Speaker 0 00:00:00 We're in a, you know, unprecedented times where, you know, organizations specifically in the automation industry, uh, are being challenged to accelerate, uh, demands to meet, uh, manufacturing needs. And, uh, you know, overall will being in the robotics and industrial automation industry. You know, we feel that this is a necessary part of the future of how manufacturing will be handled in the U S and we'd like to kind of take this time today to really talk about relaying it to similar stories, uh, you know, such as Amazon and their, their large growth trajectory and their ability to scale quickly and how that'll apply to system integration companies and automation in general.
Speaker 1 00:00:48 Hello, everyone I'd like to welcome to the robot industry podcast today. This is the podcast dedicated to advanced manufacturing capital equipment and the robotics and automation industry we'll be covering trends and topics important, advanced manufacturing in the industry, and we'll be interviewing guests in our series of podcasts. My name is Jim Beretta, and I'm your host. I'm also president of customer attraction, industrial marketing based out of Cambridge Ontario. Our guest today is Craig Selvaggio. He is the chief operating officer of AMT applied manufacturing technologies in orange charter township. In this role, he not only leads overall operation, but he also oversees sales, engineering and talent management using his 19 years of automation experience with AMT his technical ed robotic skills and his leadership to drive growth and delivery of both the systems and services market segments. Greg's also actively involved in the robotics industry association as a board director, a committee member, and the co chair of the certified integrator committee. Welcome to the podcast, Craig, I'm happy to have you,
Speaker 0 00:01:55 Hey, thanks for having me, Jim. It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 00:01:59 Podcast is all about the automation industry, the speed to market and how speed
Speaker 0 00:02:04 Delivery is changing everything in our industry. I'd like to kind of give you a little bit of background from Craig. Go ahead. Great again. Thanks Jim. You know, in, in one sentence, uh, Jim, you know, AMT as a company, we place robots and automation in factories to help companies become more productive and more competitive. And we do this through a unique offering as a turnkey solutions provider, uh, with the industry would typically call a systems integrator and additionally, uh, for really extensive engineering services to the entire manufacturing and integration market. The company started in 1989 as an engineering services organization. It really kind of servicing the growth of robotics in know, majority of the automotive companies, our great founder and CEO, Mike Jacobs started the company after his initial role at GML FANUC, where he really pioneered the early days of robotics simulation and really had a vision for the future of needing more engineers and solution providers to support the growth of the industry.
Speaker 0 00:03:06 Overall, you know, the automotive growth and strong tie, you know, originally to general motors served us really well with the initial growth of the company and developing the skills and the standards for the industry, but then it really kind of led to other expansion opportunities for complete design and really build up solutions, which is really what the market was asking for. You know, as we diversified our business, you know, we started building turnkey solutions. It was a necessary part of where we were going with the company and really to allow us to stay on top of the latest technologies, you know, leveraging the entire team and automation that really kind of supported, uh, previously external industry, but then allowed us to provide career path for our engineers and really, you know, a chance to design and build turnkey solutions in our own building. And so through a series of strategic acquisitions, uh, leadership hires, and really some early strategic objectives to enter new market segments is really kind of how we got to where we are today, which is a full service systems, integration organization, really with a diverse industry of, uh, customers and markets that we, uh, the support.
Speaker 2 00:04:19 Well, thanks for that background. Correct. Um, I wanted to kind of introduce this idea about the Amazon and the Amazon effect on the automation industry overall. And so first let's talk about the pandemic and what industries are busy. So go ahead.
Speaker 0 00:04:35 Yeah, it's a, it's really interesting, you know, what, uh, what markets, uh, were impacted this so negatively some positively and, uh, you know, it's, uh, and you look at it, you know, what turned on quickly and how that impacted the supply chain. It was, it was very interesting, you know, uh, early in the, in the spring, you know, you look at recreation equipment, you know, uh, companies selling boats and recreational vehicles or home leisure items, such as hot tubs. You know, some of those things, you know, the supply chain wasn't set up and when things turned back on, uh, they were sold out in days and sections of the industry really wasn't ready for, you know, this, this shift in the market, um, you know, from an inventory standpoint and supply chain models, that really couldn't react fast enough. I mean, think about it's a six month lead time to, to purchase a professional mountain bike.
