Many companies have introduced automated equipment, robots, and AI intelligent systems in the hope of improving production efficiency and reducing labor costs. However, in practice, many companies encounter difficulties in the process of introducing automation, which may even lead to project failure. Why does the automated import fail? This article will analyze the top five reasons why automation introduction fails, and KW ROBOT will provide specific solutions to help companies move smoothly toward smart manufacturing.
1. Unclear requirements and planning
❌ Reasons for failure
When introducing automation, many companies do not clearly define production requirements, production line processes and automation scope, resulting in the selected equipment or technology failing to truly solve the problem. For example:
• The equipment does not match the existing processes and requires frequent adjustments, resulting in low operating efficiency.
• Not considering future expansion, making the system difficult to upgrade or modify.
• Overestimating automation capabilities and ignoring the importance of collaboration between humans and machines.
✅ Solution
🔹 Requirements analysis - Before importing, conduct detailed requirements interviews with automation consultants or technical teams to ensure that the equipment matches production requirements.
🔹 Process simulation - Use digital twin technology (Digital Twin) or process simulation to predict the impact of automation introduction.
🔹 Modular design - choose a scalable automation system to ensure flexible adjustments and upgrades in the future.
2. Improper selection of automation equipment
❌ Reasons for failure
When choosing automation equipment, many companies only consider price, brand or short-term needs, ignoring the compatibility, stability and maintenance costs of the equipment, leading to subsequent operation problems:
• The equipment does not communicate well with the existing system, resulting in the inability to integrate production data.
• Equipment with high technical barriers was selected, but lack of professional maintenance personnel resulted in frequent downtime.
• Consumables and maintenance costs are ignored, causing long-term operating expenses to exceed budget.
✅ Solution
🔹 Choose mature technology - ensure that the equipment technology is stable and can be seamlessly integrated with existing systems (such as PLC, MES, ERP).
🔹 Evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO) — look beyond the purchase cost, and also consider maintenance, training, and upgrade costs.
🔹 Testing and verification - Before importing, conduct a small-scale test (POC) to ensure that the system meets the requirements.
3. Insufficient technical capabilities of personnel
❌ Reasons for failure
Automation cannot be operated by equipment alone, it also requires professional personnel to operate and maintain it. Many companies have found that:
• Lack of training of operators leads to low production efficiency.
• The maintenance team was unable to rectify the fault in time, resulting in prolonged downtime.
• Management does not understand the automation process and is unable to effectively plan and optimize production lines.
✅ Solution
🔹 Provide professional training - ensure that operators, maintenance teams and management have basic automation knowledge.
🔹 Establish a technical support mechanism - cooperate with equipment suppliers to establish a long-term technical support channel.
🔹 AI Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance – Use AI for equipment health monitoring, preventive maintenance, and reduced downtime.
4. Ignoring data integration and optimization
❌ Reasons for failure
After introducing automation, many companies fail to effectively integrate production data, resulting in an inability to accurately optimize production line operations:
• Devices cannot communicate with each other, and machine data from different brands or models cannot be managed in a unified manner.
• Lack of data analysis mechanisms results in problems being discovered after they occur rather than predicted in advance.
• There is no AI learning mechanism to continuously optimize production strategies based on historical data.
✅ Solution
🔹 Establish an MES system - integrate all equipment data to ensure real-time monitoring and analysis.
🔹 Introducing AI automatic optimization——Using AI to learn production data, adjust machine parameters and improve production efficiency.
🔹 Use standard communication protocols (OPC UA, MQTT) to ensure data between different devices can be interoperable.
5. Automation ROI (Return on Investment) is Low
❌ Reasons for failure
The ultimate goal of enterprises introducing automation is to improve production efficiency, reduce costs and improve quality. However, if the ROI is calculated incorrectly, it may lead to:
• The investment is too large, but the improvement in production efficiency is limited, resulting in a long payback period.
• Excessive maintenance costs, resulting in higher than expected long-term operating costs.
• Ignoring market changes and failing to adapt to new demands after automation.
✅ Solution
🔹 Clearly calculate ROI - Before importing, predict the return on investment through data analysis to avoid blind investment.
🔹 Choose a scalable solution - ensure that the system can be flexibly adjusted in the future to cope with changes in market demand.
🔹 Continuous optimization and adjustment——Through AI monitoring and production data analysis, we continuously optimize equipment parameters and improve production capacity and quality.
Automation is a very meticulous plan that requires a comprehensive plan from customer product planning to automation equipment to accurately calculate RO
If you only look at equipment versus human computing, you will miss out on great solutions.
Conclusion: How to ensure successful automation introduction?
Introducing automation is not just about purchasing equipment, but a systematic transformation. To ensure success, businesses must:
✅ Clarify requirements and plans to avoid discovering that they do not meet production requirements after import.
✅ Choose the right equipment and technology, considering compatibility and long-term maintenance costs.
✅ Improve the technical capabilities of personnel to ensure that operations and maintenance personnel can effectively manage the automation system.
✅ Focus on data integration and optimize production through AI and IoT.
✅ Calculate the return on investment (ROI) to ensure that the automation solution is truly beneficial.
📞 Want to successfully introduce automation? Welcome to contact us for professional consultation!