We take a look at the current Annual Manufacturing Report to see what manufacturers feel like is stopping them from investing in automation.
This year’s Annual Manufacturing Report (AMR) showed some positive signs for manufacturers, 65% of the respondents said that they had invested in automation in the past 12 months. The other 35% were then asked the reasons why they had not invested .
The results showed that there is still a lot of uncertainty in manufacturers when it comes to automation, the greatest constraint from respondents was that they were “unsure of where to start.”
Another significant response was that firms believe “our products are bespoke and we aren’t able to automate any step of process.” It might be true but it also suggests a degree of uncertainty when it comes to the ability of automation equipment.
Some of the other reasons for the slow uptake of automation from some manufacturers include, “poor experience with automation in past”, “concern about ongoing costs”, and “the return of investment for automation is too long.”
“Lack of investment budget” and “the return on investment for automation is too long” were the two responses that gained least interest, illustrating the fact that manufacturers are able to finance their automation projects and that they expect to see a return on investment in a reasonable amount of time.
If you’d like to read all of the findings from the report, please download it here.
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