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HUBER HEIGHTS, OH—Systems integrator Process Equipment Co. has gone from a building with a partially collapsed roof to a new facility that’s a “paradise of precision.” Now the company is looking to hire.

PALO ALTO, CA—Robots will play an increasing role in electronics assembly in the coming years, says Douglas Alexander of Component Engineering Consultants.

Automation is wonderfully economical—except when it’s not. Time and again, I’ve seen smart engineers make dumb automation decisions, some of them ruinous.

PHOENIX—A new generation of smart machines and manufacturing processes may not leave much room for people on the assembly line.

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI—Systems integrator Fori Automation Inc. could add up to 50 jobs over the next five years, after completing a new, $1 million facility here. Fori has hired 54 employees since 2009.

BOSTON—Rethink Robotics has developed a vision-guided, dual-arm robot that can safely work side-by-side with people on assembly lines.

SAN JOSE, CA—Automation is enabling Altierre, a manufacturer of electronic signs, to compete with low-cost overseas competition. And, says the company’s CEO, manufacturers of other products can follow his example.

DRACHTEN, the Netherlands—A new wave of robots—far more adept than those commonly used by automakers—are increasingly replacing manual labor in assembly operations worldwide.

ZILINA, Slovakia—Thanks to a small army of robots, the Kia automotive assembly plant here is one of the few plants in the world capable of building up to eight different models on the same line.