Every time a company adds “new and improved” to the label of something I am buying, I have a moment of fear and frustration. I bide my time until I try using this “improved” product, whatever it may be, and then I will assess if the improvement is something I will appreciate, tolerate, or loathe. Although this happens frequently with mass consumer items, we can draw some parallels to other business decision-making too.
Automation that improves production
In this business, we’re not worried about how “New Coke” will taste compared to classic Coke—that’s more of a “marketing” issue than a “production” concern. Although marketing does play a role in your business, the real heartbeat is in production—being able to make what you’re making is where your success (or failure) will start (or end). Importantly, your production needs to be efficient, so that your costs won’t exceed your profits. It is in the production cycle that companies consider how to automate steps—motivated to save time, labor, raw materials, costs, etc. As it should be, every company will determine how they want to invest in automation, based on their cost–benefit analyses and their understanding of their future trajectories.
Unintended consequences after the calculations
With the complicated calculations that (hopefully) are behind important decision-making, there’s probably one that receives a little less attention than it should—what will you “lose” when you make your improvements? For this, I have an admittedly silly example to consider: the modern microwave. These days, you simply hit “3” and get 3 minutes of cook time. No more pushing “3.00”—labor and time saved! But what if your production line has worked out the math for the perfect cup of coffee without leaving the whole pot on all day. What if, like my uncle, you have analyzed exactly how many seconds you need to reheat coffee and you know the exact angle at which to set down the coffee mug so that the handle is perfected rotated back to the ideal extraction position. That answer is 1 minute 13 seconds. Now, how do you program your microwave for 1.13? You can’t. Modern microwaves only advance in 30-second increments. You have to hit “2” or press three 30-second increments and stand there, watching and waiting, so you can hit “stop” at the exact second you want. Undoubtedly, some of your “helpful” automation improvements also have come at the expense of something else. But hopefully, you’ve also been able to devise an effective solution that will make your new situation a genuine improvement.