Speaker 0 00:05:27 And, um, you know, that was something that those companies were not ready for. You know, some of the consumer spending habits have really changed as well. And, you know, some will tell you that it's likely here to stay, uh, to meet these new expectations now, likely not all of them, some of them will likely be situational, but, you know, I think we've all seen the, uh, supply chain for eCommerce and store shipments where, you know, you buy online, you pick up in stores, you know, this market has, has exploded. Um, and now you're seeing, you know, much different aspect of what a micro fulfillment center to the point that the store kind of point of sale and what that means. And if you just take the grocery industry and you look now that, you know, there's so many pickers in the stores, you know, fulfilling those online Vida to store pickup, uh, needs, uh, when you start to get over 6% of the store filled with, uh, pickers versus actual, you know, direct consumers, um, you start to turn those stores into a mini, essentially a factory.
Speaker 0 00:06:32 And, uh, you know, this was really touched on early, uh, actually the theme at Modocs in Atlanta. Uh, second week in March, you know, just prior to the pandemic, there was a lot of aspects tied around, you know, how the eCommerce fulfillment centers are gonna change and you know, what that means for, you know, speed. And if you, you know, you kind of look at what, what we're talking about, the Amazon effect is just how the market in general and how automation is going to Excel and enable some of these, uh, new services. You know, the, the conditions are now set, you know, two day shipping with accelerated curbside pickup or now something that's expected. And if you take a look at automation, um, you know, some of the things built in factories early on and built in fulfillment centers, what are not at the store is, you know, ordered term time accuracy.
Speaker 0 00:07:22 And, uh, you know, this is transpiring to the store centers now. So if you look at fulfillment and distribution centers, what they learn years ago, you know, now this is being applied to different aspects and really kind of the looking at automation and really automation can only help accelerate, uh, the decisions that, uh, you know, were previously made in a traditional labor intensive world. So, you know, especially, you know, where goods to people are required. So when you look at automation and anyone working in a warehouse fulfillment e-commerce center, um, you're seeing a lot of requests for, you know, time to market. And, uh, you saw this specifically with the pandemic supply chain. So when you look at consumer goods, you know, we saw early on, you know, how things changed, where, you know, there was a desperate need for additional welding, uh, or sorry, a hospital beds in the welding market and automation was required.
Speaker 0 00:08:17 Uh, we saw early requests for, you know, gallon and mass production. And how can you take a, a traditional piece of automation and, and shifted over. And then we saw that to drastically in the medical and test equipment. So, you know, you're seeing manufacturers that have a heavy manual labor operation with operators in close proximity. They're now investigating, you know, what is my automation strategy? What does my five and 10 year automation strategy? And then globally, you know, from an executive standpoint, you know, people are reevaluating their, their building footprint, they're reevaluating all their, their virtual and in office guidelines. And, uh, you know, a lot of this is here to stay. There's not really going back to the, the normal is not likely an option.
Speaker 2 00:09:02 So consumers have really raised the bar on, on expectations. And that consumer is almost everywhere, right? It's at the retail level, at the wholesale level and at the factory level
Speaker 0 00:09:11 Plea. And, uh, you know, you look at, you know, the consumer that has expectations, um, you know, at the retail level, those are all transitioning to the factory level. And, uh, you know, that relates to easier to use. Uh, <inaudible>, you know, you don't need to be, uh, an engineer to operate the system. And as a system integrator, you have to take a lot of those design considerations on modularity and ease of use into these new markets, uh, that aren't traditional heavy users of either robotics or traditional automation.
Speaker 2 00:09:43 Yeah. And speaking of HMI, um, you know, we're seeing a lot more, a lot of different people in our factories and warehouses and such, and they're not all speaking English, right. We're speaking Spanish or speaking French, we're speaking other languages. So the HMI is, have to be,
Speaker 0 00:09:57 Be really, really easy to use, which I think is very interesting,
Speaker 2 00:10:00 Exciting, uh, for an a and a big challenge for systems.
Speaker 0 00:10:05 Yeah. You know, the use of visual indicators, the use of data telling the story, um, you know, all of that has to be included, and it's not your traditional, you know, a cycle hold a cycle start, and the fault messages you really got to kind of look at, you know, how can they interface with the machine and understand exactly how the equipment is behaving?
