Automation

Manufacturing companies in virtually every industry are achieving rapid increases in productivity by taking advantage of automation technologies. When one thinks of automation in manufacturing, robots usually come to mind. The automotive industry was the early adopter of robotics, using these automated machines for material handling, processing operations, and assembly and inspection. Donald A. Vincent, executive vice president, Robotic Industries Association, predicts a greater use of robots for assembly, paint systems, final trim, and parts transfer will be seen in the near future.

Vincent expects other industries to heavily invest in robotics as well. Industries such as the electronics industry, with its need for mass customization of electronic goods, the miniaturization of electronics goods and their internal components, and the re-standardization of the semiconductor industry, which, he says, will completely retool itself by 2004. Robotics will continue to expand into the food and beverage industry where they will perform such tasks as packaging, palletizing, and filling; as well as the aerospace, appliance, and non-manufacturing markets.

One can break down automation in production into basically three categories: fixed automation, programmable automation, and flexible automation. The automotive industry primarily uses fixed automation. Also known as "hard automation," this refers to an automated production facility in which the sequence of processing operations is fixed by the equipment layout. A good example of this would be an automated production line where a series of workstations are connected by a transfer system to move parts between the stations. What starts as a piece of sheet metal in the beginning of the process, becomes a car at the end.

Programmable automation is a form of automation for producing products in batches. The products are made in batch quantities ranging from several dozen to several thousand units at a time. For each new batch, the production equipment must be reprogrammed and changed over to accommodate the new product style.

Flexible automation is an extension of programmable automation. Here, the variety of products is sufficiently limited so that the changeover of the equipment can be done very quickly and automatically. The reprogramming of the equipment in flexible automation is done off-line; that is, the programming is accomplished at a computer terminal without using the production equipment itself.

Computer numerical control (CNC) is a form of programmable automation in which a machine is controlled by numbers (and other symbols) that have been coded into a computer. The program is actuated from the computer's memory. The machine tool industry was the first to use numerical control to control the position of a cutting tool relative to the work part being machined. The CNC part program represents the set of machining instructions for the particular part, while the coded numbers in the sequenced program specifies x-y-z coordinates in a Cartesian axis system, defining the various positions of the cutting tool in relation to the work part.