Here’s How Automation is Leading the Way to a More Skilled Workforce
Why is it that anytime a workplace mentions automation, the workforce immediately goes into a state of frenzy; could it be because workers immediately jump to the conclusion that they’re getting replaced? Contrary to popular belief, automation is meant to help us with the heavy loads at work; it’s not meant to take over every single department and task. Think about it this way, would you rather have your workforce spend entire shifts canning, packaging, sealing, and doing the same repetitive tasks day in and day out, or would you rather place them in roles that have more opportunity for growth and productivity? Automation is not the scary monster everyone has made it out to be, so let’s take a better look at what’s happening behind the scenes.
What’s Leading Companies to Turn To Automation?
While automation might be new to a few, it’s been around for a lot longer than you would think; it just became more prominent when the pandemic struck. According to Gad Levanon, the vice president of Labor Markets at the Conference Board and founder of the organization’s Labor Market Institute said,
- “Many companies had to limit human interactions in order to comply with public health regulations during the pandemic. Using automation to take services online or roll out self-service options was the only way for some companies to keep doing business legally. However, as business reopened, automation
When it comes to manufacturing companies keeping up with production or other industries keeping up with demand for services, having a large enough workforce to handle that demand is crucial, so you can imagine the stress that comes with labor shortages. It’s safe to say that every industry has its own set of challenges to overcome, so regardless of the labor shortage or not, “the show must go on” that’s where automation comes in. According to Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), maintaining productivity and product quality.
Remember, the goal isn’t to replace the workforce; it’s to implement automation when manual labor and effort fall short. UiPath, an enterprise automation software company, recently conducted a survey and found that two-thirds of executives said their companies were affected by labor shortages and nearly invest in automation . Rather than having to halt production, overwork the labor force that is present, or spend time searching for ideal candidates, automated processes can be up and running in less time.
How is Automation Helping to Increase Production?
We’ve mentioned briefly that automation is being implemented to take over repetitive roles in order to allocate your workforce to more useful areas, but what does that actually mean? According to Tom Kelly, CEO of Automation Alley, “Automation reduces time spent on repetitive tasks and frees up their time, or work that involves creativity and strategy. This won’t replace workers, but will increase flexibility for workers.” In other words, rather than having your workforce sealing, labeling, sorting, canning, and packaging products for entire shifts, you can now produce those same results in a fraction of the cost and time.
Companies like Sunbasket began automating their chat processes by integrating Einstein chatbots, which helped take a load off their live customer service team back when the pandemic hit. Customers have been so pleased with chatbot case resolution that the new process has managed to earn a score within the 90% range. Other companies like Amazon, Walmart, and DHL have resorted to using robots to transport heavy pallets directly to workers so that they can begin to package and ship the merchandise; while some companies continue to use manual methods, others are streamlining their processes. According to Robert Brunner, the associate dean for innovation and chief distribution officer at the Gies College of Business in Illinois said, new jobs created.
Is Automation Really Leading to Unemployment?
There’s a study that the World Economic Forum conducted that analyzes both sides of the job market; more jobs being created than loss. “Employers expect that by 2025, increasingly redundant roles will decline from 15.4% of the workforce to 9% and that emerging professions will grow from 7.8% to 13.5%.” While the job growth rate is slightly lower than the job loss rate, it’s important to acknowledge that automation is definitely creating more jobs. “It’s estimated that by 2025, 85 million jobs may have been displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms.”
With automation creating so many new jobs requiring more developed skill sets, workers may begin to worry about being laid off due to inadequate skill sets; however, companies know that training will be required to prepare their workforce better. “On average, companies estimate that around 40% of workers will require reskilling for six months or less, and 94% of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job.”
World Economic Forum mentions that employers aren’t the only ones making an effort to improve skill sets; there has been a four-fold increase in the numbers of individuals seeking out opportunities for learning online through their own initiative, a fivefold increase in employer provision of online learning opportunities to their workers and a nine-fold enrolment increase for accessing online learning through government programs.
What Industries are Seeing a Greater Demand for Automation?
adapting to more automated processes, which is why not everyone goes into a state of panic when they hear the word automation. According to US News, 50% of retail and trade jobs will be automated; 57% of the transportation jobs will be automated; about 6 in 10 jobs in the agriculture industry will be automated; 60% of manufacturing jobs in the US will be automated; 70% of accommodation and food jobs will be replaced by automation.
In the retail and trade industry, we’re already witnessing more self-checkout machines, and certain areas are even resorting to unmanned stores. With the rise of self-driving cars, companies like Google, Uber, and Tesla are starting to conduct research in the public and private sectors. In the agriculture industry, it has been proven that planting, monitoring, maintenance, and even harvesting can be automated, thanks to recent inventions. We’ve mentioned before that the manufacturing industry has already begun the automation process by replacing repetitive tasks, but within the next coming years, there’ll continue to be the push toward easing the bulk load of the work. Lastly, if you’ve gone to a hotel recently, you might have noticed that you can check in and receive a room key through your phone; if you’ve gone to a fast food restaurant lately, you might have noticed the ordering kiosks that are replacing cashiers.
Whether or not we’re ready for automation, it’s here to stay, so it’d be best to use it as a resource instead of working against it. Remember, more jobs are being created than those that are being replaced, and automation is opening up the way to a more skilled workforce.
How is Sneed Leading the Way to Automation?
We wouldn’t be able to keep coding simple if we weren’t keeping up to date with the latest innovations in the coding and marking industry. There’s no need to spend hours peeling and sticking stickers, using stencils and spray paint, or even hand stamps to try and apply information onto your products; the reality of those practices is that most of that information won’t be legible, uniform, or reliable. Thanks to thermal-inkjet technology, you can now add it in a fraction of the time rather than having to spend hours adding information to your products manually. With our SNEED-JET® thermal-inkjet coders, you’re able to add date codes, lot codes, batch codes, QR codes, barcodes, logos, and personalized messages in a matter of seconds. So, instead of having to dedicate a portion of your workforce to the repetitive task of manually adding information to your product, you can now train them in more useful areas.
Why stop at keeping coding simple when we can simplify the entire manufacturing process? With the launch of our SNEED-PACK packaging equipment line, packaging just got a whole lot simpler; gone are the days when you had to hire a workforce to open, fill, and seal your packages. While manually forming boxes might have only produced 3-5 cartons per minute, implementing a SNEED-PACK case erector could double or quadruple your productivity; the same principle applies to our SNEED-PACK case sealers, rather than just sealing a handful of boxes, you can now have between 20 to 50 perfectly-sealed boxes. Automating the packaging process means you no longer need a workforce to complete those repetitive tasks; while the tasks seem tedious and harmless, they cause carpal tunnel. All in all, automation could save you time, money, material, labor, and more in the long run.
