You can automate your production. But should you?

The easy assumption is that automation solves everything: deploy enough robots and cobots, connect systems so they work together, and the inefficiency disappears.

We don't believe that. Automation isn't a goal in itself. It's one of the ways people and machines can work together. What matters is determining who or what adds the most value at which point.

Manufacturers are willing to invest heavily in automation, often driven by a real problem. Deloitte's Smart Manufacturing research (Opens in new tab) (May 2025, 600 executives) found that 46% struggle to fill production and operational roles. Automation then quickly gets seen as the direct fix for that labor shortage. "If people aren't available, we'll just cover it with automation." That's understandable, but not always the best route.

Before deciding what to automate, you first need to know where the bottlenecks in your processes are and what they cost you. Where's the waste, where are the inefficiencies, and which of them hit your productivity, quality, or flexibility hardest? Where does automation add the most value? Or can you set up the operator to do their job better instead?

That analysis, combined with your future plans and needs, determines which combination of solutions delivers the best result, short and long term.

It's amplification. Automation plays a role at every level here, from ergonomic workstation and line design to production and qualification tools to industrial automation and robotics. It should be deployed wherever it outperforms people.

Our own projects show what that delivers in practice: companies that focus on maximizing productivity gain up to 27% more productivity on average. Not because the technology is smarter or better, but because people and machines both do the work they're best at.

Think of workstations and production lines built around ergonomics, safety, and usability, supported by intuitive human-machine interfaces and task-support tools. Automation gets deployed where it demonstrably adds more value than the work a person already does well. That way, people and technology strengthen each other instead of one replacing the other.

If you want to get started: don't jump straight to automation as the solution, start with how your processes are set up. Where are the obstacles? Measure that first, then figure out which solution fits best. That answer determines where automation adds value, and where it's just expensive.