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.