Introduction to Automation in Manufcturing Companies

Introduction to automation

Human being is a characteristics species among all living species that distinguish itself from all other living species by its ability to magnify and extend its own capabilities. Earlier, the human being has been described as a tool utilizing other animals for carrying out the work generally ascribed by him for himself. The capabilities of man along with his desire for knowledge and improvement leads to the development of a device called "A machine". A machine, as per one of the definitions given in 'Oxford English Dictionary' is "An apparatus for applying mechanical power consisting of a number of interrelated parts, each having a definite function." The evolution of machine is attributed to the propagating power of machine which is inherited from its ancestor machines. Existing machine tool makes the pathway for the manufacturing of more advanced machine tools which successively serves to accelerate the evolution of new machine tools.

The industrial revolution which started in 18th century urges for mechanization by systematically eliminating human labour for the need of better work, consistence performance and higher production. The word mechanization was then replaced by the dynamic word "Automation". The automation reinforces the process of technological development. Over a period of time, it has been seen that the machinery becomes more and more automated. This is achieved by eliminating machine-operator intervention in manufacturing processes and process controls. A high accuracy, consistence performance, greater production rate, etc. makes these machines inherently specialized. These specialized machines can process only limited number of components. The need of manually operated machines can been ruled out except for prototype and low volume component production.

Modern manufacturing systems and industrial robots are advanced automation systems that utilize computers as an integral part of their control. Computers are now a vital part of automation. They control stand-alone manufacturing systems, such as various machine tools, welders, and laser beam cutters. They run production lines and are beginning to take over control of an engine factory. Even more challenging are new robots performing various operations in industrial plants and participating in the full automation of factories.

It is well to keep in mind that the automatically controlled factory is nothing more than the latest development in the industrial revolution that began in Europe two centuries ago and progressed the following stages:

1. Construction of simple production machines and mechanizations started in 1770, at the beginning of the revolution.

2. Fixed automatic mechanism and transfer lines for mass production came along at the turn of this century. The transfer line is an organization of manufacturing facilities for faster output and shorter production time. The cycle of operation is simple and fixed and is designed to produce a certain product.

3. Next came machine tools with simple automatic control, such as plug board controllers to perform a fixed sequence of operations and copying machines in which a stylus moves on a master copy and simultaneously transmits command signals to servo drivers.

4. The introduction of numerical control (NC) in 1952 opened a new era in automation. NC is based on digital computer principles, which was a new technology at that time.

5. The logical extension of NC was computerized numerical control (CNC) for machines tools, in which a minicomputer is included as an integral part of the control cabinet.

7. Industrial robots were developed simultaneously with the CNC systems. The first commercial robot was developed in 1961, but they did not play a major role in the manufacturing until the late 1970s.

8. A fully automatic factory which employs a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) and computer and computer aided design/computer -aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques in the next logical extension. FMS means a facility that includes manufacturing cells, each cell containing a robot serving several CNC machines, and an automatic material- handling systems interfaced with a central computer.

Stages of development:

(i) First Industrial Revolution, began with the advent of powered machine tools and the creation of factories but continuously moved toward Mechanization rather labour muscle power.

(ii) Second Industrial Revolution, began in 1900s with advent of mass production and assembly lines. The large automated Material Mechanisms and transfer lines were developed. This type of automation is, these days, called as fixed automation. Specifically, Automation is a term was coined by D.S. Harder of Ford Motor company in 1947.

(iii) Third Industrial Revolution, evolved in recent years is flexible in contrast to second. In this, computers are used to control, processes as well as the information system i.e. both muscle as well as brain work for production.

Production is the a transformation process that converts raw material into finished products that have value in market place. The products are made by the combined efforts of man, machine, material and tools. All work requires both energy and information, and these two elements must be provided by some sources, either a human or any substitute. More the human attributes, if performed by a machine, the higher it has "automaticity". Automaticy is thus defined as self-acting capability of the device in general terms.

Mechanization

Mechanization is providing human operators with machinery that assist them with the muscular requirements of work. It can also refer to the use of machines to replace human or animal labor. A step beyond mechanization is automation. Even the use of hand powered tools is an example of mechanization as it reduces the work of either screwing, drilling, inserting nails, punching or even power washing a surface.

Mechanical vs human labour

When we compare the efficiency of a labourer, we see that he has an efficiency of about 1%-5.5% (depending on whether he uses arms, or a combination of arms and legs).

Internal combustion engines have mostly about an efficiency of 20%. This although, some IC engines state efficiencies of <50%. Electrical engines have an efficiency of 90%, Hydrogen IC engines have an efficiency of 30%. Hydrogen fuel cell engines have an efficiency of 40-60%.

When we compare the costs of using an internal combustion engine to a worker to perform work, we notice that an engine can perform more work at a comparative cost. 1 liter of fossil fuel burnt with a IC engine equals about