Opening speech 4th November: Productivity Beyond Machine Tending

The word ‘automation’ is often understood as machine tending, that is, replacing a person with a robot. But manufacturing involves so much more than just the machine tools and the operators. How to manage the material and information flows in production automatically and achieve dynamically scheduled manufacturing, without having to compromise in unit costs, flexibility, capital tied in WIP or lead times?

Productivity beyond machine tending means total manufacturing process optimization: how to make machines, people and data systems operate in an aligned way for optimal flow of timely, quality orders and resource efficiency. It’s in strong contrast with no-automation and mere machine tending.

As the event’s opening words, our CEO Mikko Nyman demonstrates how dynamically scheduled manufacturing makes a difference and how can one take steps towards achieving it – ranging from single machine tool shops to more complex manufacturing process owners.