Current progress and boundaries
Automation works well for stable, high-volume tasks, and flexible manufacturing and robot teaching continue to advance, but adapting systems on site remains costly.
Why it remains difficult
Workpiece tolerances, fixture conditions, safety zones, and upstream and downstream cycle times can all change. Proposed model actions must meet deterministic constraints and be reviewable by on-site staff.
Paths worth exploring
Establish staged validation between a digital twin and the real workstation. Begin with risk-free simulation and retain versions, approvals, and rollback plans for every process change.
How to evaluate success
Compare time to introduce a new product, changeover costs, quality deviations, safety incidents, and manual interventions, and verify repeatability across shifts.