On February 25, 2023, Kira Noodleman from Bee Partners hosted a live panel at Rapid Robotics HQ as part of our first ever Get Real About Automation event. Kira and three industry thought leaders shared insights on the solutions that manufacturers can implement now to secure future growth. The session featured:
Aaron Prather, Director of Robotic and Autonomous System Programs at ASTM
Ruddick Lawrence, Co-founder & CTO of Rapid Robotics
Greg Powers, VP of Cool Stuff at Gray Solutions
These subject matter experts agreed that if manufacturers don't adopt robotics right now, they risk their future. Watch the session recording and continue reading for highlights.
How can US manufacturing catch up?
America’s labor shortage is partly caused by older workers retiring faster than manufacturers can replace them. But six other global manufacturing countries, including South Korea and China, have the same population issues – and they’re ahead. What’s the solution?
“If there's simply no one out there to hire … what you need to do is … find automation that’s going to supercharge your … workforce” - Aaron Prather
Human-machine collaboration for competitive edge
Automation increases efficiency through human-machine collaboration. Robotics offers data, precision, complexity and speed that helps humans contribute through their ingenuity, innovation and flexibility.
“Every Industrial Revolution that we've experienced - we're now in 4.0-plus – has created, in fact, more jobs with that technology.” - Ruddick Lawrence
RaaS = rapid robotic application
Robotics as a Service (RaaS) is the simplest, fastest way to deploy automation, allowing manufacturers who have fallen behind the automation curve to catch up quickly and add robots at scale. Smart manufacturing leaders are getting started now with an incremental approach, adding robots to high-impact operations and "low-hanging fruits."
“Labor's going to continue to be an issue… So if you don't [automate] now … your competitors are going to beat you.” - Aaron Prather
Start smart. Start now.
“We're going to see robots in every industry and even industries we're not even thinking of right now in five to 10 years.” - Ruddick Lawrence
Schedule a consultation with Rapid Robotics to learn how you can speed robotic deployment.