Productivity levels have been problematic in the British economy for a number of years now. Why productivity may have slipped compared to other economies is a complex question to which there is no single answer. However, what is widely appreciated by those in the technology sector is that automation and automated control systems are at the heart of improving productivity. Without them, any businesses engaged with delivering a technological project are going to fall further behind competitors. Why is this?
Less Fatigue
When workers get tired, they don't function to the best of their abilities. What this means is that their rate of production drops off with an obvious performance loss in places such as production lines. Repetitive tasks which require attention to detail but which are ultimately boring lead to the greatest levels of fatigue. What's worse than productivity dropping off due to fatigue is the increase in errors that come with tiredness. Not only does this waste time and materials, but it leads to more work for your quality control department.
Errors due to fatigue can lead to entire systems going down and lots of costly work to repair them. Automated manufacturing processes linked to control systems which test for functionality as they go are much more reliable. Unlike people, they can work 24/7 without any drop in performance.
Collect Reliable Metrics
Technological businesses – especially those which purchase advanced components from around the world to develop new and innovative systems – are often trying to break new ground. As such, their manufacturing processes may be untried. There may be no blueprint to follow for the most efficient manner of working. Under such circumstances, productivity analysis has to be developed on the go.
Relying on the feedback of your production designers and technicians will help to improve productivity. However, automated processes are much more quantitative in their analysis than humans who are, by and large, more qualitative. In other words, automation in control processes allows you to look at your entire approach and to make decisions based on sound data sets that will lead to greater productivity.
Make Progress With Productivity
For more information about test systems that actively work to increase your productivity, please contact us on +44 (0) 1684 437 100. If you're a lead engineer or project manager interested in automated processes and self-test solutions, then feel free to download our company brochure by [clicking here].
