3 Scenarios for Lights‐Out Automation in Post‐Covid Manufacturing

We are a full year into the COVID‐19 pandemic and its related impact on manufacturing, and we are starting to see a return to normalcy – a new normal – that includes social distancing and safer‐at‐work strategies. As COVID‐19 capacity constraints and social-distancing requirements seem to be fixtures in manufacturing now, there is a new interest in lights‐out automation. Lights‐out automation — where machines run unattended and/or remotely — makes it possible to maintain production with minimal or zero human involvement. Automation increases the visibility of operations at critical points of the manufacturing process. During last year’s shutdowns, manufacturers that enabled lights‐out manufacturing shined as positive examples of business continuity.