They may only be six employees in a small warehouse outside of Danbury, but the technicians at Practical Robotic Services L.L.C. are playing a vital role in the movement to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
While the lure of cheap labor costs in Asia and elsewhere has moved manufacturing facilities offshore for years, many company executives are now finding it cheaper to move back home and use robotics to do the job.
“Manufacturers have been paying $1 per person, per day (in Asia),” said Glenn Sahlin, PRS technology manager. “That”™s what we have to compete with. That”™s not politics. That”™s the way it is and the best way to compete is with automation.”
With better technology available amid raising labor costs in China, there”™s been a sharp increase in the number of manufacturers moving back to the U.S. In fact, more than half of large manufacturers are now planning or considering “reshoring” from China, according to a recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group.
Using technicians and programmers like those at PRS, manufacturers are better able to program robots to assemble products and move them along the supply chain faster. By completing this process in the U.S., survey respondents said they”™re also able to save on transportations costs, produce higher quality products and be closer to their customers. About 200 manufacturers nationwide responded to the August survey. The group estimates between 2.5 million and 5 million manufacturing-related jobs will be created in the United States by 2020.
Though the manufacturing community in Danbury may be a shadow of its former self, Sahlin said the region is still a strong home base for manufacturers. Automation and robotics grew up in the area to support the larger manufacturers, and while some have left, many still exist.
Nearly 10 years old, PRS primarily services companies located in the Northeast by programming mid-level automation services costing between $100,000 and $300,000. They”™re primary customer base includes manufacturers in industries as diverse as medicine, games and autos. To date, they say they”™re directly responsible for bringing at least one major company”™s production back to the country.
“We provide a path for manufacturers to return not only to Fairfield County, but the United States in general,” Sahlin said. “We make them as competitive as possible.”
The work done by PRS does eliminate jobs. However, Sahlin emphasized the work doesn”™t eliminate the need for people. Technicians are still needed to design and maintain the machines, which are skilled labor positions paid a decent salary, he said. It also saves the jobs of companies that might otherwise go under due to increasing pressures to cut costs.
For instance, the company”™s employees helped program a machine to assist with creating cheaper plastic bottle caps for a company in Watertown, which ended up saving the company, Sahlin said.
Previously the company was producing caps at a cost just barely below its selling point, but the new technology helped the company cut labor costs nearly 10-1, Sahlin said. The cost of the equipment paid for itself in one year.
“The most prosperous time in this country was when manufacturing was at the forefront of our economy,” Sahlin said. “Bringing manufacturing back is a way to turn it around again.”
