When we posed that somewhat naïve question to the CEO of an extreme high precision machine shop in 2014, we got the response we deserved. “Look up on the landing.” There we saw a hulking industrial robot our client had acquired years before to satisfy his auto industry customer that had a factory full of such behemoths. The unwieldy, difficult to program, creature had no role in the high mix low volume shop and had long been consigned to serve as the firm’s robot museum.