Speaker 2 00:10:26 So we, so when we were talking about speed to market, what, what are you seeing and hearing about your customers asking about speed to market?
Speaker 0 00:10:33 Yeah, that's kind of where we got the theme for this podcast, which is really the Amazon effect. And we talk about that because it's a great company that portrays, you know, the time to market demands that are changing, um, and really kind of when you look at an organization that can scale that quickly, that is that complex. You know, it's an amazing story. And I also referenced this because, you know, I like to highlight something called the, uh, the flywheel effect. And, uh, many people could relate to the legendary author, Jim Collins in his book. Good to great in which he highlights, you know, a series of companies over five years where they did some research, you know, comparing good companies and then others that really made the leap to greatness versus those that did not. And, you know, the research shows that, you know, there's only a marginal percentage of companies that can become great by circumstances alone and why it's largely a matter of conscious choice about people, a strategy along with hard work and discipline.
Speaker 0 00:11:37 And they're all several concepts highlighted throughout the research, but the most reliable in relatable is what you call the flywheel. And this is what you're talking about. When you have a huge heavy metal disc, you know, picture this huge heavy axle, weighing many tons in, you know, that flight your organization. And, uh, you know, when a new business is formed or activity comes to a stop, which it did for, for many companies and, you know, you start to, you know, how do you get that flywheel rotating again, um, you look at momentum, you know, mass versus philosophy, and to, you know, you start to generate accelerated economic results over a sustained period. You know, how does that work in, you know, when you're first pushing on that flywheel, you get that economic engine, you know, it takes a massive effort, you know, a massive cohesive team, that's all working, you know, on the same project, the same thematic goal.
Speaker 0 00:12:33 And then you get that second rotation, the third rotation. Now momentum turns into your favor. And that's what we're calling the effect here is that once the business understands, you know, where it's going and everybody's on the same page and, you know, you know, how do you apply that to automation? You know, you can really accelerate things. And, uh, you know, the same thing is happening in automation right now, where especially, you know, you talk about industries such as warehousing logistics of medical testing, and, you know, really, you know, uh, heavy manufacturing companies that are hit by labor challenges, um, trying to accelerate these initiatives, uh, to meet the market demand and integrators, uh, you know, we're all being faced with what we call, you know, you know, pre-ordering components because of lead time changes. In some cases we've seen examples where, you know, you're released in the arm or the panel for built in, in engineering is not fully complete.
Speaker 0 00:13:30 Uh, you know, what would normally be stocked items, you know, whether it's guarding or just, you know, standard components for electrical panel, you know, they're seeing, uh, you know, somewhat, uh, extended delays. And, uh, you know, you know, the, really the theme here is that the industry yeah. You know, uh, sections, you know, completely shut down and others accelerated, and the ones that accelerated hard out of this, um, you know, were impacted. And what we want to do is, is kind of look at, you know, from an installation standpoint, you know, travel restrictions, um, you know, how does this impact ROI on your equipment? We saw that there was a good example. There was one week maybe, uh, really kinda early June, where we were getting calls, uh, almost daily, um, from companies that, you know, their strategy. So that manufacturing had a strategy and they were leveraging overseas integration organizations and product companies.
Speaker 0 00:14:27 And, you know, a lot of those companies that were either here installing equipment, uh, here during an install period, you know, had to leave the country. And now they're, they're not being allowed to return whether it's travel restrictions or, you know, the different, uh, different government agencies placing, uh, travel bands in different areas. And, uh, Sue the manufacturer you're really is left with the machine that is half installed, a half programmed and not producing the ROI on the, either of the parts of the manufacturing operation it was intended to, uh, to serve. And so there was one week, it was almost a comical to see how many calls were coming in, um, you know, for that level of support. And, uh, you know, our unique business model allowed us to react and be nimble and provide just the amount of offering that was required, uh, to be able to step in and take some of those over and help out.
Speaker 0 00:15:24 And it was, it was, we were proud that we can, we can do that, but, uh, you know, overall, you know, systems integrators, you know, there's a great opportunity, I think, to revisit processes within your own organization, you know, really understand, you know, how could we learn from this? You know, if we can accelerate, you know, growing markets without skipping steps and not think of everything in the traditional, you know, 28 to 32 week lead time, think of it from a different perspective and without kind of, you know, looking at, uh, you know, skipping steps in the process, look at it from a different design perspective.
