Manufacturing Automation Companies: Hardware, Software, and What Small Producers Actually Need

Aleksander Nowak · 2026-02-16 · Industry Guides

Explore manufacturing automation options. Learn when hardware automation makes sense vs software solutions that deliver faster ROI for small manufacturers.

Manufacturing Automation Companies: Hardware, Software, and What Small Producers Actually Need

When most people hear "manufacturing automation," they picture robot arms welding car frames or conveyor systems sorting packages. Those images come from companies like Rockwell, ABB, Fanuc, and KUKA — industrial giants building equipment for factories with million-dollar budgets.

But streamlining production isn't just about robots and PLCs. For small and medium manufacturers, the more practical path runs through digital tools: systems that eliminate manual data entry, track inventory automatically, and handle scheduling without human intervention.

This guide covers both sides of the spectrum. You'll learn what hardware companies offer, when physical equipment makes sense, and how digital solutions provide similar benefits at a fraction of the cost.

What Does "Automation" Actually Mean?

In manufacturing, this term describes technology that performs tasks with minimal human intervention. The goal is consistency, speed, and reduced labor costs.

The category falls into two broad types:

Physical equipment: Robots, assembly lines, CNC machines, conveyor systems, sensors, and programmable logic controllers (PLCs).

Digital systems: Tools that handle information tasks — automatic inventory updates, production scheduling, order processing, quality tracking, and reporting.

Large manufacturers typically use both. A car plant has welding robots (physical) controlled by execution systems (digital). The equipment does physical work; the software coordinates everything.

Small manufacturers often skip physical equipment entirely. It costs too much, requires specialized maintenance, and only pays off at high volumes. But digital tools? Those are accessible to everyone.

Types of Companies in This Space

The industry includes several categories of providers:

Industrial Equipment Manufacturers

These companies build physical machinery: robots, PLCs, sensors, motors, and control systems.

Major players include Rockwell, Siemens, ABB, Fanuc, KUKA, Honeywell, and Omron. Their products power automotive plants, semiconductor fabs, and food processing facilities worldwide.

Typical costs: Industrial robots start around $25,000 for basic models. Complete robotic cells run $100,000 to $500,000+. Full production line upgrades can exceed millions.

Best for: High-volume production where consistent output justifies the investment. Typically makes sense when you're producing thousands of identical units daily.

System Integrators

System integrators design and implement complete solutions. They combine equipment from various manufacturers into working systems customized for your facility.

Companies like JR Automation, Convergix, and Factory Automation Systems assess your needs, design solutions, install equipment, and provide ongoing support.

Typical costs: Integration projects range from $50,000 for simple cells to several million for complete lines. Expect to pay for engineering, installation, programming, and training.

Best for: Manufacturers who need custom solutions but lack in-house engineering expertise.

Software Providers

These companies provide the digital layer that coordinates operations. This includes MRP/ERP systems, manufacturing execution systems (MES), inventory management, and production scheduling tools.

Unlike hardware, digital tools require no factory floor changes. You implement them on existing computers and devices. Results come from eliminating manual processes, not adding machines.

Typical costs: Cloud software runs $50 to $500+ per month depending on features and users. Implementation takes days or weeks, not months.

Best for: Any manufacturer looking to reduce manual work, improve accuracy, and gain visibility into operations — regardless of production volume.

Hardware Automation: When It Makes Sense

Hardware automation transforms manufacturing when the conditions are right:

High volume: You're producing thousands of identical items. The cost per unit drops dramatically when expensive equipment runs continuously.

Dangerous tasks: Workers shouldn't be exposed to hazardous materials, extreme temperatures, or repetitive motions that cause injury.

Precision requirements: Tolerances tighter than humans can consistently achieve. Semiconductor manufacturing and medical device assembly often require robotic precision.

24/7 operations: Robots don't need breaks, sick days, or shift changes. Continuous production justifies the investment.

