EP 7 — SAE's Jake Bodily on Why Speed Requirements Can Kill Tech Adoption Despite Benefits

Jake Bodily, Director of Business Development at SAE, walks through why their test for automation success is binary: done right, technology spreads through your operation like wildfire; done wrong, you get an expensive paperweight in the CFO's corner office. He offers a cobot failure as a case study: Jake sold 12 collaborative robots to a major manufacturer, but all 12 were donated to education within months because inherent speed limitations killed operational fit regardless of safety benefits. 

His core framework is now: the robot is the engine, the integrator builds the car. Essentially, you're buying the complete solution, not components. Jake also explains SAE's deliberate approach to AI adoption (watching rather than leading), why recent vision system advances justify reopening 10-year-old automation specs, and how Utah's aerospace manufacturing infrastructure positions the Wasatch Front for significant defense production growth.

Topics discussed:

• Testing automation ROI through operational spread patterns: successful implementations scale rapidly
• Understanding cobot limitations when speed requirements override safety proximity benefits in high-throughput environments
• Applying systems integrator perspective where robots function as engines requiring complete solution architecture
• Executing 24-year automation roadmaps in 4 years through proven implementation approaches that deliver consistent ROI
• Evaluating AI adoption strategies by prioritizing proven technologies over hyped solutions in aerospace manufacturing applications
• Reassessing old automation projects using modern vision system capabilities that have significantly advanced since implementation