At DEVELOP LLC, we want to break with tradition for a moment and highlight a revolutionary opportunity focused strategy for integrating your industrial machine, robot, or engineering solution. Prioritizing Opportunity Automation Integration (OAI) achieves the same goals of increased revenue, scalability, consistency, productivity, safety, confidence, satisfaction, and retention as a Return on Investment (ROI) focused strategy with better long-term outcomes.
Return on Investment: a Narrow Outlook
Any responsible automation integration assessment will tell you how to calculate the return on investment, guide you for the swiftest return on investment, and emphasize the financial gains once the return on investment is achieved. The calculations can explore cost benefit comparisons of annual operating costs versus labor shifts, estimations on rework, training, and impacts on safety, annual cash flow minus the system costs, and a variety of factors that can go as deep or as shallow into the dollar amounts required to integrate a machine into your business plan. When capital expenditure for an industrial robot integration can easily hit seven figures, we understand why customers prioritize cost. A cost-oriented approach can limit your long-term goals in multiple ways:
ROI is not a business plan
Customers too focused on money mistake ROI for a plan when its purpose is to justify the cost of the machine integration. ROI shows you a snapshot of how much money you save with automation versus your manual labor production costs today and applies those savings over multiple months and years to demonstrate how reasonable upfront costs are in the long term. ROI does not touch the opportunities you have now that those manual workers can pursue new sales, business improvements, and neglected areas of your production. A responsibly scoped automated integration achieves return on investment in 1-4 years after the integration. Clients can take advantage of the opportunities provided by the revolutionary impacts an automated machine can have on their production immediately after the integration.
Cost oriented is not goal oriented
Obsession with cost is short-term thinking on a long-term investment in growth. The cheapest strategy for an automated machine is to just buy a machine and bolt it to the floor. This strategy does not come with training in safety, programming, or maintenance. The robot will have functions you do not need, cannot use, or would require entirely changing how you run your production. It will not be scoped for future scalability, placed for efficient use, or championed to work with your labor force. If every service, product, or integral piece of equipment were equal we would always buy the cheapest option. But not every automation integrator is equal. There is no one size fits all solution. Investing in robotic integration is a long-term process that implements custom solutions to fit your specific production plans. A responsible integrator will not only maximize the potential of your machine, but they will also assume future growth and account for the needs of increased scalability. Ignoring better for lower cost can be a mistake you live with for a long time.
Cost Containment is not Mitigating Risk
The only answer for addressing an unprecedented labor shortage, scaling your business to meet a 30 year high in manufacturing demand, and protecting your interests in these unstable market conditions, is by partially or fully automating your production. Not every business is on equal footing, not everyone can afford to make a mistake purchasing an industrial machine. Tight margins impact capital expenditure the most. If you are a business that only has the capital for one machine, be sure, do not cost contain. A responsible, properly scoped automation integration will contain concrete plans to return your investment with benchmarks, timelines, definitions of success, and definitions of failure. At DEVELOP LLC we do not trivialize the expense, and we consider it our fiduciary responsibility to inform you when the ROI lacks practicality. We would not want to use an automation integration specialist that could not promise a project scoped to take your business to an elevated level of competition, you should not settle either.
Opportunity Automation Integration
Planning your automation integration with a focus on opportunity gets you tremendous advantages over a cost focused integration and your competition:
Opportunities to grow
Properly scoped automation integration improves speed, safety, consistency, quality, retention, job satisfaction, job opportunities, and increased profits. The money you spend on responsible integration purchases these benefits all at once. A company that adopts these qualities is not surviving, it is thriving. You will see growth if you have the courage to make the investment and the savvy to choose the right integrator rather than the cheapest integrator. Even if the ROI is months or years away, you take advantage of your new options as soon as the integration is done. The best utilized capital is typically tied up for years before you see a significant return. Think of how long it takes to see a significant return on your house, your stocks, your business.
Not abandoning ROI
Return on investment still matters to OAI. A responsible integrator will justify your costs and partner with your business to meet goals, find the swiftest return on investment, and maximize your opportunities. It is common that a higher upfront capital expenditure can yield a shorter ROI.
DEVELOP LLC provides custom Automation Assessments before every integration to scope your opportunities and provide the swiftest return on investment. With our years of integration experience, we know how to create custom robots, engineering solutions, and automation integrations that can increase throughput, consistency, and morale tailored to bring your business to a higher level of competition. Tell us more about your project, schedule a virtual meeting, or call (262)-622-6104 to learn more about how we can show you how to invest in the future of your business.