What are the benefits of automation?

There are a number of immediate benefits to automation. The one that is often sited is cost reduction through the lowering of labour costs. This can be a big driver, however is sometimes not a significant as most people assume. The main benefits that we find are that we are able to produce a highly repeatable, high quality, product quickly to the market.

It is very important in a lot of the products that we are producing that they are repeatable. This means that our customers know that they are getting a product that will work for them every time and allow them to work within very tight constraints.

This repeatability also ensures that the quality is consistent, even with the best trained labour force there are quality issues that arise from human error and hand producing product.

Automation also allows us to produce at much higher speeds than human labour can achieve. Being able to turn orders around and get them back to the customer in short time frames is a huge advantage to any business that has any degree of lean or efficient manufacturing processes.

Through automation we are also continuously upskilling our workforce.

This is through both retraining to run more complex machinery, and also in understanding some complex lean manufacturing techniques that come with automation and continuous improvement.

And does automation mean that workers can be more productive?

Yes, there are a number of reasons why automation enables staff to be more productive. The most basic is that anyone using machinery can complete a job much faster. Machines are more accurate, tire less and can complete simple actions much faster than humans.

Where we tend to find we get real productivity gains is when an operator is able to manage multiple processes at once. For instance we have an automated line whereby one operator is able to manage up to 13 processes at once. From cutting to tinning, QA to packaging it is all done by one person.

We still have up to eight people trained to run this line, so we are able to produce much more with the same number of people as before, and those operators also get much more variety in their work.

This is an often overlooked benefit to automation. Usually processes that have been automated are very repetitive and do not allow the worker to engage much once he/she has mastered the movement. By automating it allows the worker to gain much more variety in their job, which creates interest and engagement.

An engaged workforce is a productive one and this is often a very positive outcome of automation, greatly increasing the workers enjoyment and sense of achievement in their roles.

What does automation mean for the quality of manufactured products?

Basically a machine finish gives a repeatable product that has a much higher degree of accuracy. It is also very adjustable, so that if an extra mm needs to be added or removed it can be. We even automate the speed that we tin some wires to ensure an exact amount of solder is wicked into the wire ensuring a complete seal.

How is automation benefiting Fero?

All of the above. It allows us to produce to a much higher quality in an industry that sometimes has impossibly tight tolerances.

We can significantly reduce lead times which makes us far more competitive with low cost options. If we cannot match price we can often reduce the overall cost of an item by reducing the cash cycle, and allowing customers to operate a much leaner model.

Automation does reduce labour costs and this is passed onto customers. But also it allows us to free up labour resource. To have a trained team member able to work on more complex tasks while the automation takes care of the repetitive and mundane jobs allows us to grow much faster and produce much more work.

Automation is seen as a way of reducing staff numbers. Is this necessarily the case?

Automation will definitely reduce the number of staff required to complete a specific task or product. One of the constraints that we find in our business as it grows is good trained staff. It seems that the more we automate, the more work we have and the more staff are required to deliver our value proposition to our customers.

In a process of continuous improvement it is not about finding ways to reduce numbers but to allow the team to grow and find better and more productive ways of working.

If so, does this not make our companies a bit more competitive with, for example, ASEAN countries?

Yes. I think this is the only way that we can compete significantly with these countries. There is always going to be options where one or the other is a more suitable choice but for us to continue to grow our manufacturing sector, we need to ensure that we keep manufacturing and its support industries onshore. By automating we are able to compete on overall cost of the product, quality, lead times, and design.

How does automation benefit the NZ economy and especially the manufacturing sector?

We shouldn’t be trying to compete with 3rd world countries on cheap labour. Our cost/ standard of living is higher and we will never get there, nor should we try. We want to grow our workforce in capability and knowledge and provide a manufacturing sector that fills a niche in the market. NZ is a niche producer we should be looking to develop an effective and efficient, skilled labour market that can ensure that NZ manufacturing is sustainable and has a competitive edge on the world market. Automating our processes ensures that we are continually developing our workforce and allows us to upskill staff and gain higher returns from the work that they do.

How does automation benefit staff?

As mentioned above it has reduced the number of monotonous and repetitive jobs that our staff are required to do. This means that they are required to move to more complex tasks that it is harder to automate. It also means that they are managing more complex machinery and multiple processes.

This provides more variety and challenge to the team and gives a greater sense of satisfaction at the end of the day.

It means that we are requiring more staff to be trained in operating machinery and this is an upskilling that they did not have before. These skills do have a degree of specificity to them, however this is transferable and does make the worker more employable in more industries.

By moving labour to more complex tasks and increasing productivity it has increased the return per labour unit as well. This obviously makes the company more profitable, but also means that the staff member can command a higher wage. They then are able to earn more money for the same or less hours.