Automation in manufacturing—the sweet promise of faster production, fewer errors, and inevitably... utter chaos in the beginning. Adjusting your production schedule when automation changes roll out is like upgrading a car’s engine while driving 100 mph. The first rule of automation changes: Nothing will go as planned. Whatever your timeline is—double it. Whatever the training time is—triple it. Automation isn’t magic; it’s an elaborate system of things that can break down in new and exciting ways you never imagined.

To adapt your production automation changes: Analyze Automation Impact: Identify processes that will be faster or slower and adjust task durations accordingly. Phased Implementation: Roll out automation incrementally, ensuring minimal disruption by integrating one area a time. Reallocate Workforce: Shift workers to high-priority tasks or system monitoring to balance manpower and automation. Update Timelines: Revise schedules in real-time based on automation performance. Pre-train Workforce: Train employees before automation goes live to prevent delays Monitor & Adjust: Continuously track productivity and fine-tune schedules Flexible phased approach helps maintain efficiency and minimize disruptions during automation changes.

Adapting your production schedule to automation changes requires a strategic, flexible approach. The framework we use at Balkan Tech: 1. Start by analyzing your current workflow to identify areas where automation replaces manual tasks. 2. Collaborate with your team to integrate automation smoothly, ensuring it enhances efficiency without disrupting timelines. 3. Begin with a pilot phase to identify bottlenecks and adjust processes as needed. 4. Reassign your workforce to value-added tasks, such as quality control, while automation handles repetitive ones. 5. Continuously monitor performance and be ready to scale automation as improvements arise, maintaining flexibility throughout the transition.

To effectively adapt the production schedule to automation changes, we implement the 'ACE' framework: A : Assess existing processes, identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for automation. C : Configure new workflows, integrating automated systems and optimizing production sequences. E : Evaluate and refine the revised schedule through continuous monitoring, employee feedback, and data analysis. Additionally, we prioritize change management, ensuring employees are trained on new technologies and processes, and communication plans are in place to stakeholders. This structured approach enables seamless automation integration, minimizing disruptions and maximizing efficiency gains.

First and foremost engage the workforce. It's their feedback, their comments, and their concerns that are the preeminent source of data and value. Once you have tapped this source of truth only then should you begin to review and assess the workflows, in context, with relevance. Gaps bottlenecks and problems will quickly rise to the surface. At that point the real question is can you resolve an issue by making a simple process change or by automating? More often than not we forget that workflow we're assessing is a legacy. It's a process that evolved over time. Does it still have value? Does it add overhead? Understand the why of the process, how it works and in context of the worker before automating.