May 2026 Volume 8

AUTOMATION

If Wilson’s advice is about testing and sustaining the equipment, Dane Moxlow of Trenton Forging brings the focus to something broader: the organization itself. His first piece of advice is blunt and useful.

By contrast, companies that treat automation as a cross-functional effort are better positioned to succeed. They bring the right people into the conversation early. They ask not only whether a machine can do the job, but whether the organization is ready to support the new process around it. That kind of preparation does not require perfection before starting. It does require honesty. Are teams ready for the complexity that automation brings? Is there a plan for training? Are maintenance resources sufficient? Has safety been re-evaluated for the new cell design? Does tooling design support stable, repeatable robot interaction? These questions are not barriers to progress. They are the practical groundwork that allows progress to last. Taken together, the perspectives from Wilson and Moxlow form a useful playbook for forging companies taking their first steps into automation. Start by testing in the real world. A trial can reveal whether a solution truly fits the application and can uncover issues early, when they are easier and less costly to address. Plan for preventive maintenance from day one. Automated equipment is not maintenance-free, and long-term performance depends on cleaning, inspection and service. Prepare the whole organization, not just one department. Automation affects maintenance, engineering, quality, tooling and safety. It changes how people work together as much as it changes how a task gets done. And finally, be patient. Automation is not an overnight fix. It is a long-term investment in capability, one that often takes sustained effort to stabilize and optimize. That message may actually be good news for companies that are hesitant to begin. It means they do not need to automate everything at once. They do not need a perfect roadmap before taking the first step. What they do need is a practical mindset: test assumptions, involve the right people, prepare for maintenance and expect a learning curve. For the forging industry, where operations are tough and margins for error are small, that mindset can make all the difference. Automation can improve consistency. It can support safety and ergonomics. It can help companies make better use of skilled labor and gain tighter control over critical processes. But those benefits are most likely to materialize when companies approach automation as a journey rather than a quick fix. The shops that succeed will not necessarily be the ones that move the fastest. More likely, they will be the ones that start thoughtfully, learn continuously and build the internal capability to support automation over time. For forging companies standing at the beginning of that path, the smartest first step may be the simplest one: Go in with open eyes. Special thanks to Mackay Wilson, P.Eng., AED Automation and Dane Moxlow, Trenton Forging for their comments used in this article.

“Be patient. It will take years to work out most of the bugs.” — Dane Moxlow, Trenton Forging

In an era when automation is often discussed as a fast answer to labor shortages or efficiency challenges, that kind of honesty is valuable. It sets a more durable expectation. Automation can create meaningful gains, but it rarely arrives as a finished product. Instead, it typically enters the plant as a capability that must be refined over time. That process can take longer than expected, particularly for companies implementing automation for the first time. Early bugs, programming adjustments, tooling modifications and process revisions are all part of the reality. The first version of an automated cell may not be the final version. The first months may reveal blind spots that no one saw during planning. Patience is not passive in that environment. It is a discipline. It means giving teams time to troubleshoot, adapt and improve without declaring a project a failure because it is not perfect immediately. Moxlow also pointed to another misconception that can undermine an automation effort from the start: the idea that one person or one department can handle implementation alone. Instead, he said, companies should expect most departments to level up. Maintenance teams need to understand robot troubleshooting, repairs, preventive maintenance and the significant increase in complexity that comes with moving from a manual cell to an automated one. Quality teams need to understand how robotic handling affects the process. Engineering teams need to design tooling that allows robot access and stable placement. Tool and die teams may have to learn how to build or maintain new systems. Safety standards change as well. That observation gets at one of the most important truths about automation in forging: It is not just a technology project. It is a company project. The visible part of automation is often the robot, sprayer, conveyor or control system. But beneath that visible layer is a web of changes that touches multiple functions. Processes shift. Responsibilities change. Skills have to expand. Communication between departments becomes even more critical. For companies just starting out, this is where preparation can make or break success. If leadership treats automation as something owned only by engineering, the operation may struggle later when maintenance is unprepared, when tooling is not optimized for robotic handling or when quality teams are left reacting to process changes they were not involved in shaping.

FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2026 39