U.S, Sept. 23 -- Customization and flexibility are two of the hottest words in industrial manufacturing right now. Customers want something made just for them, whether it is a personalized aftershave with their name on the bottle, a vehicle with all the features they need and none they don't, or a new phone with the latest radio antenna for 5G connectivity. All this customization leads to one conclusion - manufacturing is moving towards high-mix production and making millions of different products in very small lots.
At the same time, many products made today are far too complicated for established automation technologies alone, forcing manufacturers to augment traditional robotics with manual assembly by human laborers. People are valued...