Labor scarcity: When you can't hire enough workers at any wage, automation fills the gap.

The Reality for Small Manufacturers

Most small manufacturers don't meet these criteria. If you're producing hundreds of units per week rather than thousands per day, robotic equipment rarely makes financial sense.

Consider a simple example: A $100,000 robotic palletizing cell saves one worker's salary (roughly $50,000/year including benefits). Payback takes two years — if everything works perfectly. Factor in maintenance, programming changes, and downtime, and payback stretches further.

Meanwhile, that $100,000 could fund years of software subscriptions that automate ordering, scheduling, inventory tracking, and reporting. The ROI on software typically comes in months, not years.

Software Solutions: The Accessible Alternative

Software handles information instead of physical objects. It eliminates manual data entry, performs calculations, triggers actions based on rules, and keeps records without human intervention.

For small manufacturers, digital tools often deliver more value than hardware:

Automatic Inventory Updates

When materials arrive, scan them into the system. Stock levels update immediately. When production consumes materials, the system deducts automatically based on your recipes. No spreadsheet updates, no end-of-day data entry, no discrepancies between records and reality.

Manual process: Write down what arrived, enter into spreadsheet later, manually calculate what production used, update totals, hope nothing got missed.

Automated process: Scan barcode, confirm quantity. Done. System handles everything else.

Production Scheduling

Software calculates what you can make based on available materials, capacity, and orders. It sequences jobs to minimize changeovers, flags conflicts, and adjusts when priorities change.

Manual process: Check inventory, review orders, build schedule in spreadsheet, recalculate when something changes, communicate updates to everyone involved.

Automated process: Enter orders, system generates schedule considering all constraints. Changes propagate automatically.

Order Processing

Customer order comes in. System checks inventory, reserves materials, creates production order if needed, schedules manufacturing, tracks progress, and notifies shipping when ready.

Manual process: Review order, check stock, email production, follow up on status, update customer, coordinate shipping — multiple people touching the same information repeatedly.

Automated process: Order flows through predefined workflow. Each step triggers the next. People only intervene for exceptions.

Reorder Alerts

Stock drops below minimum level. System sends alert or automatically generates purchase order to preferred supplier with standard quantities.

Manual process: Check inventory levels regularly, remember to order before running out, calculate quantities, create purchase orders manually.

Automated process: Set threshold once. System monitors continuously and acts when needed.

Quality Tracking

Record quality data during production. System tracks trends, flags deviations, links batches to materials used, and generates reports for audits.

Manual process: Paper quality sheets, manual data entry into spreadsheets, time-consuming report generation, difficult traceability during recalls.

Automated process: Enter data once at point of inspection. Reports and traceability available instantly.

Comparing the Two Approaches

Here's how hardware and software compare for typical small manufacturing operations:

Neither approach is universally better. They solve different problems. The question is which problems you actually have.

Starting with Software

If you're considering ways to reduce manual work but hardware seems out of reach, start with software. Here's a practical path:

Step 1: Identify Manual Pain Points

Where do people spend time on repetitive information tasks? Common candidates: - Updating inventory spreadsheets - Creating production schedules - Calculating material requirements - Generating reports for management - Tracking order status - Managing supplier communications

These tasks don't require robots — they need better software.

Step 2: Quantify the Opportunity

Estimate time spent on manual processes. If someone spends 10 hours per week updating spreadsheets, that's 500+ hours per year. At $25/hour fully loaded, that's $12,500 annually — likely more than a year of software costs.

Plus, you eliminate errors. Manual data entry typically has 1-3% error rates. Those errors cascade into wrong orders, missed shipments, and inventory discrepancies.

Step 3: Choose Appropriate Software

Match software to your actual needs:

Basic inventory tracking: If you just need to know what's in stock, simple inventory software works. Costs $20-100/month.

Production with recipes: If you manufacture products from components, you need bill of materials (BOM) functionality. Look for MRP capabilities. Costs $50-300/month.

