Automation
Automation refers to the use of technology and machinery to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. It involves the creation and application of systems that can operate and control processes, reducing the need for manual labor. Automation aims to improve efficiency, accuracy, and productivity in various industries by streamlining repetitive tasks and enabling the execution of complex operations.
5 Key excerpts on "Automation"
eBook - ePub- Chanchal Dey, Sunit Kumar Sen, Chanchal Dey, Sunit Kumar Sen(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...Therefore, ‘Automation’ is the mechanism for systems that ‘move by itself’. ‘Automation’ is a set of technologies that results in operation of machines and systems without significant human intervention and achieves the desired performance superior to manual operation. To operate an industrial process in a desired manner, control of its operation is needed at every possible step. Control is a set of policies and techniques that helps to achieve the desired variations of operational parameters and sequences for processes in manufacturing units and systems by providing the necessary input signals. Here, it is important at this stage to understand the role of control in ‘Industrial Automation’. An Automation system may include a control system, but the reverse is not necessarily true. The main function of any control system is to ensure that output must follow the set point or desired value. However, Automation systems may contain more functionalities, such as computing set points for control system, monitoring system performance, plant startup or shutdown, job and equipment scheduling, etc. Control engineering, as one of the cornerstones of Automation, enables Automation tasks to be accomplished physically. The job of a controller is essentially to capture a process variable and to compare the same with the set value to produce necessary control action, thus ensuring that in the steady state, the value of the process variable is in line with the specified set values. A controller is the most important block for running a plant/process in a desired manner; otherwise, without control, it would result in the process variables deviating from the set value. So, the use of controllers is vital with respect to economy, reproducibility, product quality, service quality, safety, and environmental protection. In order to meet these criteria, plant operators always try to continuously improve upon Automation systems...
eBook - ePub- Tom Craig, David Campbell(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...a purchase of a six pack of Coca Cola may generate a checkout saver for a six pack of Pepsi). Engineering Technology Although highly dependent upon IT, innovations in engineering are worthy of separate consideration. We need look no further than our own homes to see the advances in engineering and how they have changed our lives. Most of us have appliances such as washing machines, televisions, hi-fi’s, microwave ovens and dishwashers, and we can testify as to the extent to which they have made our lives easier. In business, the Automation and mechanisation of procedures has engendered similarly beneficial results. Some of the earliest mechanised procedures involving ravelling cotton and wool in the eighteenth century have given way in the latter part of the twentieth century to a situation, wherein Automation has reached new heights of refinement and accuracy. The work that was previously done by hundreds of human workers has, in many workplaces, been replaced with machines that work with greater accuracy and quality than humans and with greater productivity at lower cost. The complexity of factory Automation varies widely. Some machines are designed to perform relatively simple, repetitive tasks, such as paint jets continually spraying paint at products passing on a single conveyor line. There has, however, been a marked trend in the increasingly complex tasks that machines are made to undertake. More advanced machines make use of microprocessor technology in the forms of both programmable and embedded processors. In the engineering business, computer numerically controlled (CNC) technology has been used for many years. CNC machines are machine tools which use coded computer information to produce batches of precisely matched components from such things as CNC lathes and milling machines. Among the more complex Automations are those used in industries like motor manufacture and the production of silicon chips and printed circuits...
eBook - ePubTraditional Machining Technology
Machine Tools and Operations
- Helmi Youssef, Hassan El-Hofy(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...In a mechanized system, the operator still directly controls the particular process and checks each step of machine operation. The next step after mechanization was Automation, derived from the Greek word automatos (self-acting); this word was first used in 1945 by the U.S. automobile industry to indicate automatic handling and processing of parts in production machines. The world is now passing through the second industrial revolution, with fantastic advances occurring continuously in the fields of electronics and computer technology. The computer is substituting for the human brain in controlling machines and industrial processes. A major breakthrough in Automation was the invention of the first digital electronic computer (1943), followed by the first prototype of a numerically controlled machine tool (1952). Since this historic development, rapid progress has been made in automating most aspects of manufacturing, including the introduction of computers to enhance Automation using computer numerical control (CNC), adaptive control (AC), industrial robots, and computer-integrated manufacturing systems (CIMSs), including computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) (Figure 10.1). The manufacturing situation today has made the mass production of any component economically possible; however, industry in many cases demands variety in products in small lots. Economical production methods suitable for smaller lots should be followed. Further, higher accuracies are required at lower cost. To meet these requirements, there is a rapidly growing need for improved communication and feedback between manufacturing and design processes, integrating them into a single system capable of being optimized as a whole. The use of computerized integrated manufacturing (CIM) is the answer to meeting these requirements and objectives...
- Gerhard Greeff, Ranjan Ghoshal(Authors)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- Newnes(Publisher)
...2 History of business Automation Learning objectives • To provide a brief overview of business Automation technology evolution. • To obtain an understanding of what the various Automation technologies are all about. • To understand how the evolution of various Automation technologies influenced others. 2.1 Introduction If we look at the evolution of business Automation, we will notice that it consists of control systems, accounting systems, execution systems, networks, the Internet and supply-chain systems. These, although they exist independently from one another, are still related and influence the development and improvement in others. Most of these evolved over a period of time, getting more efficient and less maintenance intensive at a constant rate. Others moved in leaps and bounds, as some functions only became possible with the improvement of technology in one or more of the other related aspects. Most of the above started development at a faster pace with the onset of the electronic age. It became possible to control processes without the need to manually open and close valves, and to keep track of income and expenses without having to manually record every transaction in a physical book. The next big move was away from hardware toward software. Where control logic was historically built using circuit boards and switches, logic could be built using software code, making change easier...
- Joel Lööw, Bo Johansson, Eira Andersson, Jan Johansson(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...However, as the technological sophistication increases, so does the range of the systems. This means that the operator will gradually become superfluous. In mining, the range is relatively limited. This is seen especially in the early stages of operations; for example, whereas drilling is automated, charging is not. Similarly, loading still requires an operator, while transport may be fully automated. One of the main results of Kern and Schumann (1974), however, concerned the polarization of the workforce that occurs in the wake of Automation and mechanization. In general, when technology levels increase (e.g. a manual process is mechanized, or a mechanized process is automated), some people in the workforce undertake work tasks demanding employees who are more qualified; other people in the workforce get work tasks that do not require any significant qualification. Applied to the topics of concern here, this challenges the notion that automated mining work alone will result in more attractive work. That is, it is not enough to suppose that the Automation of a certain work task will engender a more attractive work environment. Even if the control room work tasks implied by Automation might very well be considered attractive, there is no guarantee that other work tasks will be. The point is that all work tasks need to be made attractive, even maintenance and machine-tending jobs. This can be achieved through workplace and job design, but also through work organizational measures, such as making new work roles include both the qualified and unqualified work tasks that are normally generated by technology development. Bright (1958) analysed and drew attention to different aspects of Automation from a management perspective...
