Every manufacturer has some procedural steps that they go through when getting ready to hire a company as their automation provider. Some have just a few steps others have more steps, and, unfortunately, others do not use any steps at all. It is probably a good idea to have some practical thoughts about how to determine the utility of an automation solution provider. The solution provider that you choose will have a direct bearing on the result that your company will get when the manufacturing automation project is in place. This selection will have long term effects on your business and how well it performs. There are some very definite criteria that you might want to use to look at the automation provider before you sign a contract to have them set up automation for your business. You can get a provider that will automate your manufacturing processes, but the provider may not optimize the process so that your company will get the maximum return from going through the steps to automate.
It is becoming more and more difficult to select a automation provider, so it is very important to have a practical process in place to help with the selection. The reason it is becoming more difficult is because there has been an increase in the number of companies portraying themselves as providers. Some are manufacturers that have products that they produced with little industry implementation experience. Other companies may have some limited area of experience, but just do not have the industry experience to do all that is necessary to set up and optimize a complete manufacturing automation project.
The size of the manufacturing automation solutions provider that you select really does matter. A good rule of thumb is look for a company that is about the same size as your company. If you select a company that is much larger than your company they may not care about allocating the resources to a smaller project. They may not wish to follow up and make the project an optimized resource for your company. The automation provider that you pick should be enthusiastic about taking on your automation, but large enough to not be overwhelmed by your project and also give your project the long term support that it needs.
It could be very important to determine the attitude of the employees of the automation provider. You need to know how they approach the implementation and support of a project. Ask the provider to give you references from previous automation projects that are similar to the one that your require for them to do. Call the reference and find out what the results were from the customers point of view. Find out if the solution provider pursued the project until it was optimized to the customer satisfaction. Find out what kind of response the customer got to calls for support of the automation system. Ask if the automation provider had the expertise to get all phases of the project done in a reasonable time frame. If the company did not have expertise in-house, find out if the provider had the appropriate alliances with other companies to pull in the expertise to keep the project on track.
You can learn a lot about the position of a manufacturing automation solutions provider by comparing the pricing structure that this company offers with prices in the industry. If the prices are low compared to industry, then this provider is new in the trade and is trying to get a start. Try to avoid selecting the lowest bidder since your project will probably be a training project for the provider staff. Your project requires that the provider has industry knowledge, so that they can provide a full explanation of each part of the project and how its implementation will be approached. Written documentation of the entire is a necessity. This document should contain who is going to do what, and when they are going to it.
It is a good idea to ask some very pointed questions of the provider to see if it is possible to work effectively and get an optimum result from this provider. Ask about the turnover rate of the staff that will be used by the provider to create the project. If this has been high, or there is a lot of transition, this could be a problem for the long term. Ask what the provider feels are strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors. A company with no competition or weaknesses is not very realistic. Overall it is a good idea to have an evaluation phase in place for a manufacturing automation solutions provider. It may allow your company to eliminate a provider that will not give your business an optimum automation result.
Our consulting engineers can answer any questions that you might have about the automation of your manufacturing or they can supply you with a no-obligation quote for automating your manufacturing. If you have questions about automating your manufacturing or you would like to request a quote for the automation, please click the “Request a Quote” button below and fill out the form to submit your question or request.
