Overview
This course provides a practical framework for evaluating, desiging, and sustaining robotic and automation systems in foundry operations, with an emphasis on real-world decision-making, common failure modes, and foundry-specific trade-offs. Participants will leave with actionable tools, including an automation readiness scorecard, an automation feasibility checklist, and a sample automation roadmap. The course is designed for engineering, operations, maintenance, and leadership personnel responsible for capital investment decisions or for executing automation projects.
Learning outcomes
Class participants will learn to:
- Identify foundry processes that are technically and economically suitable for auto-mation
- Recognize common failure modes in foundry robotic cells and how to prevent them
- Describe factors involved in robot selection, cell architecture, and controls strategy
- Apply foundry-specific criteria to assess automation vendors and system integrators
- Explain ways to sequence automation projects over time based on plant capabilities and organizational readiness