Speaker 2 00:15:59 That's very interesting Craig, and I can see where, you know, this will change some things, and perhaps we can talk a little bit about what some of the changes you see for your organization in the future and for others. But I'd like to talk a little bit about collaborative robots and kind of the time to integration. Have you seen this as being something that is really supporting the Amazon effect?
Speaker 0 00:16:20 Yeah, no, that's a good topic. And, um, you know, when we talk about, uh, actually put, put it in perspective, you know, there's a lot more people now that, um, that are being exposed to different types of robotic automation. If you look, you know, there's a lot of articles on robotics and the wall street journal and others, and, you know, somewhat, uh, you know, the technology is new to, uh, a different aspect of the market. But when you talk about collaborative robotics, you know, what we're really talking about is collaborative system design and application. And, you know, one of the common themes that we see related to collaborative robots is can I go back to the, the trade show effect, which is, um, you know, leadership, uh, investigate some new technology, or they went to a show, they come back and now there's an organizational mandate to put in, you know, hundreds and hundreds of, of, of robots and what that looks like.
Speaker 0 00:17:11 And, you know, what we're seeing coming out of the pandemic as well with many organizations is they're really looking to augment, uh, where they have labor related challenges. And these have increased, you know, with a level of, you know, human robot interaction. And typically, you know, these start with large volume requests. We see this quite often where, you know, the request is a very accelerated delivery, a very accelerated, uh, go to market strategy. And, you know, what we say is you got to kind of look through and look for proper applications that produce proper ROI, because it can have a really negative or positive longterm effect on your manufacturing organizations, depending on how you really, you know, you know, introduce the topic from a culture standpoint within your company. And, um, you know, we're seeing this, um, you know, the, the market is now loaded with options, uh, you know, promising, uh, you know, uh, safe and cheaper and flexible smaller footprint. Uh, but really from a collaborative standpoint, you kind of got, gotta look at it from a different perspective. So, you know, before you make the investment, you gotta start asking yourself a couple of questions, um, you know, really kind of early on. So, you know, kind of the way we guide people through this is, you know, is your application better suited
Speaker 3 00:18:35 For a traditional industrial robot, or do you really need
Speaker 0 00:18:39 Or enforced limiting capabilities? And if you do it from a traditional standpoint, we say, okay, is it a high volume, you know, high-speed production, uh, what are the payloads, the reaches and the speeds, and then also kind of the accuracy, the application, um, then you look at, you know, if you want to head down more of a power and force limiting realm, you know, you're starting to look for different things. You're starting to look for, you know, throughput, um, similar to a human worker. You're starting to look at the ease of use and the ability to program and set up the robot now potentially with within house experience, uh, maybe leveraging some partners and then the ability to redeploy, uh, to a different process or task. And, you know, in some cases you're seeing it is the do it yourself model. Uh, but in most cases you still need a traditional integrator to really evaluate the application and to ensure that it's going to be successful and you've looked at all aspects of it.
Speaker 0 00:19:37 And then there's the safety requirements. Um, you know, it's not the arm itself, right? We everybody's understands that it's the, the application that we're talking about. And when you look at, you know, safeguarding requirements, uh, you know, this need to be determined by the, the risk assessment. Uh, if you're new to automation, you know, this is where you may want some help and some guidance. Uh, there are plenty of, you know, how to guides and templates, uh, you know, through the RIA, the robotics industry association that can guide you down the right path. But at the end of the day, you need a comprehensive risk assessment, uh, to assess not only the robot itself, but the environment in which is placed in, and you have to be addressing things like, uh, the hazards, you know, the gripper in actuation in the, the entire piece of machinery, uh, within the cell.
Speaker 0 00:20:26 And, um, you know, there's a, you know, there's a lot of good references out there. And then the third piece, which I already touched on was, okay, so, you know, I'm going to introduce some of this new technology of harmless surface level. It appears, you know, simpler and easier to use, and maybe I can do it myself. Um, versus using a system integrator. We tell people to kind of, you know, look deeper in your organization, you know, from a cultural standpoint and from a bandwidth standpoint, and just put your internal readiness checklist together. And it's very simple. We look at, you know, measures what measures are currently in place within your manufacturing organization, from a people standpoint, promote process, variability standpoint, and then data, you know, do you have current and future state, uh, information on, on your automation or intentions for automation? You know, how is it currently measured and how will you measure it in the future?
