[Answer] What Are the Prospects for Non-Standard Automation?

[Answer] What Are the Prospects for Non-Standard Automation?

Personally, I feel that the prospects for non-standard automation look different in the short term, medium term, and long term.

Non-standard automation based on personalized customization is likely to remain in a lukewarm state for quite some time. Because small manufacturers—and even some medium-sized and large manufacturers—still exist in large numbers, there is significant demand for automation upgrades. In particular, the continued rise in labor costs has objectively helped drive this demand. As a result, in the more manufacturing-developed southeastern coastal regions, there are also many small and medium-sized companies engaged in non-standard automation.

However, because non-standard automation lacks standardization, it is generally difficult to scale and hard to replicate in volume. For the same reason, production is usually order-based, which creates weaknesses in both project risk control and output stability. In addition, it is difficult to carry out large-scale marketing and sales. All of these are major reasons why it is hard for such businesses to achieve scale. The small number of non-standard automation companies that do manage to grow are mostly those that identify repeatable, standardizable products from a large number of custom-built machines and then expand within a particular niche by producing those products. In this sense, non-standard automation is only a stage in the path toward standardization, not an ultimate form that can exist indefinitely on its own. If a company cannot find the right product and direction, its long-term development prospects are often not very optimistic.

From another angle, we can also look at this from the perspective of management and talent. Non-standard automation organizations generally place relatively high demands on the overall capabilities of their people. Engineers often need to combine software, hardware, and on-site commissioning skills, while also being able to provide solutions for different situations. Travel and work on-site are also quite common. As a result, compensation is usually somewhat higher, though this is based on one’s own skill level and the nature of the work. In terms of controlling talent, processes, and quality, non-standard automation companies also often lack effective methods. Most still rely more on individuals than on standards and processes. The consequence is that individuals have an outsized impact on projects, and if project success or failure depends too heavily on personal ability, it is also very difficult to scale.

Therefore, at the current stage, non-standard automation companies often find themselves in an awkward position: not starving, but never truly well-fed. The pressure on both their survival and their future is enormous. This is a problem that is technically difficult to solve for quite a long time.

That said, the spread of maker culture and the growth of additive manufacturing are bringing some changes to the non-standard automation industry—changes that may not be strongly felt yet, but which look promising. From a long-term perspective, personalized, customized non-standard products may become widespread because of technological revolutions, and people working in non-standard automation should be at the forefront of this trend, with natural advantages when it comes to transformation. The only question is in what form and at what point this future will arrive; at present, that remains rather unclear. And the transitional period in between may well be full of uncertainty.