Showing Value of Automation to Shop Floor Decision Makers

"Those who work directly on the shop floor often come up with great ideas to improve productivity and make their jobs easier," said a Shop Floor Automations spokesperson. "The problem is conveying the need for these solutions to the shop's decision makers."

DNC software systems and machine monitoring are two available solutions. DNC helps to network machines, organize thousands of programs and ensure programs are transferring correctly, while machine monitoring helps to increase utilization. These measures increase machine capacity, which in turn increases profits.

"Both systems, however, are viewed as a deep investment for a manufacturer," said the spokesperson. "Especially when it is software, and not a tangible item where the benefit is immediate, the surface benefits of worker productivity are sometimes not enough to allow a decision to be made. The best way to communicate that an investment is worthwhile is by showing why the switch will benefit the company's bottom line."

Shop Floor Automations details its top three ways to present automation/IIoT investments on the shop floor to decision makers:

• Find and Prove ROI-Show how much time is being wasted with the current process, along with the cost of this waste. Prepare the cost of new solutions, and research the potential return on investment (ROI) the new automation solutions could bring. It is all about profit, whether lost or gained. IIoT and automation solutions allow everyone in the manufacturing process to focus on programming, tool crib and related activities instead of actively managing machines.
• Show ROI-One customer had an ROI sheet showing the company's 30 machines, which ran two programs per day and loaded 300 programs per week. The average time to load a program took a minimum of seven minutes. They showed how expensive this older process was due to use of outdated shop floor media to transfer programs. They then estimated how much time/money would be saved by upgrading to DNC. Using data similar to this, one can put together a presentation showing ROI that could be gained by integrating automation into the daily routine.
• Show Alternative Choices-Have alternative options prepared, especially in the interests of cost. There are multiple solutions to improve shop floor productivity past merely replacing machines. For example, a smaller shop may not have a need for a DNC system, but the use of hardware, such as a less expensive portable DNC transfer box, could be a more realistic way to better manage machine program transfers. Also, machine monitoring as an on-premise solution can be a pricey move, but some providers offer more affordable alternative options, such as Cloud-based monthly payments that can be made per month with no contracts. Users can even request a trial or a pilot run to see how well the system works initially.

For more information contact:

Greg Mercurio, President

Shop Floor Automations, Inc.

5360 Jackson Drive, Suite #202

La Mesa, CA 91942

877-611-5825 / 619-461-4000

info@shopfloorautomations.com

www.shopfloorautomations.com