As companies look to improve manufacturing processes, they often turn to automation. On an automation business case, the trifecta bet is safety, quality and productivity. When those horses come in that order, capital expenditure (Capex) is approved. However, most business cases fail to quantify the safety and quality aspects, if they include them at all. Worse still, they typically undervalue the productivity benefits as well. Complicating matters further, production leaders who clearly see the benefits of a Capex investment into automation struggle to persuasively quantify the benefits to the financial approvers, who only speak in dollars. For these reasons, many Capex requests to support manufacturing automation ultimately go unfulfilled.

To bridge the communication gap between production leaders and financial approvers that can hinder automation Capex requests, the business cases must fully quantify the return on investment (ROI) and financial implications of automation through the safety, quality and productivity improvements.

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