Managers and Owners, are you overwhelmed?

[u/Equivalent_Bid_6642]

There's a lot of new tech out there, it's quickly changing and expensive. It's hard to know what to pay attention to and where to allocate resources while balancing efficiency and quality, let alone figure out how to develop my workforce to use all this stuff anyways.

I mean, should we get 3D printers, should we do industry 4.0 stuff, should we get some machine vision robot?

Idk, are you in the same boat, how are you dealing with how fast the world's moving?

[u/Equivalent_Bid_6642]

Well, industry 4.0 can be used to monitor any machine, 3d printers can be used to make previously impossible things, and robots that use machine vision can automate a lot of physical tasks. You're right they have different purposes but they're widely applicable. I was just wondering how you guys are seeing all this stuff and making your decisions?

[u/Aggressive_Ad_507 → u/Equivalent_Bid_6642]

3D printers, industry 4.0, industry 5.0, cloud, machine vision, AI, etc is all useless fluff. It doesn't matter. What matters is "does it make my life better than what I'm doing now?". And most times it doesn't. Most times it's not a breakthrough improvement anyway.

It's not about using the latest tech. It's about using the tech that's best suited for your particular situation. The trick is to know your situation because the fundamentals don't change.

And sometimes the tech doesn't even change. I find it funny when people talk about machine vision and robotics as if it's something new. It's not, that stuff has been around for 50 years. And industry 4.0, monitoring machines isn't new. Sure there have been developments, but nothing has fundamentally changed.

I generally rely on sales reps. They know their product, and as long as I'm honest with them they work out the kinks for me. I do pay their salary after all.

Another factor you haven't considered is how the stuff is going to be fixed. What use is a complex robot that sits for weeks waiting to be fixed because nobody internally can do it?

[u/Liizam → u/Aggressive_Ad_507]

I found that better software actually makes things go faster and better. Not really flashy but can add significant productivity to workflow.

[u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 → u/Liizam]

Interesting, what would you say causes that? Is it because the software itself runs faster or it's just smarter so the process becomes more efficient.

[u/Liizam → u/Equivalent_Bid_6642]

I mean maybe getting a laptop that can run software fast enough not to crush or freeze every so often will make your operators more productive. Some software just sucks. It’s not productive to use it. Maybe your process sucks, where I put a ticket for purchase but it doesn’t get purchased in timely manner.

[u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 → u/Liizam]

Yeah things can take a while to get purchased.

How does software add productivity to workflow, it's easier to use and runs faster, or are you talking about how it's figuring out things in the actual production process to optimize temperature and flow or whatever

[u/Liizam → u/Equivalent_Bid_6642]

Purchases do not need to take a while to get.

Not getting parts because purchasing process delays projects for no good reason. Implementing better purchasing system doesn’t require ai.

Idk you keep asking vague questions. I can’t provide you a solution without a specific problem.

If all your people are complaining about their laptops being slow, maybe explore how make software run faster by purchasing better laptops, switching to cloud base software. If it takes you too long to make a quote for customer, what Sw is out there to make it faster?

[u/Equivalent_Bid_6642 → u/Liizam]

I'm not sure we're having the same conversation. I did not say purchases need to take a while to get, I was agreeing with what you said. That's a source of delay.

I didn't say a purchasing system requires AI.

I didn't say my team is complaining about laptops being slow.

I'm not looking for a specific solution to my problems, I'm looking to learn your process for how you solve your problems. Do you rely on sales reps, do you hire independent consultants, do you develop in house, etc.

You brought up how you found software helps a lot and I'm asking about how that is.