TMI is already looking to the future of manufacturing. It is not news to many that jobs are leaving North American manufacturing in droves due much in part to a much lower cost of labor. In order to bring back manufacturing, TMI believes the next level of investment in automation must occur.

However, unlike the move from manual to CNC machines, this move must be flexible and in accordance with the lean manufacturing environment that faces so many shops today.

This is not to say that total lights out manufacturing is right around the corner but rather that the progression to this utopian view will be incremental. This is what TMI refers to as Incremental Automation. In this, technologies are put in place and leveraged in a flexible approach to automation. Such technologies include in-process inspection, gauging, and robotics. TMI has partnered with Fanuc Robotics and has begun offering incremental automation packages for existing, new, and retrofit/rebuilt cells.