The need for automation

The changing trends in technology and processes have necessitated that manufacturing industries and process plants depend on retraining the workforce and also creating pockets of knowledge within the organization. Intellectual property rights are probably utilized well when the organization is benefited from process improvements.

Industrial automation thus has a variety of growth drivers brought about by this constant technological change and also reasons peculiar to every organization.

Safety

It is a well-known fact that nuclear installations are designed to overcome loss of coolant accidents (LOCA). It is difficult to even predict the possibility of human intervention when such accidents occur. The manufacturing and silicon processing technologies have so much improved that the average cost per MIPS (million instructions per second) is now down to the range of $10. It therefore is quite easy to apply microprocessor based decision support systems at the shop floor or in a plant, to avoid any human errors due to safety interlocks that can easily be built into loop control algorithms, and also activation of safety protection systems in case of an accident.

Repeatability

The Asian workforce, particularly from the Far East, has been mainly responsible for the growth of the GDP in those regions. Companies like Reebok, and other global giants have manufacturing centers in those regions, due to the availability of a very skilled and disciplined workforce. However, most industries cannot afford the luxury or risk of depending on human inputs for very repetitive processes requiring a very quick reaction time. This is one of the reasons for the rapid emergence of the CNC milling and machining industries, the automated assembly lines and automated process control plants. The repeatability in the product manufacturing cycle is probably the only saving grace for many industries wishing to compete in the current world of global competition.

Quality

With the emergence of standards bodies and codes of practice for almost all operations beginning from procurement of inputs, the process standards, product testing standards, waste management standards and one for even the accounting and documentation within today’s globally competitive operations, automation of critical if not entire processes where possible is the only mechanism to comply with these standards. The auto majors of today clamor adherence Sigma quality regime, which is entirely due to the rapid metamorphosis of the manual assembly lines of the 60’s, to the automated lines that we see today.

Labor saving

When corporate success stories like Nokia claim on a percentage basis, single digit cost additions to the input costs, one can only imagine that the globally competitive enterprise is definitely all about getting it right the first time and at the least cost. And, with horrendously expensive overheads associated with rework of off grade products, automated component placement, and assembly lines would only help such ridiculously low margins.