The Unparalleled Value of Engineering for Automation-Forward Businesses — and Those Who Want To Get There
From the way the business world describes automation today, you’d think that automated technology was invented overnight. Yet businesses like yours understand that automation has been a critical feature in your industry nearly as long as the concept of mass production. Automation, in its many forms, has always been critical to an effective, efficient workflow.
At the same time, adopting or optimizing the latest automation technologies may pose challenges that are unprecedented for your business, especially in an aggressive tech economy that seems to expand moment to moment. When technology grows at an unstoppable rate, the ripple effects start to become as critical as the equipment itself.
Manufacturers and in-the-field businesses may find they need help with:
- Planning their facility for a greater emphasis on automated processes.
- New product development services to enhance automated equipment.
- Mechanical analysis for automated equipment.
- Preparedness to engage with projects at the core of today’s automation technologies: data centers.
The current conversation around automation isn’t just about adopting tools to increase productivity; ensuring you are automation-ready also means continuing to respond to changing technologies, discovering the most cost-efficient ways to embrace them, and remaining flexible in the face of macroeconomic factors.
A product development engineering team can support your business in tackling all these initiatives, making their services an essential resource for success in today’s and tomorrow’s dynamic, tech-driven world.
Product Development Engineers Help With Facility Planning
Automation is only as effective as your facility’s floor plan and designated workflows. Product development engineers can provide critical support by scanning your current space and using that model to plan equipment placement, clearances, access points, and even paths for expansion as you make room for more growth. The team you choose can deliver layout plans and equipment placement drawings in a comprehensive package so you can get automated processes up and running.
Choose New Product Development Engineering for Automated Equipment
If your facility requires new products, such as attachments for automated machinery in the manufacturing setting, a new equipment line to meet the needs of customers who rely on automation, or a product you can leverage in the field, a product development engineering team can help. Their comprehensive new product development process, from concept development and 3-D modeling to finite element analysis (FEA), validation, and documentation, gives you a superior, compliant, and manufacturing-ready product for business success.
Tap Product Development Engineers for Mechanical Troubleshooting
Your current automated equipment may also need care and attention from expert product development engineers. Product development teams ensure new equipment must function as intended, so these teams often have expertise in analysis, including motion studies and FEA, to determine how equipment functions and to prevent its failure. These teams also may provide reverse engineering to create critical parts to support automated equipment, especially in situations where legacy parts are no longer available or tariffs make ordering from overseas cost-prohibitive.
Product Development Engineers Support Data Center Projects
Your business may not specifically rely on automated equipment, yet you may see automation from a different perspective. Data center construction is now viewed as a recession-proof industry, which largely means that it remains a robust business opportunity, regardless of economic uncertainty.
A product development engineer can help you create or troubleshoot equipment you can leverage to participate in these projects, whether you’re on the construction side, in mining and energy, or any other adjacent business. Depending on the new product development engineering services you choose, you may be able to adapt existing products, design new ones, and even reconfigure your own facilities to scale your output.
The Critical Benefits of Product Development Engineering Services
To prepare for the latest challenges that today’s automation-driven market presents for your business, you need a team that includes an engineering resource. Even when you have in-house engineering support, your team may not have the bandwidth to solve your automation-related difficulties. Internal teams are often stretched thin on other needs.
Many businesses like yours that build or depend on heavy equipment and machinery decide to tap the expertise of outsourced product development engineers. By doing so, you benefit from more than just their capabilities in facility preparation, new product development services, troubleshooting, and helping you engage new-market opportunities; you also get significant value from exponential growth.
Exponential growth means improving, optimizing, and advancing your business while remaining lean to keep overhead low. An outsourced engineering team offers:
- Expertise without bringing on new hires.
- An effective project management process you don’t have to control.
- Flexibility regarding how the team is used on projects.
- Depth of experience with industries and businesses like yours.
An excellent outsourced product development engineering team is ready to serve as an extension of your team to help you get across the finish line on your current automation challenges and those that are yet to come.
Continue exploring how these engineering teams can add value to your business, starting with these helpful articles:
