Increasing automation on a line is a good alternative to 1st Shift capacity increases. Each additional point of automation reduces 1st and 2nd Shift labor costs by approximately 10%.

However, increases in automation can be expensive.

Further, when automation for a product increases, R&D projects for that product take longer to complete. This is because highly automated lines have many more processes to re-engineer. Increases in capacity and changes in automation require one year to implement: Buy it this year, use it next year.