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(Oliver Selby) My suggestion is to talk initially to the OEM manufacturers who will in turn talk to you directly or push you towards one of their automation partners or integrator who generally will have niche area that they specialise in. By doing this the OEMs know that you are getting the best advice from a trusted source. Alternatively, you could request an automation audit that the OEMs, integrators, automation consultants or BARA could support. By doing this you may gain a different opinion and understanding on the risks an automation solution poses. The risks may be technical or financial, and need to be weighed up depending on your risk appetite. 

(Oliver Selby) Yes, but not many!. Generally if a business can throw enough cash at a problem it will be solved using the current technology stack, however, it may or may not end up being financially viable for full production. Bigger customers of the robot OEM’s generally work with the OEM to develop solutions around their needs. A good example of this are the FANUC high accuracy robots for aerospace that have been developed alongside the major aerospace OEMs like Airbus and Boeing. 

(Oliver Selby) Yes, if a business can afford to amortise the cost of investment over a longer period its easier to justify in my experience. Looking at Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a better measure of the true value an asset provides over the course of its lifetime. It also helps support your understanding of OPEX that an asset places on a business. Other planned and unplanned indirect costs (yearly planned maintenance or unplanned downtime etc) can also be weighed up. 

(Oliver Selby) My suggestion is that they engage in the early stages of their product development with automation or production experts. At the planning stage of how they will manufacture or assemble the product they are designing they should engage with experts in the manufacturing process. By doing this then they will get helpful hints and guides to how automation can be utilised to reduce costs, improve safety, efficiencies, or quality amongst other things.

(Oliver Selby) My suggestion is to look at what is already being done worldwide by our global competition. We should try and replicate these existing solutions in the first instance as it is a low risk strategy. As the famous saying goes “Don’t try to fix that which is not broken”  By doing this alone we would adopt automation at a faster rate than we are right now, and make significant gains by automating our lowest hanging opportunities. Beyond that we should look at the gains automation can bring to those markets with highest growth potential, and those where the UK is very strong from its enviable R&D situation driven by superb academic and HVMC low TRL level research.