February 2021 Volume 3

AUTOMATION

Mr. Gill of LASCO’s advice to start small but start somewhere is particularly important for job shops. I have often found that once people become more familiar with a technology, they find more creative ways to use it. Mr. Gill feels that there are definite benefits for production runs of 2,000 - 5,000 pieces. Adaptation was another point he made. “You have to figure out how to engineer the system to work for the customer, within the customer’s ‘envelope’ from the beginning.” He also offers what he refers to as the “80/20 rule”. “Don’t try to automate an entire line. Work to automate up to 80% of it and leave 20%manual.” I have often said to job shops, “If you can apply flow concepts (the ultimate objective in Lean) to 60% of your business, you are doing great. You’ll make 60% of your business that much better and easier to manage.” Now, I have seen the application of flow to up to 90% of a job shop’s business. The point is don’t worry about reaching 100%. The same applies to automation. Summary Some final thoughts as we wrap up. As the old expression goes, “use the right tool for the job”. This is particularly true when considering automation (and Lean for that matter). Apply it where it makes sense. The guidelines provided at the beginning of the article may help here. In Lean we advise people to take a “narrow and deep” approach to the application of any Lean concept. This basically

means to apply a concept to a specific area or process. Learn deeply about the concept through practical application, making adjustments as necessary. Once you learn what really works, then expand the application to other areas. Good advice for those considering automation. And finally, for those short-run forgers, don’t be too quick to say, “we’re different, and automation doesn’t work for us.” I have heard similar statements about Lean from job shops in all types of industries over the past 30 years. Over that time, I have seen very clever people figure out how to adapt the concepts to their unique circumstances. The numerous stories I heard from our fine group of contributors lead me to believe the same opportunities exist for automation in forging. ■

Drew Locher is managing director of Change Management Associates and can be reached at drewlocher@comcast.net Mario Trizzino, Sales Engineer, Adaptec Solutions: mario.trizzino@adaptecsolutions.com Terry Chilson, Forging Industry Consultant: erchili@comcast.net Mike Gill, President, Lasco Engineering Services LLC: mgill@lascousa.com

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FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2021 41