How can you do something faster or easier, or make a whole lot more of something with little or no extra effort? Henry Ford’s revolutionary Model T production line may be a cliché, but it is an ideal example. There is another side to this too, one that doesn’t extrapolate from existing concepts: How can I do something totally new, something never before thought of, that is cool, fun and makes my life better? This side isn’t about mass producing the Model T, but about inventing the automobile in the first place.

Together, these typologies of innovation are the lifeblood of any technology industry, and the automation arena is no different. However, that lifeblood is gradually being drained away, squeezed out by economy-driven layoffs and slashed research and development (R&D) budgets.

“The automation world is ailing,” says industry guru Jim Pinto. Pinto is the founder of Action Instruments (now part of Invensys), a technology futurist, angel investor, speaker, industrial automation commentator, consultant and regular contributor to Automation World . “They’ve laid people off, and so on. It’s very difficult to innovate in that kind of environment.”

This is a real crisis because the manufacturing sector has been critical to America’s economic growth. “Manufacturing is a primary wealth-producing sector and is historically responsible for this country’s relatively high standard of living compared to other countries,” Pinto wrote in August 2009.

Going backwards

Pinto isn’t alone in his pessimism. “We’ve gone backwards,” says Charlie Gifford. “That’s my honest opinion.”

Like Pinto, Gifford is an industry expert who now makes his living providing manufacturers with advice and consulting services through his 21st Century Manufacturing Solutions LLC., Hailey, Idaho. Gifford specializes in combining Lean Manufacturing practices with manufacturing operations management (MOM) systems. He’s co-authored four books on the topic, contributed to key related industry standards including the International Society of Automation’s ISA88 and ISA95, and participated in the Supply Chain Council and MESA International (for Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association), who gave him their Outstanding Contributor Award in 2007.

“We have hit a wall,” says Gifford. “Several things are happening in parallel. We’re seeing the outsourcing of the manufacturing base in North America. Meanwhile, Europe is growing its manufacturing base. We’ve also lost corporate sponsorship for moving industry standards forward. The average age of the guys working on these standards is 60. At 47, I’m the young guy. And people aren’t allowed to travel or dedicate work time to the standards. So we’ve stopped moving forward on the standards (which are important to laying a framework for automation innovation). With all the layoffs and revenue dropping off…”

Gifford posits that one of the major stumbling blocks to true automation innovation comes from the automation vendors, whose business strategies are not only hampering innovation, but sowing the seeds of their own demise.

“Most manufacturing plants you walk into have automated the equipment, but they don’t really understand how to create a flow plant as per Lean principles. Only 15 percent of the plants have even adopted manufacturing execution systems (MES). Some more have alarming and trending, but don’t tie it into workflows so can’t relate it to the resources that are there.

“So why are 85 percent of plants not doing MOM or MES? It’s still too expensive!”

According to Gifford, a plant that makes $50 million in revenue may be willing to put $5 million back into the plant, and that has to be shared by all the different departments that need it, not just the manufacturing process. In Gifford’s experience, that money will go to upgrading equipment, hiring and training the workforce and maybe efforts to develop all-encompassing “silver bullet” solutions to difficult problems. “But it’s not a silver bullet that’s required anymore. It’s a transformation.”

There are 250 manufacturing plants in the United States that produce less than $500,000 in revenues, he adds. None of them can afford the $500,000 to $1 million a basic MES system will cost them.

“These guys are all selling to the top 15 percent, and the solutions are stuck in the innovative cycle. You can’t make the next leap in productivity because the vendors don’t want to lower the price to go after the remaining 85 percent. This phenomenon is what’s stalling the next wave of development and competitiveness. My belief is that it won’t happen for 10 to 25 years, because of the way the market works. And if it does come, it’ll be in an open source format that undercuts the existing vendors.”

The good ...