Plant operations managers know their floor needs more automation. They know labor costs are rising and skilled operators are getting harder to hire. What they often do not know is which automation candidates pay back fastest, which controls platform fits their existing infrastructure, or how to evaluate an integrator’s bid without a benchmark. PEC’s industrial automation consulting services exist to fill that gap, with feasibility, ROI, controls strategy, and vendor selection grounded in three decades of seeing what actually works on industrial production floors.
What’s the difference between PEC’s consulting practice and a pure-advisory firm? When the recommendation lands, our automation, electrical, controls, and mechanical teams can implement it. The same engineers who scope the project can run it. No handoff to a third party who has never seen your floor.
An industrial automation consultant who is worth the engagement spends time on your floor before recommending anything. PEC’s consultants start with a structured plant assessment that includes observing operator workflows, timing the steps that matter, identifying bottlenecks in cycle time, and documenting where current production falls short of target. The output of that first phase is a baseline document the rest of the consulting work builds on.
Our consultants identify automation candidates and rank them by payback, integration complexity, and operational risk. Robotic palletizing, vision-system inspection, conveyor and material-handling automation, packaging-line retrofits, and PLC-based process control are all common candidates. For each, we model the ROI with realistic capex, opex, labor offset, and throughput-gain assumptions and surface the assumptions for your team to challenge.
Where the consulting differs from many firms is the implementation pathway. Most automation consultants stop at the recommendation deck. PEC’s consultants work alongside the engineers who would actually implement the project, including robotic systems integrators, PLC programmers, electrical engineers, and controls technicians, so the recommendation reflects what is actually buildable on your floor with your equipment and your operator skill base.
The right industrial automation consulting engagement produces benefits that compound over time. The four that matter most for most industrial plants are:
The consulting engagement makes those benefits real by selecting the right automation candidates, sizing the investment correctly, and sequencing the implementation so the wins compound rather than competing for attention.
Automation consulting is necessary when the front-end work is genuinely uncertain.
Signs that you should bring in an automation consulting partner:
When any two or three of these signs are present, an automation consulting engagement is usually the right next step. PEC’s consulting practice is sized for that work, and the engagement scopes to your timeline, not ours.
If your operation looks like one of these patterns, a conversation with our team is the next move.
PEC’s automation consulting division supports a wide range of industrial markets that we’ve supported for decades. These markets include but are not limited to:
Most automation consulting firms hand you a deck and walk away. PEC’s consultants work alongside the engineers who would actually implement the project. The recommendation reflects what is buildable on your floor with your equipment and your operator skill base, not a generic best-practice template.
PEC is a FANUC certified service provider and an authorized integrator for Allen Bradley and Universal Robots. We recommend the platform that fits your operation, not the one we have an agreement with. Our consulting practice succeeds when your automation succeeds, regardless of which vendor’s equipment lands on the floor.
Our financial models for automation projects use explicit assumptions on capex, integration cost, labor offset, throughput gain, and quality improvement, and we surface the assumptions for your team to challenge. The model that survives that challenge is the one your CFO can defend in a capital request.
PEC has been running industrial automation work across the Southeast for thirty plus years, with a 150-plus team that includes Six Sigma trained PMs, engineers, electricians, controls technicians, and integrators all working from the same building. The consulting recommendations we deliver reflect three decades of seeing what actually works on real production floors, not a textbook abstraction of how automation projects should run.
Ready to see how industrial automation can breathe fresh energy into your operations? Our consultants are here to guide you every step of the way. We customize our services to fit your needs, providing the ideal blend of technology, training, and support. By focusing on your specific goals, we maximize the return on your automation investment.
Send us your current production data, your known pain points, and the business outcomes you are trying to drive. We will scope a consulting engagement that matches your timeline and your budget, and a member of our team will set up a time to talk through your project. The roadmap we deliver is built to survive a CFO challenge, and the implementation pathway is open if you want PEC to carry the recommendation through to a running line.
Diverse Industries, One Trusted Partner
Safety means more than compliance; it’s our covenant with you.
Whether you’re coordinating your next project or proactively planning your plant maintenance, there’s no better time than right now to contact us.