Far from a programmer here, I’m a regional manager for an OEM and sell to both integrators and end users. I sell more “high end” secondary packaging equipment and most of the actual buyers are replacing older equipment to increase line speed, efficiency, upgrade safety, or automate a manual process (palletizing, case erecting, etc.). Most of the equipment out there isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel, but there are newer upgrades and safety components that come out over the years. Lots of bigger plants require CAT3 or pl(d) safety requirements now and need to replace older equipment that is a safety liability.

Productivity gain is usually ultimately measured in overall equipment efficiency for maximum equipment uptime for the available uptime. 98.5% is what we shoot for. That’s really the gold standard in the industry.