What kinds of manufacturing lines do you work on?

Any of them. We work with manufacturers of any size and any industry — food, consumer products, industrial, you name it. If you've got a line, we can look at it.

Do you only do new automation, or do you support existing equipment?

Both. A lot of our work is fixing, maintaining, and getting more out of equipment that's already on your floor — not just selling you something new. If your current setup can be improved without a full overhaul, that's usually where we start.

What is your service area?

Northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Southern Maine.

How fast can you get to us in an emergency?

We handle emergency troubleshooting and repair — mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, and hydraulic — and we respond fast when a line is down. Reach out and we'll get you a real timeframe based on where you're located and what's going on.

How does pricing work — project-based, hourly, retainer?

Initial consults and sales calls are free. Engineering and design work is billed at $175/hr, troubleshooting and repair at $150/hr, and travel at $125/hr. Equipment, materials, and consumables are quoted separately based on the job.

Do you offer preventive maintenance programs?

We can, but it's not the core of what we do — we're primarily an on-call resource for when your in-house team is stuck or stretched thin. Scheduled maintenance is available in special cases if that's a better fit for your operation.

What consumables do you supply, and can you match what we currently use?

Labels, tapes, and shrink films, primarily through Decker Tape Products. That covers everything from basic box-sealing tape to hazard labels, pallet protection, and specialty security tape. We can match your current specs or help you source the right product for a new application. Reordering works either on-call or on a subscription schedule.

Can you work around our production schedule so we don't lose runtime?

Yes — that's part of what we plan for during the design phase. We work with you to figure out timing, floor space, and personnel needs before anything gets installed, and phase in bigger changes so you're not stuck shutting the whole line down at once.

What does a typical project look like from first call to running line?

It starts with a site visit — we walk the floor, look at your current process, production speeds, and where you're headed. From there we usually flag quick wins before getting into bigger design work. Once we agree on goals, we move into sourcing equipment, coordinating with vendors, and building anything custom that's needed. Then it's delivery, installation, commissioning, and training your team on the new setup.

Do you build custom machines, or only install off-the-shelf equipment?

Both. We'll always look for the simplest off-the-shelf solution first. But when nothing off-the-shelf solves the problem, we design and build custom equipment to fit.

How long does a custom build take?

It depends. Off-the-shelf integrations tend to move fast. Custom builds involve some R&D, and that part is genuinely variable — some go smoothly, others take a few iterations to get the process right. We'll be upfront with you about where a project stands and won't promise a fixed timeline we can't back up.

What if our product needs to stay "handmade" or keep a certain identity?

We build that into the design requirements from the start. If part of what makes your product special has to stay done by hand, we figure out exactly what that means — what has to stay manual and what can be automated — before we design anything.

Do you help with factory layout, not just individual machines?

Yes — we design the flow of product through your facility, from raw goods coming in to finished product ready to ship. That includes organizing maintenance tool rooms and repair part storage, not just the production line itself.

We're short-staffed and can't find enough help — can automation actually solve that?

Often, yes. A lot of our projects start exactly there — a client can't find enough people to run a manual process, and automating it frees up the staff they do have for higher-value work.

What if we just want to get more out of the equipment we already have?

That's a common starting point. Sometimes it's a simple flow fix — for example, moving product straight from where it's made into packaging instead of dropping it into a bin that then has to be re-sorted. Small changes like that can meaningfully increase throughput without buying new equipment.

Do you require a deposit or commitment before starting design work?

Yes — once we've done the initial site visit and identified quick wins and design goals, we need a financial commitment to move into detailed design, sourcing, and custom build work.

What size manufacturer do you typically work with?

Our sweet spot is 10 to 250 line employees, but we work with smaller shops that are growth-minded and larger operations too — even if they've got some in-house capability already.

Who typically reaches out to you — do we need to already know exactly what we need?

Not at all. We hear from CEOs, plant managers, operations managers, maintenance managers, and sometimes safety or HR staff dealing with an ergonomic or hazard issue. You don't need a fully scoped project — a lot of engagements start with 'something's not working right' or 'we think there's a better way to do this.'

Will bringing in automation mean cutting jobs?

Not necessarily — a lot of our projects are about freeing up staff for higher-value work, not replacing them, especially for manufacturers who are already struggling to find enough labor. Worth talking through your specific situation so we can be straight with you about what a project would actually mean for your team.

How do we know this will actually pay off?

Fair question, and not one we'll dodge. We can walk through the numbers with you — current costs, expected efficiency gains, and a realistic timeline — before you commit to anything. The initial consult is free specifically so you can get real answers before spending anything.

