The Current State and Prospects of the Non-Standard Automation Industry

The Current State and Prospects of the Non-Standard Automation Industry

Non-standard automation, which is based on personalized customization, has for quite a long time remained in a lukewarm state. Because small manufacturers—and even some medium-sized and large manufacturers—continue to exist, there is substantial demand for automation upgrades. In particular, as labor costs keep rising, this has objectively stimulated demand as well. As a result, in the manufacturing-intensive southeastern coastal regions, there are also many small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in non-standard automation.

However, because non-standard automation lacks standardization, it is generally difficult to scale and hard to replicate in batches. For the same reason, its production model is mostly order-based, which brings shortcomings in both project risk 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 the industry to achieve scale. As for the small number of non-standard automation companies that have managed to scale up, most of them have done so by identifying products within a large number of non-standard machines that can be replicated and standardized, and then expanding within a specific niche. In this sense, non-standard automation is only a stage and a process on the way toward standardization; it cannot exist as the ultimate form. If a company cannot find the right product and direction, then from a business development perspective, its prospects are often not optimistic.

Looking at it from another angle—management and talent—the organizations involved in non-standard automation generally place high demands on the overall capabilities of their personnel. Engineers are often expected to combine software, hardware, and on-site commissioning skills, while also being able to provide solutions for different situations. Working on-site and traveling is also quite common. Accordingly, incomes tend to be somewhat higher, though this is based on one’s own ability and the nature of the job. In terms of managing 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, then it is also very difficult to achieve scale.

Therefore, at the current stage, non-standard automation companies often find themselves in the awkward position of neither starving nor thriving. The pressure on their survival and future is enormous. This is a problem that is technically difficult to solve over quite a long period of time.

The spread of maker activities and the additive manufacturing industry have brought some changes to the non-standard automation sector—changes that may not be strongly felt at present, but that hold great promise. In the long run, personalized non-standard products may become widespread because of technological revolutions, and practitioners in the non-standard automation industry should be at the forefront of this trend, with natural advantages when it comes to transformation. It is just that the form this future will take, and when exactly it will arrive, remains rather unclear. And as an intermediate transitional stage, the period in between may well be full of uncertainty.