Product category:
Exhibitions on processing and instrumentation
News Release from: Kamtech | Subject: Drives and Controls 2004
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 August 2004
Automation UK - shows promise but could
do better!
A nationwide survey reveals that UK manufacturing industry has a high level of satisfaction with automation suppliers - see them all at Drives and Controls 2004
A nationwide survey reveals that UK manufacturing industry has a high level of satisfaction with automation suppliers Carried out by Benchmark Research in June 2004, the survey was commissioned by the organisers of the forthcoming Drives and Controls exhibition
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 22 Jun 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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94 per cent of respondents were generally happy with the levels of service provided by their automation suppliers, and 84 per cent felt that they had achieved the expected levels of cost and timesaving from automating their processes.
The survey shows a healthy level of investment by UK manufacturers; with more than half of the companies questioned claiming 50 to 75 per cent levels of automated production in their plants.
Everything in the Automation UK garden isn't rosy however, with a hard core of 24 per cent of companies indicating zero use of automation or heavy reliance on manual labour.
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And that's a figure which UK industry needs to address, according to Drives and Controls exhibition organiser, Ken Purchase: "Worryingly, the survey shows that 44 per cent of companies which have not invested in automated manufacturing can see no necessity to do so.
Only 8 per cent quoted 'cost' as a factor in their decision," said Purchase, "so the industry obviously has an educational job to do".
Increased production speeds and reduced costs were the overwhelming reasons for 60 per cent of companies to automate their processes, whilst 19 per cent of respondents saw it as a way of improving their quality control procedures.
Keeping their competitive edge was the motivating factor for a further 13 per cent.
The survey also carries good news for the Government, in its efforts to change the gas-guzzling ways of industry.
52 per cent of companies questioned quoted 'energy-saving' as an important factor in their choice of automation equipment.
Predictably perhaps, the 'usual suspects' - quality, price, service and delivery - were front of mind with respondents asked about the most important aspects of the service offered by their automation suppliers.
What should certainly ring alarm bells for suppliers is the low priority that industry attaches to 'flexibility' and 'upgradeability' in its rating of their service provision.
In the survey, Benchmark Research conducted telephone interviews with engineers, managers and directors responsible for plant, production and process engineering in 277 process- orientated manufacturing plants throughout the UK.
Drives and Controls has moved back to Telford for the 2004 Exhibition, which was the birthplace of great British engineering.
A significant upturn in the drives, motors, transmissions and automation markets is predicted and the event is ideally timed to maximise the impact of a potentially improving economy.
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