Automation is now days must solutions. Take, for example, the machining industry. Many CNC machine businesses are having trouble hiring qualified machinists. They may now run their CNC machines unattended and decrease their vulnerability to workforce volatility or overcome the problem of finding competent machine operators in their market by incorporating robots and automation into their machine shop.
In this situation, robotics in machining is assisting in the filling of a vacuum that other industries may not be facing, namely a shortage of competent workers with the requisite skills and expertise.
When you add COVID-19 to the mix, you've got a whole new set of problems, since many machine shops aren't able to work at full capacity.
When it comes to the machining business, robots and automation are just getting started... but they're here to stay. Inquire about it. Are you hearing reports of other machine shops using a robotic cell into their machining process? It's spreading faster than you would believe. Even tiny machine shops, of which there are many, are beginning to embrace robots.
Market situationOur CNC machining company ran into a snag when the market surged. Robotics in machining was formerly regarded to be a solution primarily for large machine shops with vast pockets and high-volume component manufacture. Robotics in machining is used to conduct repetitive activities and enable for the production of extraordinarily large quantities of machined parts.
For many machine shops, machining robots or developing robotic cells for smaller scale manufacturing, or even one-offs or prototyping, was out of reach, as we discovered firsthand.
We wanted to include a robotic cell into our parts production process for our own machining company. All of the existing automation and robotics solutions for machine shops were designed for high-volume manufacturing.
That isn't how we do business. We specialize in small batch runs of parts. One of a kind. Prototypes. And we couldn't locate Price-wise a robotics solution that was suitable for machining in smaller batches.
SolutionWe constructed our own CNC robotics system after a long and fruitless search for the perfect CNC robotics solution. Fast forward to today, and we've fine-tuned a model that allows smaller machine shops to automate CNC manufacturing. The advantages are real, and we've personally experienced them. Robotic cells and CNC machining are no longer exclusive to high-volume production as price wise solution.
The cost of managing your workforce is expected to increase rapidly. To stay competitive, you need to automate and manage your workforce efficiently. Automation is a cost-effective way of increasing productivity while reducing labour costs.