– A Soulful Paw Catches the Fall
In today’s industrial manufacturing environment, automation often seems to be the apex achievement. But even Selmers must admit that automation has its limits. These however, do not lie in the technical, but rather in the personal. Could technology someday replace a soulful touch entirely? The answer lies in balance.
At Selmers, we recognize automation’s potential—but also its limits. Our Selmers Plant Management System (SPMS) exemplifies how we approach automation: as a flexible tool designed to work with, not replace, people. To understand why this balance matters, let’s take a look at an example where automation meets its boundaries.
The Limits of Automation
Imagine living with MS, ALS, epilepsy, or Parkinson’s. Your world might include automated wheelchairs, voice-activated lighting, self-opening doors, and prefilled washing machines—technological marvels making life easier. Yet these solutions, for all their ingenuity, only go so far. How do you pick up a dropped bank card? Retrieve the mail? A panic button can summon help, but can it predict a seizure or prevent an epileptic attack? Machines follow instructions, but they don’t feel.
Nothing Beats a Heartbeat
At the core of automation also lies the risk of overvaluing it. Consider this: an electric wheelchair, though indispensable, often blocks access to other tasks. It can’t take a raw egg from the fridge, assist with dressing, or provide emotional support. Automation may solve some problems, but being the perfect helper requires more: adaptability, intuition, and soul. To be the ideal ‘helper,’ you need to understand, sense, and mostly, foresee. Because early detection always beats late intervention.
A Helping Paw
This is why Selmers feels a close connection and proudly supports the foundation Stichting De Hond Kan De Was Doen (Foundation The Dog Can Do the Laundry). This foundation helps people who need an assistant dog but are not eligible for insurance coverage. (Regular assistance dogs are primarily for the visually or audibly impaired.) It showcases a truth we hold close: no matter how advanced technology becomes, there are some things only a living soul can provide.
“Find the Remote!”
These remarkable assistance dogs can be trained to perform up to 70 tasks: operating washing machines, pressing panic buttons, retrieving groceries, and fetching a tempting sausage from the fridge. Or they can find the remote (even if it’s in your partner’s hand…). More importantly, they adapt to their owner’s needs, sense when something is wrong and respond intuitively. They bring independence, safety, and irreplaceable connection.
We Can Relate to That…
In the factory, SPMS automates much like these assistant dogs. It automates complex processes like tracking materials, capturing real-time data, and creating an unbroken digital thread of production. It optimizes workflows and enhances traceability but never seeks to replace human expertise. Like an assistant dog, it is designed to adapt to its environment. Tailored to each factory’s unique needs, it complements people’s work, making them more efficient and effective.
The Power of Collaboration
For the same reason, these unique assistant dogs are not trained in isolation like regular assistant dogs, but rather in active participation with their owner at home. Just like we work closely with each customer to tailor SPMS to their unique operations, ensuring it fits seamlessly into existing workflows. Teaching the dogs tasks specific to their own environment, and forming a partnership that extends beyond commands, is far more valuable. A fully functioning automation system that answers specific needs is foremost scalable, flexible, and evolves alongside the business, ensuring harmonious cooperation.
“Just Don’t Stroke It”
So, can automation replace people? The question isn’t whether it can—but whether it should. Technology excels at efficiency, precision, and repetition. People bring intuition, adaptability, and soul. Together, they achieve more than either could alone.
*Just don’t stroke the assistant dog—it might lose focus. Like with any system, focus is everything. So getting the data—uhm, training—right makes all the difference.
Innovate better together!
The way we see it, together is the only way to excel and further close the automation gap between heavy and other industries. If you would like to know more about SPMS, our predictive maintenance strategies, contextual data utilization, or the implementation of lean practices, send an email to sales@selmers.com or call +31 (0)251 211 999, or let us contact you https://www.selmers.com/contact.
Want to join the good cause?
Support the foundation through https://dehondkandewasdoen.nl/about-us/. Watch the video below by clicking on the image:
