate solutions with customer’s existing metrology and quality assurance software. In this way we can optimise quality and enabling continuous process improvement.
The ultimate outcomes of an automated process is to reduce errors with enhanced productivity and safety. This empowers workers to delegate tedious tasks to the robots. We can then focus efforts on areas that require nuance, creativity and judgement while overseeing the whole operation. This opens up a whole new realm of possibility, where human intelligence is given the freedom it deserves.
This blog first appeared as part of our Quality ebook. Quality is the biggest needle mover in our sector, download the full report and start your transformation.
