What the world needs now is effective, reliable, and, most of all, sustainable manufacturing. It is hard not to acknowledge that climate change is happening all around us. It is the responsibility of governments, businesses, and individuals to all do their share to reduce our carbon footprint. In a small sense, individuals can do many things, but companies must think big picture: their reach and influence are much more extensive than those of the average individual. Automated assembly systems and robotic integration are great examples of supporting sustainable production and manufacturing. How does automation help save the world?
It is essential to recognize that sustainable manufacturing is not a single piece of equipment or software that a business buys and uses. The purchase of a single machine is not sustainable because of the raw materials necessary to build it. Often nonrenewable raw materials go into making equipment and software. This means that manufacturing equipment cannot operate sustainably in isolation because they need electricity and other resources to run. This investment leads to the manufacturing solution of sustainability, in that through your sustainable production of products, you can reduce environmental impact.
What makes automation sustainable?
One of the driving factors of sustainable manufacturing is reducing rejected parts. Compared to handmade materials, automation often has a higher level of repeatability. If you are producing 2000 parts, there will be very few rejected pieces through automation instead of the amount likely made by hand.
Because continuous motion assembly machines make few mistakes, less raw material is wasted during production. Automated systems have an acceptable tolerance that reduces raw materials being cut and machined. You can create the same number of products while drastically making less waste with the help of a continuous motion assembly machine.