Full operations management: If you want inventory, production, sales, and purchasing integrated, consider lightweight ERP designed for small manufacturers. Costs $100-500/month.

Avoid enterprise systems marketed to large corporations. They cost too much, take too long to implement, and include features you'll never use.

Step 4: Implement Incrementally

Don't try to automate everything at once. Pick one process, get it working, then expand.

Good starting point: Inventory receiving. Every delivery gets scanned in immediately. This single change improves accuracy and builds the habit of using the system.

Next: Automatic material deduction based on production. When you record finishing a batch, materials subtract automatically.

Then: Reorder alerts. Set minimum levels and let the system tell you when to order.

Each step reduces manual work without overwhelming your team.

When to Consider Hardware

Software has limits. It handles information, not physical work. At some point, you might need robots or equipment:

Repetitive physical tasks: If workers perform the same motion thousands of times daily, consider adding equipment for that specific task.

Start small: Collaborative robots (cobots) from Universal Robots and others cost $30,000-50,000 and work alongside humans without safety cages. They're easier to program and redeploy than traditional industrial robots.

Focus on one station: Instead of upgrading entire lines, identify the bottleneck or most labor-intensive station. Add equipment there first.

Rent or lease: Some equipment providers offer hardware-as-a-service models. Test before committing full capital.

Get software right first: Robots and equipment generate data. Without software to capture and use that data, you lose much of the benefit. Implement your production tracking software before adding physical equipment.

How Krafte Handles This

Krafte provides manufacturing software that streamlines operations without requiring hardware investments.

Automatic inventory updates: Materials arriving? Scan them in. Production consuming materials? System deducts based on recipes. No manual calculations or spreadsheet updates.

Recipe-based production: Define your formulas once. When you record production output, the system knows exactly what materials were consumed.

Reorder alerts: Set minimum stock levels. System notifies you when it's time to reorder — before you run out.

Order workflow: Customer orders trigger production orders. Completed production triggers shipping notifications. Each step flows to the next automatically.

Batch traceability: System tracks which material lots went into which production batches. If quality issues arise, you can trace affected products in seconds.

Real-time visibility: Dashboards show current inventory, production status, and order progress. No waiting for end-of-day reports or hunting through spreadsheets.

For small manufacturers, this approach delivers immediate ROI without the complexity, cost, and risk of physical equipment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do manufacturing automation companies do?

Manufacturing automation companies provide technology that reduces manual work in production. This includes hardware manufacturers (robots, PLCs, sensors), system integrators who design and install automation solutions, and software providers offering digital tools for inventory, production, and operations management.

How much does manufacturing automation cost?

Hardware automation typically costs $50,000 to $500,000+ for equipment plus installation. Software automation costs $500 to $5,000 per year for cloud-based systems. The right choice depends on your production volume and specific needs.

Is automation worth it for small manufacturers?

Software automation almost always delivers positive ROI for small manufacturers — it eliminates manual work, reduces errors, and provides better visibility at low cost. Hardware automation requires higher volumes to justify the investment and may not make sense for operations producing hundreds rather than thousands of units daily.

What's the difference between hardware and software automation?

Hardware automation uses physical equipment (robots, conveyors, sensors) to perform physical tasks. Software automation uses digital systems to handle information tasks (inventory tracking, scheduling, order processing). Small manufacturers often benefit more from software automation due to lower costs and faster implementation.

Where should small manufacturers start with automation?

Start with software automation targeting your biggest manual pain points — usually inventory tracking and production recording. Get those processes working reliably before considering hardware investments. This builds the data foundation that makes future hardware automation more effective.

What is a cobot?

A collaborative robot (cobot) is designed to work safely alongside humans without protective cages. Cobots from companies like Universal Robots cost less than traditional industrial robots ($30,000-50,000) and are easier to program and redeploy for different tasks.

Tags: Automation, Manufacturing