Factory Automation

In the 1960's anyone who could make logic boards could make money. In the the 70 anyone who could make machines that make boards could make money. In the 80's anyone who could make machines that communicated their status as they were making boards could make money. In the 1990's you have to make machines that intercommunicate with other machines to make money. Automation in the factory has grown from time and attendance recorded by machines, with reports on man-power available on the factory floor generated in batch each shift, to each worker signing in on his homepage and this information immediately available from supervisor to pay-roll. Larger and automated time planning, automated controls, bar-coded recording from raw material inventory to finished product, computers dedicated as controllers, and of course the "robot" are all changes off the drawing board into production. The "robot" has not just taken work away from the human; doing work that would be dangerous, in tight locations, and monotonous. "It" has allowed for the creation of work environments and process procedures that are impossible for man to work in. Thus enabling products today that could not have been elsewise created. That is not to say that the robot has not replaced some human-doable work. Tasks that are repetitive, boring, and prone to error from fatigue or monotony have been profitable performed by a robot. Waste from human error and fatigue are minimized. Long runs of chains, twisted metal coat hangers, and the like are able to be made. No worker complaints, no extra lighting, no special services. But these are few in number. The modern automated factory needs intelligent and skilled workers; to set up and monitor the control the machines, and to be the first line of quality control, to see things the machine can not. The modern automated factory needs also skilled computer programmers and technicians. As Peter Drucker pointed out a long time ago, the corporation gives workers skilled in specialized areas the opportunity to be productive when they could not be so working alone. The automated factory is the extension of this rule, requiring the most creative and skilled workers and giving them the chance to have the greatest output per worker.

Pinchas Richard Wimberly is available for consultation for building, maintaining, or supplying factory automation systems or subcomponents. He can be reached here. See schematic model of automated factory system

Schematic model of automated factory system