Reasons Driving The Manufacturing Trend To Measurement Automation
Automation is the use of technology to produce and deliver parts with minimal human intervention. The integration of automated systems into the manufacturing process improves the efficiency, reliability, and repeatability of many tasks that were previously performed by humans, whose focus can now be redirected to less repetitive and more judgment-intensive activities.
By limiting scrap rates, production waste, and rework, automation contributes to continuous improvement and productivity gains.
Upstream Control rather than Downstream Correction
Generally, companies look for solutions to solve current and urgent problems that they are experiencing in the present moment and that have immediate consequences. Thus, the corrective actions to solve these critical problems tend to be more reactive and taken mostly downstream of the production line.
A more effective approach is to investigate the sequence of operations that led to non-conformity. By tracing the manufacturing process, they can identify upstream actions that will significantly reduce the downstream efforts needed to solve recurring problems. Thus, proactive corrective solutions can be deployed to eliminate quality problems once and for all.
To do so, automated control is key. Automation contributes to finding anomalies as soon as they occur upstream and before they become major defects downstream. This prevents errors from being multiplied and allows corrective actions to be taken before defective parts are produced and shipped to customers.
Concrete Impact of Productivity Gains
The productivity gains obtained through automation can be devoted to improving product quality, responding to the lack of skilled workers, and accelerating the development and time-to-market for new products.
Concretely, improving product quality means reducing—or better, eliminating—rework, scrap, and waste, which are generally synonymous with heavy financial losses for manufacturers. New technologies, such as 3D scanners, robots, and automated systems, are engineered to continuously control product quality. When these solutions are deployed, quality improves and the efficiency, reliability, and repeatability of manufacturing processes are enhanced, which contributes to reducing production costs.
Because automated quality control systems ensure product quality, skilled workers can be put to better use; for instance, their time can be dedicated to analyzing data, identifying the problems causing non-conformity, and proposing corrective solutions. This way, they contribute to improving the profitability of the company, which is more rewarding than simply reworking each and every defaulted part.
Survey Confirms Reasons to Implement Automated Control Quality (AQC)
When asked why they have opted to implement an Automated Control Quality (AQC) system into their manufacturing process, 43% of respondents said they wanted to discover problems earlier and, thus, eliminate waste and rework, while 39% said they wanted to eliminate human error and, thus, improve repeatability.
Factors Preventing the Deployment of an AQC System
When asked what primarily prevented them from deploying an AQC system, 39% of respondents said it was a lack of employees with skills in robotics, while 36% said it was the expensive price and the lack of information about the return on investment (ROI).
ROI Calculation
To compensate for the lack of information about the ROI questions were asked of experts to discover valid data on the costs of poor quality (COPQ), which are costs that would disappear if systems, processes, and products were perfect or if rejection rates were zero.
On average, rejection rates go from 0.6% of the business revenues for top-performing manufacturers to 2.2% for less-efficient manufacturers. Other sources also reveal that COPQ can account for as much as 5-30% of gross sales for manufacturing and service companies. Therefore, cutting only 1% of waste, scrap, or rework on a $50,000,000 business turnover can lead to $500,000 savings per year.
Improving product quality means reducing rejection rates, which are responsible for some of manufacturing companies’ most important financial losses. Moreover, at this pace, the investment required for an AQC solution could be paid off in a year or so.
Editor Note: This article was extracted from a Creaform blog post.
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