Automation

Automation is a system of manufacture designed to extend the capacity of machines to perform certain tasks formerly done by humans, and to control sequences of operations without human intervention. The term automation has also been used to describe nonmanufacturing systems in which programmed or automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human control. In the fields of communications, aviation, and astronautics, for example, such devices as automatic telephone switching equipment, automatic pilots, and automated guidance and control systems are used to perform various operations much faster or better than could be accomplished by humans.

Elements of Automation

Automated manufacture arose out of the intimate relationship of such economic forces and technical innovations as the division of labor, power transfer and the mechanization of the factory, and the development of transfer machines and feedback systems as explained below. he division of labor (that is, the reduction of a manufacturing or service process into its smallest independent steps) developed in the latter half of the 18th century and was first discussed by the British economist Adam Smith in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). In manufacturing, the division of labor results in increased production and a reduction in the level of skills required of workers. Mechanization was the next step necessary in the development of automation. The simplification of work made possible by the division of labor also made it possible to design and build machines that duplicated the motions of the worker. As the technology of power transfer evolved, these specialized machines were motorized and their production efficiency was improved. The development of power technology also gave rise to the factory system of production, because all workers and machines had to be located near the power source. The transfer machine is a device used to move a work piece from one specialized machine tool to another, in such a manner as to properly position the work piece for the next machining operation. Industrial robots, originally designed only to perform simple tasks in environments dangerous to human workers, are now extremely dexterous and are being used to transfer, manipulate, and index (that is, to position) both light and heavy workpieces, thus performing all the functions of a transfer machine. In actual practice, a number of separate machines are integrated into what may be thought of as one large machine. In the 1920s the auto industry combined these concepts into an integrated system of production. The goal of this assembly-line system was to make automobiles available to people who previously could not afford them. This method of production was adopted by most automobile manufacturers and rapidly became known as Detroit automation. Despite more recent advances, it is this system of production that most people think of as automation.

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