Manufacturing organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to meet customers demands for high-quality products delivered on time without resorting to test automation. However, there are particular difficulties when putting automation into an industrial setting. Test automation projects may not yield the expected results and return on investment if they are not carefully planned and carried out. The top 5 pitfalls to avoid while pursuing test automation for manufacturing systems and applications are highlighted in this article. Utilizing automation best practices and avoiding these typical traps can help you fully realize the advantages of enhanced regression testing, lower expenses, and higher-quality results.

Not Having Clear Objectives
The first mistake is not having well-defined objectives for test automation. Before starting, be clear about what you want to achieve via automation – is it faster regression testing, reduced costs, or improved test coverage? Define quantitative goals like reducing regression test time by 50% or decreasing cost of quality by 40%. This will help guide your tool selection, framework design and ROI measurement.

Choosing Wrong Automation Tools
It can be tempting to choose the well-known or most well-marketed test automation solutions out of the abundance that are available. Nevertheless, your unique automation requirements should guide the tool selection process. Assess factors like application technologies used, test environments, execution platforms and integration needs. For example, manufacturing applications may involve industrial protocols, embedded systems and PLCs which require specialized automation tools. Taking a tool-first approach without clear needs analysis often leads to poor outcomes.

Not Designing Robust Automation Frameworks
A good test automation framework is essential for maintaining and enhancing your test suites. It needs to support your test development process, enable reusability across multiple test cycles and integrate with other tools like CI/CD pipelines. Frameworks specifically tailored for industrial automation using practices like keyword-driven testing, behavior-driven development (BDD) and modular design can maximize long-term test asset leverage. Adopting a short-term scripting approach often leads to flaky, unmaintainable tests.

Ignoring Skill Development
Having a competent team is key to test automation success. Manufacturing domain knowledge along with skills in tools, processes and frameworks is a must. Having engineers learn scripting on the job without proper training in automation best practices leads to ineffective solutions. A continuous skill development program in both domain and technical competencies is highly recommended. Also leverage expert guidance to build high-quality automated frameworks upfront.

Lack of Maintenance Processes
Test suites require ongoing maintenance as applications change over time. However, without proper processes, automation assets deteriorate causing false test failures, unreliable scripts and wasted time. Maintenance processes include change impact analysis, code reviews, test refactoring, logging, documentation and failure triage. Allocate time for these activities and integrate them into your team’s delivery lifecycle. Poor maintenance is one of the top reasons for automation failure.

Conclusion

Succeeding with test automation in manufacturing requires upfront strategic planning, choosing the right tools, developing robust frameworks, training personnel and actively maintaining automation suites. Avoiding the common pitfalls described above will help harness the full benefits of test automation for your manufacturing systems and applications. With Opkey, companies can have confidence that upgrades and changes to their complex ERP system won’t introduce defects or disrupt operations. Opkey is the ideal test automation solution for manufacturing businesses looking to streamline testing of their mission-critical ERP applications.