Why should you consider introducing or expanding automation in your business?
Because, swearing.
Storytime
You’re trying to mount a TV to a wall. You’re trying to make sure its in the center of the wall otherwise you’ll never hear the end of it. You extend the tape measure to the one end of the wall and the other. Great, now to mark the center.
But then you realize that the pencil is just out of reach. F. Swear #1
So you try to hold the tape measure with you right big toe and reach for the pencil… and the tape measure snaps back together. You knock over the TV mounting plate which scares the dog who knocks over the broom. Swear #2,3,and 4.
It takes you half an hour just to mark the holes. You grab your drill, and you don’t have the right bit for the screws. F. Swear #5.
You go back to the toolbox for it.
You finally drill the holes and put the mounting plate up to the wall and realize that 1 out of 4 holes doesn’t fit. Eff Swear #6, you Effing #7 piece of #8.
Then you screw on the mounting plate… stand back and say, “well its not a Steinway!”…
and then get on with your day.C
If you’ve ever done construction work or machining, you know that a huge part of the process is swearing. And if you’re not allowed to, it still happens, just silently.
Also, a huge part of the process is “layout”.
Layout is nothing more than laying the foundation in order to execute a pre-determined plan.
Introducing Machines and Robots into our business allow us to skip this layout step…
Because they excel at executing a pre-determined plan much faster and more accurately than people.
This is possible through the use of sensors, advanced layout tools, motion control, and software that allows us to avoid “measuring and marking”.
Machines also don’t need to “see” what they’re doing in order to get the job done.
Case Study
Returning to our case study of nLink… In the above video, the employee is drilling holes into the concrete ceiling and racing the robot.
Just look how much time he spends measuring and marking the holes and how much time is saved by the robot by not having to complete that process.
We have been leveraging these benefits of machines for years with CNC machines…
Which carry out a pre-programmed plan in order to produce a part.
No measuring and marking required.
I hope this article gets you thinking about how automation can be applied to your business to eliminate the “layout process” and “measuring and marking”. If you have a specific application in mind and need help evaluating whether that application makes sense to automate, give us a call.
Take care until next time,
Stephen
