8 EDITORIAL AW MAY 2022
INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS
Is Your Automation Technology Delivering on Expectations? By David Greenfield
dgreenfield@automationworld.com Editor-In-Chief/ Director of Content
F
or the most part, the increased use of automation in industry has delivered exceptional advances in terms of productivity and profit. This has been especially true for large company early adopters with the deep pockets to prove out the capabilities of these technologies. It’s also been true for most mid-tier companies that have been able to follow in the footsteps of the larger companies and implement their best practices without having to experiment as much. But there is growing disagreement, and with it some confusion, as to which technologies can provide the most value based on how far along the digital transformation path a company may be.
Does it add value?
“Technology adoption, including automation, should always be in service to an organization’s business goals, whether that be increased capacity, right-first-time quality, speed to market, or another goal,” says Bryon Hayes, PE, director of smart manufacturing solutions at Grantek. “The first place to look for non-value-added technology would be for ‘white elephants,’ those technologies or systems for which the ongoing costs outweigh the benefits to the business. For example, if a new high-speed packaging line is always going down for maintenance or unplanned stoppages, the organization needs to evaluate whether the equipment and its automation is actually supporting its business goals.” Todd E. Ebert, PE, senior application engineer at Rovisys notes that, in some cases, automation technologies can add costs to operations due to
2205_E1.indd 8
their complexity and inability to deliver on initial investment justifications. “Capital projects adding new automation technology are justified with a business case and anticipated ROI (return on investment) prior to receiving funding approval. However, most are never measured against that business case after commissioning to determine if the ROI was met and continues to add value,” Ebert says. “The addition of value for automation projects can’t be determined unless the value metrics are carefully defined and are actually used to measure that value, ideally on a periodic basis.”
Causes
Based on his experience working with manufacturers and seeing technologies not delivering on expectations, Hayes points out that such issues are not necessarily connected to the technology. These issues can also be caused by one business unit selecting the tool and the vendor without input from key stakeholders in other business units. “I’ve seen IT departments purchase MES (manufacturing execution system) software without input from the production, maintenance, or quality groups,” he says. “When this happens, key requirements get overlooked and either the technology languishes unused, or the company spends a lot more money in change orders as the new stakeholders are brought onboard the project.”
Technology assessments
“I always suggest that the manufacturer start by preparing a user requirements specification (URS) that clearly defines the business goals and the explicit requirements of all stakeholders,” says Hayes. “I recommend that requirements be written using a SMART approach (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound) so that the URS can be used in technology curation and vendor selection, and that it is easy to return to the URS after the system is installed to compare the results against the requirements.” With a set of business and manufacturing goals in place, the gap analysis is “pretty straightforward to define an automation and technology roadmap
that will create a master plan that systematically works towards those goals one solution or project at a time,” adds Ebert.
The success of automation is largely based on a technology’s ability to be implemented to meet a requirement. If the functional requirements are not properly defined by the end user, how will it meet or exceed expectations?
See the full article on determining the value of your technology.
4/28/22 9:02 AM