Speaker 0 00:21:22 Because you're going to build this into your technology plan and then communication, you know, how are you going to communicate the enablement of these new technologies within your automated, within your factory to your workforce? You know, how will be rolled out, you know, will you introduce the technology as, as technology that enables, you know, more productivity in the, how you do that is very, uh, impactful to, you know, the culture of your organization. The third really is getting people trained up and training your staff to accept and own the equipment is probably the simplest, but most overlooked thing that companies do. Uh, when you look at, you know, your entire staff from operators to maintenance, to safety, to engineering, you know, if you educate people on the impact of the technology, the ability of what it can do to help a company be more successful, more productive, you know, you're going to get the buy in early on, and people won't be as reluctant to accept, uh, you know, what it's going to do for the organization.
Speaker 0 00:22:30 And then, you know, it's gotta be easy to use. It's gotta work, it's gotta meet the throughput rates, and it can't be too complicated, kind of like we touched on earlier, uh, you know, the GUI and the interface has to be, you know, more relatable to what you're seeing, uh, you know, in consumer goods. And it, it can't be, you know, this complex piece of machinery that needs, uh, you know, to have a coding done every time. So, and we're seeing that with some of these interfaces and then safety, you know, from an operator standpoint, ensuring that they understand the risks associated with, with doing their job and then ensuring that this breaks all the way down to results. Uh, so, you know, you look at this, it's critical to get this acceptance in turn, turn over the system, to, to, to the plant and have it be accepted and ensure that, uh, you know, the mix, uh, as you ramp up the mix of human and labor interaction, uh, can be successful.
Speaker 2 00:23:27 Thanks, Craig, we're talking a lot with a lot of people in the automation industry, in manufacturing about communication and in training. And I think in your approach, that's a, those are two really, really important things. So one of the challenges and I think opportunities, especially for North American based automation is
Speaker 4 00:23:46 We have reassuring and reassuring initiatives that are probably going to change forever. What are some of your thoughts on that?
Speaker 0 00:23:52 Yeah, that's, that's a good topic. And, you know, we've seen, uh, from large companies to small really start to evaluate these, uh, these initiatives and, uh, you know, the supply chain, uh, impacted during the pandemic was, was probably one of the hardest, you know, in impacted areas, you know, from the components, uh, who, the suppliers to the travel restrictions, you know, and, uh, top executives, you know, executive orders, you know, starting to kind of ripple through different States and in the, in the world in general, you know, delays, you know, created all kinds of links that were broken links. And, uh, you know, there's an opportunity for some companies to kind of rethink relationships with, with partners and set maybe a longer term strategy to where, you know, everything is made in the USA or, you know, uh, the, but others, you know, really couldn't do that.
Speaker 0 00:24:43 You know, they have infrastructure in place in different countries. Uh, you know, you really can't jot and the cost justify, uh, relocating plants and those kinds of things. So, you know, a lot of companies really did a pretty deep evaluation here. Um, I can, I can provide at least a dozen examples of, of US-based, you know, manufacturing companies that partnered with the overseas integrators, uh, or overseas, I would say technology partners and, uh, you know, have many, uh, startup issues that are still unresolved. You know, you leave leaving the, uh, the end user with equipment that can't produce the components, uh, or the products that was intended to do, you know, some of it's equipment based, uh, others is, is travel restriction related, but the opportunity here. So here's what we're talking about. The opportunity is for the end user to revisit partners, and not only that, the partners that they have, but how they evaluate the partners.
Speaker 0 00:25:40 So for an entree perspective versus geographically, you know, you look at, you know, how nimble the blend of labor and materials, and specifically looking at, you know, some areas, uh, like fast moving consumer goods in pharma, you know, understanding where the stuff comes from from a raw material standpoint, it was critical than, than ever. But, uh, you know, really what we kinda outlined here is, you know, you revisit, you know, what's a vendor, what's a partner, and we have the ability now to be very intentional with who we want to do business with. Um, you know, the RA has a, a program called the certified integrator program that helps break this down. And, uh, you know, we have introduced a new greater partner selection process that I'll, uh, actually I'll be going through, uh, here, uh, actually there's upcoming, uh, robotics. We can September eight and we'll be talking about, you know, how to look at the selection process for choosing an integrator and it breaks it down.
