With laborers in scant supply because of the workforce shortage, NH manufacturers are increasingly turning to automation and robotics to meet their production needs.
Hypertherm, a Hanover-based manufacturer of industrial cutting systems, uses automation to pick and place high volumes of small parts, freeing workers for more complicated tasks. In Salem, a waist-high, red-and-white robot named Tally traverses the aisles of BJ’s Wholesale Club, blinking and bleeping and counting inventory.
This automation is part of the nation’s fourth industrial revolution, experts say, but unlike the steam, electricity and computing revolutions of earlier days, this one is fast-moving and demanding…