Thanks for the comment.

Regardless of where the factory is located, the level of automation deployed should be commensurate with maximum value added. Seems a no-brainer, but many people get this wrong.

Manual processes, WHEN APPROPRIATELY CONTROLLED with low-tech means (think fixtures and poke-yoke, can often add more value than high-tech robotics, which tend to incur high change-over costs and require luxuriantly large production runs.

People add value to a process when flexibility is valued. Think about the process of driving a car. It is theoretically possible to automate driving using advanced robotics, but it’s not worth it. Even in places where human drivers command a high salary, they are consistently the most cost-effective way to go, because humans are really great at learning a range of tasks and skills (turning, braking, shifting, honking, flashing lights, etc.) and deploying them as needed, and in varying measure, in response to changing operating environment (speed limits, traffic conditions, weather conditions, darkness, drunk guy driving the wrong way,etc.).

As on the road, so it is on the production line that the deployment of low-tech can assist a human operator to do his or her job more effectively (in terms of cost, quality, safety, etc.) than deployment of high-tech automation alone could. Think about rear view mirrors. Think about proximity sensors, rear view cameras, GPS, speed inhibitors, etc. All of these help the driver, none will ever replace him.

Applying this to production, if the value proposition includes the ability to cost-effectively produce low-volumes and high product mix (a model which tends to reduce the costs of over production and associating inventory) then less automation using low-tech process controls is likely more desirable.

Great post and blog. I wonder how you feel about a hightech lean running factory in the US vs. a less automated factory in China. I have seen a lot of factories in China that depend on manual operations. For western factories (or anywhere else for that matter) who have automated their processes with robotics etc.. Where do they fit in your argument?

Jim