How to Know When a Manual Process Is Ready for Automation

Name: AutoIC LLC
Telephone: 603-748-6216
Price range: $$

Ken DeAlmeida

7/14/20264 min read

If you're running a manufacturing floor, you've probably had this thought at least once: "There's got to be a better way to do this." Maybe it's a station where someone's hand-packing product all shift. Maybe it's a bottleneck where product piles up waiting for the next step. Maybe it's just a nagging sense that you're paying good people to do work a machine could handle better.

The hard part isn't spotting that feeling — it's knowing whether it's actually time to act on it. Automate too early, on the wrong process, and you've spent money solving a problem that wasn't really costing you much. Wait too long, and you're bleeding labor costs, quality issues, or throughput you can't get back. Here's how to tell the difference.

The process is repetitive, predictable, and physically demanding

Automation is best suited for tasks that are the same every time — pick, place, seal, label, palletize. If the task doesn't change much from unit to unit, it's a strong automation candidate. Add in physical strain — repetitive lifting, awkward reaching, standing in one spot doing the same motion for eight hours — and you've got a double reason to look at it. Beyond the labor cost, these are exactly the tasks most likely to cause ergonomic injuries, which is its own cost nobody puts on a spreadsheet until it happens.

If a process changes constantly — different products, different specs, different judgment calls — it's usually a worse candidate, at least for full automation. Those processes often benefit more from better tooling or layout than from a machine replacing the person entirely.

You can't find (or keep) enough people to do it

This is one of the most common triggers we see. It's not always about cutting cost — a lot of manufacturers we work with aren't trying to reduce headcount, they're trying to find enough headcount in the first place. If a station is hard to staff, has high turnover, or requires training that never quite sticks, that's a sign the process is fighting your labor market instead of working with it. Automating that station doesn't just solve today's staffing gap — it removes a recurring hiring problem entirely.

The manual step is creating a bottleneck

Look at your line holistically, not station by station. Sometimes the issue isn't that a manual process is bad — it's that it's slower than everything around it, so product backs up waiting on it. A classic example: product comes off the manufacturing line and gets dropped into a bin, where it then has to be manually sorted before it can move into packaging. That extra handling step — the drop, the wait, the re-sort — often costs more in time and labor than people realize, because it's been "how we've always done it" long enough that nobody questions it anymore. Moving product straight from the point of manufacture into packaging, without the detour through a bin, can meaningfully increase throughput without buying a single new machine — sometimes it's a layout and flow fix, not an equipment fix.

If you map your process and find one manual step slowing down several automated or faster steps around it, that's usually your highest-leverage place to start.

The math actually pencils out

Automation isn't free, and it shouldn't be treated as a default. Before committing to a project, it's worth doing rough math on what the manual process actually costs you — labor hours, error/rework rate, missed throughput, injury risk — versus what automating it would cost to install and maintain. Sometimes the math says wait. A low-volume, low-frequency task might not justify the investment yet, even if it's mildly annoying. Sometimes the math says act now, especially if the manual process is actively limiting how much you can produce or sell.

This is also where "keep it simple" matters. The goal isn't the most impressive automation solution — it's the simplest one that actually meets your requirements. Sometimes that's a single off-the-shelf machine solving one bottleneck. Sometimes it's a custom-built solution because nothing off-the-shelf fits. Either way, the right answer is whatever gets the job done without adding complexity you don't need.

Your product has requirements that need protecting

If part of what makes your product valuable is that it's handmade, artisanal, or otherwise touched by human hands in a specific way, automation isn't off the table — but it does require more care in the planning. The right approach is to get specific about what actually has to stay manual to protect that identity, and what can be automated without anyone noticing a difference. Often it's less than people assume — the "handmade" part of a product might be a specific finishing step, while everything before and after it (moving, packaging, labeling) can be automated without touching what makes the product special.

You're planning for growth, not just fixing today's problem

Sometimes the trigger isn't a current pain point — it's a future one. If you're planning to grow production, add a product line, or expand into new markets, it's worth asking whether your current manual processes will scale with you. A process that's merely inconvenient at today's volume can become a hard ceiling on growth at tomorrow's volume. Automating ahead of that wall is usually cheaper than automating in a scramble after you've hit it.

What to do next

If one or more of these signs sound familiar, the next step isn't necessarily a big commitment — it's a conversation. A site visit and initial consult can identify which processes are the best candidates, flag any quick wins that don't require a major project, and give you a realistic sense of cost and timeline before you commit to anything.

Have questions about your specific process? Check out our FAQ page for quick answers, or get in touch to set up a free initial consult.

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ken@autoicllc.com

603-748-6216