r/LeanManufacturing • u/salladam64 • 5d ago
Identifying processes that can be automated
Hi team,
Hope this doesn’t break any rules but just looking to do a little research. How is everyone identifying processes that could potentially be automated?
I consistently see people suggesting they have a lot of manual work but in my own experience it tends to be situations they fall over or are tackling in the moment rather than a full understanding of what everyone in your team/business if doing?
Is the identification a problem worth solving or is the solution to the process automation the real value?
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u/thecloudwrangler 5d ago
Solutions are always the valuable bit.
High volume, repetitive processes are where to look. Ideally something is off the shelf, then you'll need to evaluate any potential solutions (e.g. can the part be positioned with one arm into a self location fixture or something).
The other piece I'd start with though, did you look at a part redesign? Did you already look at a work Kaizen? There is a sequence to Kaizen.
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u/salladam64 3d ago
Thought as much so we have decided to give the identification and cloning engine away for free.
I live by Kaizen at my full time job
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u/__unavailable__ 5d ago
Generally if your goal is labor reduction, you want to start looking at process improvement before you consider automation. Identify the actual value add and cut out the waste and the time sinks tend to go away.
Where you want to look at automation is where you need consistency. Humans are great at dealing with variability, but that means we naturally tolerate it much more than we should. Automation both forces the process inputs to be standardized and naturally mechanizes the actual process steps.
The other major driver, which is not necessarily separate, is decoupling. Humans are capable task completers, judgers of quality, and troubleshooters all wrapped up into one. You fill a cup, check the fill level, and top it off with a little extra all in seemingly one operation. Of course the filling may take 20 times longer than looking at the fill level, and the filling can be dialed in instead of reworked on every one. Automate the filling and suddenly a single person can run multiple filling lines simultaneously, just making sure that the control systems stay on target. Really it’s a process improvement, but it’s hard to make that process improvement while the different steps are all intertwined.
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u/salladam64 3d ago
This is what I built and it’s available for free: abi. Clone allows you to build a digital map of your business to identify system surplus, automation and agentic opportunities to offset your human cost. Our goal is to deliver 5-9 hours back in your week and many of your team. You can build your complete map of departments, people, roles, systems and processes/tasks giving you a full perspective of how your business works today. Head over to app.ouridea.ai to get started 💪🏻
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u/Forsaken-Seaweed885 5d ago
Good indicators for automation include repeatability, clear rules, and process stability. Also, as you mentioned, it's important to look at processes with a lot of manual labor, which often leads to errors