Top 10 reasons to start automating intralogistics in manufacturing facilities

1: Increase health and safety

Manufacturing, and related activities such as material handling, is one of the most dangerous occupations. With a fatality rate of 14.6 per 100,000 workers in the US, ‘transportation and material moving occupations had the most fatalities in 2022’. Within the EU, manufacturing is the third-highest (at 14.7%) activity resulting in non-fatal accidents at work.

Fatal work injuries by major event or exposure, 2018-22 in the U.S.

Source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cfoi_12192023.pdf 

Plus there are the indirect costs of injuries that are harder to measure, or are more hidden. For example, the impact on staff morale and their mental health. Industrial environments can be harsh, from continual noise to difficulties to maintain comfortable room temperatures. 

Automating certain roles reduces human exposure to these risks. For example, wheel.me’s robotic wheels can operate at temperatures ranging from 5^oC to 40^oC (41^oF to 104^oF).

2: Find cost savings

Automation in manufacturing doesn’t just make sense from a health and safety perspective. There’s also a big business case to put forward. Workplace injuries cost an estimated $1 billion per week in payments for medical costs, compensation, and legal services.

For manufacturers exploring ways to boost margins and find cost savings, automation is less risky and time-consuming than other methods, such as manufacturing new products or expanding into new markets. 

To quickly calculate the potential ROI, try wheel.me’s automated vs. manual handling calculator.

3: Mitigate labor shortage risks

Manufacturing’s labor shortage means there’s a 43% gap between the number of US job openings and hires since January 2020. At the same time, the industry needs a reported 3.8 million new employees by 2033, with a potential 1.9 million jobs staying vacant. Deloitte forecasts that the job openings could result in an eventual $1 trillion loss to the U.S. economy by 2030. It’s a similar story in Europe, where the number of open jobs in manufacturing rose by around 70% during 2020–2022. 

These are long-term challenges that call for permanent solutions. Automation can take over the roles with lowest demand, those that are the most repetitive, dangerous, and physically demanding. The skilled workers, already at a premium, can then be redeployed to roles with lower risks and focus on gaining the specialized knowledge needed for emerging technologies such as machine learning. 

After all, it will still be human workers responsible for deciding when to set automation rules and conditions, how to program robots, and where to troubleshoot.

4: Standardize high-quality output 

Standardizing manufacturing output with automation is a win-win for manufacturing facilities. The increased consistency satisfies customers, who can rely on the same high-quality result every time they order, helping to boost brand reputation and loyalty. 

Internally, having a repeatable process, such as transporting materials using the fastest route, helps to boost productivity, even at scale. There’s also consistency in output volumes at scale, with automation able to run 24/7, and often without the need for supervision.

5: Deliver more predictability to forecasts

Automation takes away the risks that come from unforeseen downtime at manufacturing facilities. Manufacturing facilities gain a way to control factors under their control, to cushion the impact of external factors such as no-show rates of human labor. 

This is a key priority for many manufacturing leaders, with an EY CEO survey revealing that ‘adapting supply chains for better resiliency’ is ‘one of the most important strategic actions for their company in the next six months.’

6: Build new business models

The pace of automation means there are multiple types being deployed, each with different levels of complexity and use case suitability. So let’s break things down into some of the different types found in industrial use cases. Some of the more common include:

• Adaptive
  Automation can be shared between humans and machines, to maintain productivity or to fulfill regulatory requirements around auditing and controls
• Fixed
  Completes a single task or sequence of tasks, usually at high volume. Often found on conveyor belts and other use cases where there’s a continuous and fixed flow
• Flexible
  Machines can be programmed to follow specific designs, but this can be adjusted at short notice to accommodate changing volumes, new software, or other requirements that can change at short notice
• Programmable
  Machines are programmed to automatically complete a series of tasks, leading to products, and able to be quickly reprogrammed for batches of different product types and styles

Depending on the type of automation manufacturers implement, there’s potential for new products at scale. For example, programmable and flexible automation can be used to complete batch quantities of products. These can be adapted to suit individual customer needs, allowing for more customized manufacturing at scale, for less cost.

