Manufacturing Today Issue 206 Issue 206 Nov 2022 | Page 33

JR Automation

Holistic solutions
Vice President of Digital Solutions , Mike Lashbrook , adds : “ I would say a further consideration is the human factor , and understanding that now we have all this data at our fingertips , it ’ s crucial to make sure we are using it properly , and sharing it at the right level . Ultimately , decisions need to be made on the manufacturing floor . To enable team leaders to make the correct decisions and implement continuous improvement activities , information needs to be accessible to the right people . It ’ s not simply a case of providing management with graphs and charts . Empowering the workforce to make decisions based on available data is intrinsic for growth . It takes an organizational level of training and leadership to ensure automation solutions are exploited to their full potential .
“ When data and equipment is implemented , it ’ s crucial to know how to use it in a way to actually improve business . We like to understand what problem our clients are trying to solve . From productivity improvement to quality enhancement , understanding a client ’ s motivation provides better transparency when it comes to how the operator works with the equipment . This enables us to use the data to better resolve the issue in a collaborative manner .”
Indeed , it would seem the business is uniquely positioned to develop partialautomation as a key area of opportunity . For example , as Mike elaborates : “ The general assembly lines we supply for automotive makers haven ’ t changed dramatically in decades , and are not likely to . We have tried to automate more and more , but we will never remove the people aspect from the general assembly process of an automotive plant , and there are many other manufacturing processes that are similar . The more we can incorporate that element into the bigger picture , the better we ’ re able to offer more holistic solutions .”
By understanding and responding to key operational drivers , JR Automation seeks to not only deliver its core offering of robotic automation , but moving forward , to also make sure it integrates software and systems as a seamless solution , for every client , from day one .
As Mike explains : “ This approach really requires a greater understanding of our clients . Instead of being just an automation solution provider , we need to co-develop
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