Speaker 0 00:26:40 So you're looking at more value than, than price alone, but at a high level, I'll kind of go through, you know, some of the criteria that companies should be thinking about, you know, regardless of certification, you know, this is from the, uh, kind of a different perspective is we always talked about rightsizing your business with the end user. So, you know, some companies taking on two large projects, some companies too small and not paying enough attention to them. So we say, look at the size of the project, the type of the application in your internal experience. And then we say, you know, evaluate the processes that the company has, the business processes look at your program management, you know, how you do risk assessments, how you do buy off, you know, do you have a, you know, a scorecard that you could share with the end user, as far as, you know, the organizational processes that you have, you know, update yourself with the new safety standards, uh, implementing risk assessments and ensure that projects are kicked off with a, you know, fully accepted, uh, customer expectations at the beginning and all the way through to kind of set those expectations.
Speaker 0 00:27:49 We also talked about, you know, not skipping steps, you know, the Amazon effect really impacts, you know, automation companies, uh, and, and really kinda, this is a good reminder that as you're accelerating, you know, skipping steps will always lead to issues down the road and, you know, follow those up organizational processes that you have in place. And then ensuring, you know, you're always doing those, those different gate points for, you know, factory acceptance site acceptance and to your meeting, uh, you know, the agreed upon scope of the project and a timeline. And then, you know, so some of these are just kind of basic things, and we have a, you know, a very detailed, you know, scorecard that the RA uses, but at the end of the day, we, you know, we want to start going through a different process than price alone, uh, for your partnerships and start to reevaluate, you know, what that would look like to have an overseas partner along with a US-based partner. Um, if we were to ever run into these kinds of challenges in the future,
Speaker 2 00:28:52 Thanks for that, Craig. I wanted to move to our, our, our talent discussion because talent is, is critically important to the Amazon effect. And we also want to maybe chat a little bit about millennials who are more than 50% of the workforce. What's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 0 00:29:07 Yeah, so yeah, Jim, you and I both know the traditional skillsets of the automation industry and, you know, from your early days to ATS and applications and, um, you know, mine from, uh, working with different companies and being a systems integrator and, you know, the traditional, you know, machine designer, uh, checker, you know, simulation engineer, you know, controls designer for hardware, a PLC programmer robot programmer. Our, uh, our next generation of automation professionals, you know, have grown up with a professional, a studio level graphics and video processing power and a technology that's, uh, doesn't need a work instruction. You know, historically we've spent, you know, months developing manuals for how this automation would work and, uh, you know, the next generation of professionals, uh, you know, doesn't want to doesn't want a manual. It needs to be that intuitive to figure it out. So the industry has now changed into a very software driven world where, you know, a minimum of two to three of those categories are now the new normal, where you're expecting an engineer to be able to kind of lay out a job, process it, and to, you know, even write the software, do the design, you know, with one individual, you know, we, along with several other integrators, uh, now say that we hire controls engineer and then teach them how to process the job and program, uh, robotics.
Speaker 0 00:30:36 And, uh, you need to be savvy on multiple platforms. You need to understand, you know, safety processors and, uh, you know, they're not even an option on most systems nowadays. And, uh, you know, every PLC programmer should also understand, you know, where the data is going and really understand the, you know, the, the server side of things. Um, when you look at, uh, you know, OPC protocols to, uh, you know, doing, uh, doing something from an analytics perspective, you know, with the data, there's also really kind of a new working environment that, uh, you know, w I never really had been exposed to, uh, you know, really kind of, um, you know, with industry certifications, uh, levels of capability and, uh, you know, the stuff wasn't available, it's available through the colleges it's available through the high schools, it's available through different programs, such as first robotics.
