Farley company shows off robots

For East Iowa Machine Company, a new robot is a thing to look forward to.

'We tend to try to automate everything,” said Rick Hoffman, CEO of EIMCo, a Farley-based company that makes customized components and assemblies for other manufacturers.

On Wednesday, the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Board, a group that meets monthly to discuss challenges in the workforce, sent 25 people to learn about EIMCo's transition to automation.

'(Automation) doesn't replace people. We still need good people,” Kristie McCarthy, EIMCo's human relations director, told the group, adding that machines help make the workers more efficient.

EIMCo workers gave the visitors insight into what each of the machines did and how they were more efficient. That includes reducing scrap by combining projects onto the same sheet of metal, saving time by tracking down tools required to complete a job and ensuring consistency by standardizing the way things are welded,

'Typically on robotics, what we're looking for is a 50 percent increase in productivity,” said Jamie Coyle, EIMCo's office manager.

Some machines work without supervision. Some work continually and call a supervisor only if a problem arises in the middle of the night, Coyle said.

'Sometimes it can get hard to keep a full staff on a third shift,” Coyle said, adding this is where automation can come in handy. It helps keep workers because entry-level employees do not have to do monotonous jobs.

Some machines are specialized to the point that only a couple of operators know how to use them, Coyle said. Others require only a couple of days of training.

'You can get as basic or as complicated as you ever want to be,” Coyle said.

Some of the automation serves purposes beyond efficiency.

For example, LED lighting, in addition to eventually paying for itself, puts workers in a better state of mind because everything is better lit, company employees said. They emphasized that robots took over mundane jobs, freeing up the employees to work on tasks they feel are more meaningful.

In one instance, by using a camera to track a worker during a 10-hour shift, the company discovered he was walking four miles each night because of the way things were laid out on the floor. This revelation led to a more efficient reorganization of supplies, Coyle said.

'It's made my job a lot easier,” John Waul, a machinist at EIMCo, said about automation. Waul said he started working at EIMCo when there was only one automated machine, and robots have made his work less strenuous.

'(Automation is) really taking the guys we have now and allowing them to do more,” McCarthy said. 'Our people are excited to see new robots come in.”

Employees do not have reason to fear their jobs being taken over by machines; the company never has had layoffs. Even in 2008, EIMCo was able to keep all of its employees on at 40 hours a week, McCarthy said.

McCarthy also said workplace injuries have been going down steadily for a number of years. While that could be for a variety of reasons, McCarthy said she would attribute at least some of that to automation.