As industrial automation becomes a distinctive advantage for more manufacturers and related technologies become democratized, Advanced Manufacturing Teams (AMT) are on the rise in many production facilities. An AMT is an internal group dedicated to driving industrial automation initiatives across one or more manufacturing plants for the company. This team is formed by combining expertise in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial control, and robotics into one cross-functional unit.
Although reliance on external system integrators is likely to remain for automation projects requiring deep process expertise, AMTs are well-suited to drive entry-level and intermediate projects where agility and a limited budget are needed to have an impact. This guide outlines the five key benefits of AMTs and is the third blog in the ‘Kickstarting Your Automation Journey’ series.
Gain manufacturing speed and agility
Managing providers outside the enterprise adds communication and execution delays because they are not involved with internal day-to-day operations. When setting up an AMT, all industrial automation resources are controlled entirely within the enterprise, enabling faster automation deployment. Activities such as changes to project scope, feedback loops between production and design, and project reprioritization all occur more rapidly when managed internally.
Establish shared industrial automation standards
The lack of industrial automation standards across plants makes equipment upgrades, maintenance, and operator training more cumbersome for manufacturers. For industrial automation standards to be adopted, they must be discoverable and shareable. The AMT is the creator and guardian of these standards and can share them with the wider organization. Leveraging a cloud-based Manufacturing Automation Platform (MAP) helps tremendously in creating and maintaining standard solutions easily accessible by anyone in the company.
Save significant costs
Industrial automation is expensive due to components priced for high-throughput processes, the cost of third-party integration providers, and the sheer amount of manual engineering tasks required. The digital integration of all project steps offered by MAP (i.e., a single digital environment to design, program, simulate, order, and deploy automation) leads to a steep reduction in non-recurring engineering charges. These savings contribute to lower deployment costs, thanks to the plug-and-play compatibility of MAP’s modular components.
Own core manufacturing process knowledge
One-off machines with orphan code are common in industrial automation. In such situations, proprietary process knowledge often resides in the PLC code, creating a “black-box” scenario. In contrast, establishing an AMT helps create and maintain core manufacturing process knowledge. As the AMT starts to own this knowledge, automated equipment projects are realized faster and at a lower cost.
Create a strong career path for manufacturing professionals
Manufacturing professionals joining AMTs are rapidly exposed to highly valuable skills and technologies, including robot cell design, industrial component selection, automation programming, and more. This centralization of expertise encourages learning and accelerates process knowledge development. Employees who once operated the manufacturing floor are now transformed into the designers of the floor, creating exciting career growth opportunities within the company.
Conclusion
AMTs are revolutionizing how manufacturers approach automation on their factory floors. By leveraging internal resources, companies can gain significant advantages, positioning themselves ahead in today’s competitive manufacturing industry.
This is the third blog post in the ‘Kickstarting Your Automation Journey’ series. Read ‘A guide to kickstarting your industrial automation journey’ and ‘How to choose which manufacturing process to automate first.’
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Written by Quinn Harker,
Content Marketing Specialist