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Building the Business Case for Machine Tool Automation

The motivations for pursuing machine tool automation clearly center around productivity and people. In a recent manufacturing automation survey of 160 manufacturers by UNITED GRINDING North America, an increase in productivity was the leading reason to automate (54 percent) followed by addressing the skilled labor shortage (29 percent).

The justifications for investing in machine tool automation are more nuanced and varied. Ultimately, a manufacturing shop floor manager wants the peace of mind granted when equipment and processes are as efficient as possible and can produce a high-quality part. A finance executive is looking at labor and safety costs, productivity, and CAPEX. Sales may be focused on what innovations are needed to attract the right clients, and metrics such as reducing cost per part and improving time to market.

Understanding what your stakeholders are looking for is a key in building a holistic case for machine tool automation.

The Message for Shop Floor Managers: People, Efficiency

Grinding automation helps mitigate the skilled worker shortage and also improves uptime, productivity, repeatable quality and overall equipment efficiency (OEE).

Among the benefits of machine tool automation from a human capital perspective:

  • Robotics-based job roles are higher paying and more attractive to what technology-minded young people prefer.
  • Operators can often oversee several machines in a production pod.
  • Automation frees existing workers to train for more high-value tasks, which helps employee retention as well.

Benefits from an operational perspective:

  • Easy-to-use HMIs simplify operations and monitoring.
  • Production planning becomes based on unique batch needs as opposed to how many people you have available to load a machine.
  • Changeover times can be drastically reduced with effective management of grippers, trays, and pallets.

The Message for Finance: How the Numbers Add Up

The Robotics Industries Association (RIA) analyzed costs and savings for installing a $150,000 UNITED GRINDING flexLoad system and associated tooling for two shifts a day for five days a week in place of an operator to handle the loading. The RIA calculated a manufacturer could save more than $1.5 million in labor costs over 15 years, and the system would pay for itself in about 18 months. You can run your numbers through the RIA’s Robot System Value Calculator yourself using variables specific to your situation to calculate your potential ROI with an investment in machine tool automation.

Other direct and indirect benefits that might help sway the finance team include:

  • Automation integrates with previous investments, such as ERP, SCM and MES software.
  • It keeps highly skilled workers safer, reducing costs.
  • Energy savings can be realized from less idling time and lower heating and lighting costs during unattended production.

The Message for Sales: More Solutions to Sell

Machine tool automation has brought so many improvements and benefits for high-mix, low-volume and specialty manufacturing that it has tipped the scales for many small- and medium-sized manufacturers to invest in it to stay ahead of the competition. According to UNITED GRINDING’s automation survey, the most common applications for increasing performance outcomes were:

  • Workpiece exchange              75%
  • Tool exchange                        30%
  • Measuring equipment             28%
  • Deburr station                         12%

Automation technology is able to integrate multiple machines (ID/OD, OD/Gear, Infeed/OD), which means efficiencies can be realized with chucking, barcoding, washing, demag, deburr, measuring, laser making and more. And machine tool automation equips companies with the tools and versatility to achieve greater throughput, higher part quality and increased productivity for lower production costs—it’s a great story to sell.

Future-Proofing Your Operation with Machine Tool Automation

An indirect way of making the case for machine tool automation that will resonate with all stakeholders involves the supply chain. The longer the supply chain, in time and distance, the greater the likelihood of disruptions that will interrupt your operations. This has been realized in the past few years as the once significant savings manufacturers realized from outsourcing or relocating some operations to Asia have been impacted by:

  • Increasing wages, especially in China
  • Tariffs from trade disputes
  • A pandemic and other natural disasters

Machine tool automation is a key step in reshoring the manufacturing sector. The added agility and versatility is especially important in diversifying your client base and minimizing the effects of future disruption.

Finding the Right Partner for Your Grinding Automation

In our Grinding Automation survey, Service/Support ranked second, behind only Quality, as the most important factor in taking the first step to investing in new automation capability. Having an experienced partner with seasoned application engineers and a reputation for stellar customer service is crucial as you plan your automation investment.

UNITED GRINDING has all of this, plus a preventative maintenance program, remote and on-site service, and an Automation Solutions team that is close to many major manufacturing hubs. We’re a one-stop shop to help you get the most out of your grinding technology with integrated and custom automation solutions.

Learn more about UNITED GRINDING’s Automation Solutions and give us a chance to prove how we can help you realize near-term and long-term ROI with machine tool automation.

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