7: Increase agility with ‘low-risk, high reward’ approaches

Investing in automation doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach. For example, with wheel.me’s robotic wheels manufacturing facilities can start with a set of four or eight wheels and attach them to existing transportation equipment, such as carts and movable racks. And then use that as a Proof-Of-Concept, with implementation up to 10X faster than other forms of mobile robots. 

8: Reduce delays and downtime

Manufacturing’s reliance on supply chains means that scaling comes with its own unique risks. Delays and disruptions at one stage can have a knock-on effect and compound problems downstream. 

Of course, this risk of bottlenecks present an ongoing risk to manufacturers looking to scale operations. Traditional methods of minimizing exposure, such as diversifying routes, still carry an element of unpredictability. After all, alongside the potential impact of political actions within partner countries, there’s also the risk of one-off incidents such as a pandemic. 

That’s where automation comes in, allowing manufacturers to implement leaner processes. And with established parameters in place, there won’t be any dilution in quality, another risk that can appear when businesses start scaling. Sensors can report on performance and alert operatives when an issue risks becoming a problem, preventing rather than curing, with predictive maintenance.

9: Accelerate environmentally friendly policies

Increasing automation can also help to reduce a manufacturing facility’s environmental impact. There’s the reduced wastage and optimized resources that come from standardizing at scale and minimizing human errors, as outlined above. While there is a large market for electric forklifts, demand for forklifts with internal combustion engines is forecast to continue growing until at least 2031.

10: Boost business intelligence

Automating your manufacturing facility means increasing the number of connected devices and sensors. The resulting flow of data can then be used to generate historical results, alongside the ability to gain real-time understanding of day-to-day asset and process performance, identify locations of bottlenecks, and monitor inventory levels. 

The result is a source of insight that’s automatically enriched with every new action. The information can be stored and shared within the business, and allow decision-makers to make informed predictions and choices for future strategic moves.

Automating toward the future of manufacturing 

The technologies available to automate may be different today than a couple of centuries ago. However, the drivers remain pretty much the same. Namely, to improve manufacturing efficiency and fulfillment rates, while minimizing risks while maximizing health and safety. These sorts of goals are constant, there’ll probably never be a time when manufacturers can sit back and say, ‘We’ve completed automation.’ 

After all, the benefits and impacts of automation can be found at most stages of a manufacturing cycle. From streamlining processes and optimizing assembly lines, to managing inventory and predicting throughput. As long as manufacturing keeps evolving, the wheels of progress keep turning. It’s just that now, with wheel.me, those wheels can be autonomous too. 

Learning how the technology works only takes a few minutes. In fact, pretty much anybody working in the facility can be trained up to use wheel.me and the intuitive app. It’s a simple 4-step process:

1. Select the object you want to turn into a mobile robot
2. Attach a set of wheels
3. Map the facility using the app
4. Start your robot’s first mission and let the automation get to work

To discover how to start or accelerate your automation journey, book a virtual demo today.

The technologies available to automate may be different today than a couple of centuries ago. However, the drivers remain pretty much the same. Namely, to improve manufacturing efficiency and fulfillment rates, while minimizing risks while maximizing health and safety. These sorts of goals are constant, there’ll probably never be a time when manufacturers can sit back and say, ‘We’ve completed automation.’ 

After all, the benefits and impacts of automation can be found at most stages of a manufacturing cycle. From streamlining processes and optimizing assembly lines, to managing inventory and predicting throughput. As long as manufacturing keeps evolving, the wheels of progress keep turning. It’s just that now, with wheel.me, those wheels can be autonomous too. 

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Learning how the technology works only takes a few minutes. In fact, pretty much anybody working in the facility can be trained up to use wheel.me and the intuitive app. It’s a simple 4-step process:

1. Select the object you want to turn into a mobile robot
2. Attach a set of wheels
3. Map the facility using the app
4. Start your robot’s first mission and let the automation get to work

To discover how to start or accelerate your automation journey, book a virtual demo today.

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