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For a long time, automation was considered a luxury reserved for bigger companies or something that only worked in special settings. Robotics experts say that is not the case anymore.
“If you haven't started your journey at all, you're behind,” Mark Longacre, senior strategist for market development at Formova, formerly known as JBT Automated Systems, said during a session at Automate on June 22. “But that’s okay. There’s [still] time to catch up.”
As technology has advanced, more companies have adopted fixed robots, multi-axis machines and automated vehicles that move objects from one place to another. Longacre, who has spent 27 years in mobile automation, has worked on some 500 projects helping companies transform their facilities to address labor challenges and remain competitive in the modern era of warehousing, logistics and manufacturing.
Longacre said companies looking to adopt automated guided vehicles or autonomous mobile robots, known as AGVs or AMRs, should first identify their problems, establish the goals they want to accomplish and take their time with implementation. Sometimes customers will be eager to implement robots without a clear plan, and those projects often go nowhere, he said.
