Quote:
Originally Posted by Minte
I am absolutely on board with automation. Our newest 400ton injection molder with a loading robot arrived Monday. It runs lights off. And we have ordered new fully automated press feeders for the metals department. Instead of needing 3 people per machine per shift we will only need one to move and shrinkwrap finished parts.
We won't lay anyone off. But we certainly won't be hiring as many as we would've needed before. And this equipment is all affordable to a small/medium company.
Robots that cost upwards of $150k ten years ago sell for $60k today and like everything technology..they are faster and more accurate.
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I'm blown away with how far that type of equipment has come in the last 15 years. About 15 years ago I worked running a CNC router and some other machines for a plastics company. They had some nice stuff, but nothing like what is out there now and like you said the prices just keep dropping. It won't be long before entire plants will be able to run with little human supervision.