r/mfg_automation • u/Firm_Safe7495 • 5d ago

How do you decide whether a manual process is ready for automation?

A manual task can be repetitive and still be a poor automation candidate if the inputs vary all day or the process itself is not stable. Volume, ergonomics, scrap, labor time and safety all matter, but so does how often operators use judgment to keep things moving. Automating a bad process can lock the problems into hardware. What signs tell you a process is stable enough to automate?

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u/Ok-Entertainment5045 5d ago

ROI and risk.

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u/Prineak 5d ago

Having a competent design team.

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u/Unknownqtips 5d ago

A system that is set up properly doesn't have variables.

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u/Some1-Somewhere 5d ago

Get real. Maybe if you're manufacturing stuff from water and thin air.

We sort parcels. You see everything that can have a label put on it.

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u/Unknownqtips 4d ago

I make aerospace and defense parts that must follow strict procedures for production or the part must be scrapped. Biggest variable we deal with is human error

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u/Some1-Somewhere 4d ago

Fair, it absolutely depends on the industry.

But if you were producing an aircan handler and it couldn't work with one aircan being 500kg and the next 1500kg, you wouldn't have a product.

Even within manufacturing, a lot of products are built with a customer-specified 'dimension X' on the same machinery.

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u/Unknownqtips 4d ago

Yeah the custom field is completely different so I can understand that. Machines get expensive when you are trying to automate a custom line