What is Industrial Automation? Industrial automation is the use of computerized and robotic equipment to add intelligence to a manufacturing process. Today, automation systems are capable of handling repetitive tasks quickly and efficiently. Automation helps solve many labor challenges experienced by many organizations. Tasks that are repetitive and difficult for humans to perform lead to fatigue, discomfort, or pain that cause injuries.
New and improved technologies are revolutionizing manufacturing automation. 3D printing is a new growth area within automation called additive manufacturing (AM), where objects are created from a 3D model through a process called layering. 3D printing has become important in rapid prototyping in hardware design and manufacturing. 3D printing has evolved to shorten the timeline between R&D and new product development.
Today’s robots are driven by software and vision systems to perform a variety of tasks. Industrial robots provide flexibility to manufacturing and can work collaboratively with humans. There are also cheaper alternatives for smaller factories looking for affordable solutions. For simpler processes, a low cost option to go with is a gantry or single axis robots. For more complex and high volume processes, the multi axis robots are ideal.
Implementing automation does not mean the use of full lines or robots, but combination of man and machine working collaboratively. Automation can encompass a small, single operation to improve efficiency and precision. It can begin with a single process or station and scale up to multiple processes or full production line.
Tell us about a recent automation project that you’ve evaluated.
