Displaying items tagged: Industrial Control Service Inc

Manufacturers in West Michigan and across the continent summoned robots to their shop floors at an unprecedented pace last year as non-automotive sectors warmed up in big numbers to automation.

When Shawn O’Farrell couldn’t find a standard turnkey component for an automation system, he shopped around for it on eBay as a last-ditch effort.

The upcoming Advanced Manufacturing Expo will feature more educational opportunities than in past years, one of the more noticeable differences to an event entering its sixth year.

Paramount Tool Co. Inc. in Holland has been in business since 1967, giving its team a front-row seat to the automation industry’s evolution over the last five decades.

 As businesses have been forced to pause operations in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, manufacturers are using the opportunity to explore and research new technologies that could change their future processes. 

In late March, two days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a stay-home order for all state residents, General Motors Co. approached Esys Automation with a challenge. 

The ongoing Industry 4.0 revolution has the potential to transform how companies organize, operate and profit. At the same time, manufacturers are struggling to pinpoint and extract value from this new ability to gather seemingly limitless amounts of data.

The desire to continue to grow and keep production in West Michigan despite a crippling labor shortage remains the principal driver for Byrne Electrical Specialists Inc.’s adoption of automation.

Robotics and additive manufacturing markets have entered into a new phase of growth, ripened by an era in which maintaining the status quo is no longer viable for manufacturers who struggle to secure quality labor. That’s because robotic systems are enabling manufacturers to deliver higher quality parts and maximize throughput, said Mark Ermatinger, vice president of sales at Zeeland-based Industrial Control Service Inc., who does not see the “rise” of robots stopping anytime soon.

West Michigan-based manufacturing executives think 2019 marks a good time to take a pause from the recent breakneck pace of capital investments and acquisitions to focus on operations. That’s the general consensus from local manufacturing leaders across a range of industries who participated in a forward-looking roundtable discussion with MiBiz earlier this month. 

Michigan’s role in improving manufacturing efficiency has come a long way since the invention of the assembly line.

Office furniture manufacturers have been late adopters of automation, particularly inside their West Michigan-based factories.

Manufacturers in West Michigan have turned to automation in recent years to get jobs done quicker and cheaper, and their investments in the technology shows no signs of slowing down.

Join us for the Advanced Manufacturing Expo, Aug. 22 and Aug. 24, 2017.

Manufacturers from high-tech industries will again have the opportunity to put their products on display at this year’s Advanced Manufacturing Expo.

Ask West Michigan manufacturers how they’re addressing the challenges of finding qualified workers, and many of them likely will cite automation equipment as a key part of their solution.

West Michigan’s Advanced Manufacturing Expo is going big for 2016. 

Backed by a string of profitable years, many West Michigan manufacturers are investing in labor-saving technology and providing themselves a hedge against future softening in the market.