> You want the machines producing as much as they can to balance out their costs
And you may have a single operator who's responsible for keeping multiple machines going. Loading raw material, attending to alarms, etc.
To add to what you said, there's a concept known as "lights-out manufacturing" wherein the machines are continuously reloaded by robots/automation with raw materials (and if needed there's other automation to offload completed parts) so they can continue making parts even after everyone's gone home for the day.
And you may have a single operator who's responsible for keeping multiple machines going. Loading raw material, attending to alarms, etc.
To add to what you said, there's a concept known as "lights-out manufacturing" wherein the machines are continuously reloaded by robots/automation with raw materials (and if needed there's other automation to offload completed parts) so they can continue making parts even after everyone's gone home for the day.
An idle machine isn't making money.