May 2021 Volume 3

AUTOMATION

equipment. My undergraduate economics professor would likely give me a dissertation on how this does not fit the traditional model of economic theory, but I believe it is a fruitful way of looking at our new world with robotics and automation equipment. Today, robots (and Feedall’s Model 4800 Billet Feeder – sorry for the plug) are already cheaper than human workers in every advanced economy and less than the current Federal minimumwage.

By enhancing the productivity of their human counterparts, automation will likely make manufacturing costs attractive closer to home. So, paying your robot minimumwage would be a pay raise for most robots on the market. The fourth industrial revolution has begun, and the question you need to ask yourself (and your teams) is how will you weigh these new investment decisions? Traditional ways of measuring Return on Investment without looking at the intangible dynamics at play regarding the shrinking labor force and re-skilling labor will put your company at a disadvantage. With automation technology increasing the competitive advantage of typically higher labor rate economies, we should ask Thomas Friedman if the world is still flat or if Christopher Columbus was correct in 1492. ■ Notes: Hourly cost of robot and Feedall unit using 10 year utilization; Country wage date from 2016. Sources: Conference Board; Robotworx; Bain Macro Trends Group analysis, Statista 2021 References: 1) It’s a Flat World After All; New York Times by Thomas Friedman, April 2, 2005. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/its-a- flat-world-after-all.html 2) 2019 Manufacturing Trends Report; 2018 Microsoft 3) Labor 2030: The Collision of Demographics, Automation and Inequality, Bain Company: Karen Harris, Austin Kimson, Andrew Schwedel; 2018.

Author Jon Cocco is the owner and CEO of Feedall Automation in Cleveland, Ohio. He may be reached at jcocco@feedall.com or 440-942-8100 or follow him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/joncocco/. For additional information, visit www.feedall.com.

Figure 3: Average hourly cost of manufacturing workers

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