Automation powers advanced IoT-enabled sensors and improves data collection, which can help manufacturers advance quality and processing speeds. This helps them forecast more accurately and reduce the chance of costly rerouting during production.

With the added intelligence that automation brings, manufacturers are now getting help with decision-making in addition to the simple completion of tasks. This improves productivity and enables workers to focus on more pressing tasks.

With a skills gap in the labor market and few young people pursuing manufacturing as a career, it makes sense to automate more roles once occupied by human labor, says Ray Karadayi, president and CEO at Applied Automation Technologies.

"There is a growing need to create parts at higher precision, with tighter tolerances and at lower costs. Not only that cheap labor is not available anymore, skilled personnel is very hard to find as younger generations are [decreasingly] interested in manufacturing," he says. "The ultimate solution for any manufacturing company to be competitive is to automate their manufacturing processes."

Read the full article at Quality Magazine.