Speaker 0 00:31:29 And, uh, you know, we're introducing a technology and manufacturing, you know, much earlier stage in most people's lives. So, so for us, you know, we're looking for, and what we've always kind of looked for is not necessarily though the hard skills, but it's more about aptitude and the ability to learn. And so, you know, if you have a mechanical aptitude and you understand how a machine works, you know, we can teach you PLC programming, and when we're interviewing, and we're looking for people, we're looking for that learning ability, uh, that learning agility as well for them to be able to kind of understand multiple things, you know, where they're aspiring to be, um, you know, how engaged they are in, in the passion for what they're doing. And then just that emotional IQ because of being the independent nature of our work and the professionalism that's required. And so beyond the hard skills of understanding how to write software or programming PLC, or program a robot, we're really looking for a different set of characteristics, people that want to learn, and we think we can teach them, um, you know, just about anything. So it's a very exciting
Speaker 2 00:32:40 Time, and I'm sure you've got lots of people doing lots of different things in lots of different places. Uh, so it is very exciting for the industry right now, um, and changes that will, uh, probably last for the next decade. Oh, I wanted to end our discussion a little bit with kind of the end of the automation, which is palletizing and the speed of Amazon.
Speaker 0 00:33:00 Yeah. That's a, that's a great topic. Um, you know, when you look at applications in which industries are ramping up and kind of look at these consumer buying and spending habits that have changed, you know, this concept of Omni channel distribution model with which we touched on earlier, which is, you know, buy online pickup in store, you know, two hours, the speed and expectations of consumers, it's, it's here to stay. And, uh, you know, automation is really going to be a big part of this market. And, uh, you know, in some cases it's a, it's not the traditional automation user that you would find in the traditional factory. You know, pelletizing is in general is a great application for robotics. Uh, it's got its unique challenges when you look at different tooling design and the product and the throughput's required. And there's, there's many integrators that focus specifically on this space and application, but, uh, you know, overall, you know, we are seeing an uptick in end of line warehousing automation solutions, uh, outside of the standard distribution centers.
Speaker 0 00:34:01 And, uh, you know, for us internally here, it's become more of a, a very focused market segment for our business. But, uh, you know, more companies are really looking to automate the back half of their factories and seeking out kind of use cases that convert those manual tasks that drive, uh, the workforce turnover. And we saw this with, you know, you know, many companies have, you know, struggling to put labor back to work, um, you know, through this pandemic and you saw how, you know, uh, fragile systems could be, um, without this. So now you got a lot of nontraditional applications being investigated for our ally and to, you know, we're seeing, uh, the opportunity here to educate our buyers on a different aspect of the, of the business. And, uh, you know, so we were continually, you know, working with, with new organizations, but, uh, you know, you look at the technology turnover and in the people turnover, and the technology is moving fast and, you know, labor continues to be a challenge in many factories. So we're telling people to, you know, pick the right technology and we'll open up the door for really, uh, you know, accelerating your business and understanding how to be cost competitive, successful, and to, you know, open up new career paths within your organization.
Speaker 2 00:35:22 Craig, thanks very much for taking the time out of your day to chat with our audience today. Um, how can people get in touch with you?
Speaker 0 00:35:29 Yeah, it can be
[email protected] or you can, uh, check out our website
Speaker 5 00:35:38 At www dot <inaudible> dot com. You can get ahold of anybody on our team.
Speaker 1 00:35:45 That's great. Um, I would like to thank and acknowledge our partner. The <inaudible> the association for advancing automation <inaudible> is the umbrella organization of the RIA, the AIA, the MCMA N <inaudible> three Mexico. And these four associations combined represent almost 1300 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, systems integrators, and users, research groups, and consulting firms throughout the world that are driving automation forward. I'd also like to thank and recognize our partner painted robot painted robot builds and integrates digital solutions. They're a web development firm that offers SEO and digital social marketing and can set up and connect CRM and other ERP tools to unify marketing sales and operations as web and digital is changing. Painted robot is helping advanced manufacturers stay modern and competitive in the space. You can find
[email protected]. If you'd like to get in touch with us at the robot industry podcast, our email address is the robot industry
[email protected]. Or you can find me on LinkedIn. And if you have an idea or an interesting company or technology, I'd like to be a guest or nominate someone to be a guest, please get in touch with me. Today's podcast was produced by customer attraction, industrial marketing, and I'd like to thank my nephew, Chris gray for the music, Chris Colvin for audio production, my partner, Janet, and our sponsors 83 and painted robot.
