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Greetings!
A segment of CBS's 60 Minutes this last Sunday put much in perspective for manufacturers. While it is now more advantageous to manufacture closer to your customers, it has to be done differently for all of the reasons we have discussed in previous messages: flexibility, lack of skilled personnel, speed, quality and cost. The good news is that you can compete with the low labor cost countries, and do it from your USA facilities.
Two key factors are involved: Use automation where precision, repeatability, and speed are required, and utilize people where flexibility and adaptability are paramount to your processes. This allows you to achieve the best of both worlds without working your good people to death and get the best in responsiveness to your customers for cost and quality.
Robots are but one tool in the manufacturing arsonal. Careful segmentation of your processes into the categories I mentioned above and consulting with an experienced automation house will likely yield benefits in cost, speed, and quality that you will enjoy for years to come.
The Robots are coming --------------------------> CBS 60 Minutes Robot Segment
Have a look at the CBS segment and let us know what you think.
Eric Wentz e.wentz@betterbydesign.com
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What we MUST do