Automation - Introduction - Evolution

 

Automation for Productivity and Cost Reduction  - Productivity Automation Engineering. - Lesson 112 of  Industrial Engineering ONLINE Course

Jidoka - Automation and Mechanization - Process Engineering and Industrial Engineering in Toyota Production System

Jidoka, a pillar of Toyota Production Systems advocates automation with human touch in all operations of a process to increase productivity of operators as well as that of total systems.

https://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2021/04/jidoka-automation-and-mechanization.html

Automation-Grabbe - 1957

The word 

"automation" stems from "automatization," which is difficult to pronounce and spell-thus the simplification.

From another point of view, automation may be considered as removing certain of the elementary control tasks from man and accomplishing them through "external" mechanical and electrical devices.

To summarize, the first step in mechanization was to relieve man of certain of his power-generating duties, and the second was (and is) to relieve him of certain of his mental tasks and the related physical tasks.

Automation in the ultimate implies that a sequence beginning with an input (say, raw material) and proceeding to an output (say, a finished product) of predetermined properties and characteristics will be accomplished without human labor or direction, other than to design the equipment and the process, initiate and stop the sequence, and repair and maintain the equipment.

The introduction of automation has been designated as a second industrial revolution by Wiener (4)

Moreover, modern technology has advanced to the point where it is possible for instruments to be designed to measure continuously various conditions and phenomena important in industrial processes and operations. These measurements can then be compared with previously set values, and automatic controls actuated to bring the process or operation closer to the desired condition. A very much wider range of automatic control could be provided in almost every business and industry by utilizing the electronic techniques and components now available.

There are two fields involved in the automation area. One of them is process control in the factory. The evolution of the automatic factory will be gradual. New developments will provide unusual precision-measuring devices and computer devices to monitor the process, adapted to the particular job.

The second major field of automation devices might be characterized as business data handling-the handling of paperwork in large organizations, whether it be inventory, production controls, customer's bills, invoices, or credit accounting.

The word automation was first coined by Del Harder of the Ford Motor Company in 1947. Harder shortened the word "automatization" to automation, and defined it as the "automatic handling of parts between progressive production processes."

In 1952 John Diebold in his book entitled Automation defined it as "denoting both automatic operation and the process of making things automatic."

MILTON H. ARONSON, editor of Instruments and Automation: Automation is a substitution of mechanical, hydraulic, electronic and electric devices for human organs of decision and effort. 

HAROLD MARTIN, Rensselaer Poly technique Institute: Automation is the entire accomplishment of a work task by a power-driven integrated mechanism wholly without the direct application of human energies, skill, or intelligence.

Process is defined by Webster as "a series of actions or operations definitely conducing to an end."

Every process handles energy, material, or information. The general characteristics possessed by every process, either manual or automatic, are: 

(1) Input of materials, energy, or information. 

(2) Storage for inputs: materials-spacial storage; energy-storage in materials; information-storage in patterns in energy or materials. 

(3) Machine or processor: the device that performs the required work, manipulation, or operation. It shapes, positions, assembles, and treats materials or computes and performs logical operations on information. 

(4) Control for directing the machine. In manual operation, man provides the guidance; in automation, the control is automatic. 

(5) Output of materials, energy, or information.

 "What is automation?" My answer is: Automation is the use of a nonliving system to control and carry 

out an operation. (Author of the article in the book)

A new category of engineer is now appearing, the BUSINESS ENGINEER. As with earlier two-field experts, the business engineer often receives the greatest acclaim as an engineer from the businessmen, and as a businessman from the engineers.

 Prominent in the more recently emphasized aspects of this engineering is the systems approach. Problems of how to split up a large system into parts with minimum interaction, and how to synthesize a large system from subsystems, arise and call for greater attention. Also, in the large systems we have in mind there are both people and automata. 

This excites the question: "How can we divide the systems job between people and automata?"

Many people in industry view automation as the end objective of an evolutionary process in manufacturing that consists of three major phases-manual production, mechanized production, and automation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/automatic-technology-implications-a-selected-annotated-bibliography-4487/fulltext      1956 collection - important

Manufacturing Automation

INTRODUCTION 

There is a significant saying that security-job, company, and national-is built on better methods; that nothing can so completely or surely destroy an established business or its profits as new and better 

methods or equipment in the hands of an enlightened competitor. 

Automation is the modern term which denotes manufacture, processing, or performing services as automatically as economics permits or demands. Although new in name, manufacturing automation basically comprises the application of principles which have developed steadily over a great many years. Wherever conventional manual , methods of manufacture, processing, and distribution could not be 

carried out within acceptable quantity, quality, effort, and cost levels, mechanization developed; today we have the next step, automation. The continuing effort to supply the needs of the American people 

with products, commodities, and services at acceptable and competitive prices has made automation a necessity. In a dynamically expanding market, no other development holds so much opportunity for a gradually rising standard of living. It is not just a matter of using or not using automation but rather one of economic necessity to make possible the broadest availability of utilitarian and lUXUry itemS. " This fact is well illustrated by an  example: One company alone assembles 500,000 automotive devices each day with an average of 72 individual parts in each unit. To do this without benefit of automation would 

present an insurmountable task from both a cost and production standpoint. In another plant where some 230 employees are able to produce 1,200,000,000 lamp bulbs per year on continuous automatic equipment, 1927 methods and equipment would require 75,000 men to equal this output. At today's wage levels, few people would be in a position to buy under these conditions, even if men were available! 

At this stage of development, it is relatively impossible to present a concise basic approach to automation engineering. However, to show what is being done and, perhaps, to sow a few seeds for development, we can cover some fundamental points while pictorially making an extended plant tour of many manufacturing industries. Whenever demand is high and the product relatively or partly standardized, there is an opportunity for automation, rega~dless of the type of manufacture. Let us .take a look at a modern production line that operates on a highly automatic basis. 

A complete one-man automatic line for producing,  from steel strip,'six standard components used in carloading. A coiled' steel strip 6 inches wide by Ys inch thick passes automatically through a 100-ton blanking and ,forming press; the stamped pieces go on to a de-oiler, drying conveyor, accumulator, and Wheelabrator blaster to a shipping box. The blaster operates with batches of 500 and 1000 pieces, depending on the part; the parts produced are counted by the press controls and accumulator pan timer. The blaster is push-buttoncontrolled by"the operator; on completion, the charge drops into a box. 

One boxload of 500 or 1000 identical parts comes off the line every '6 minutes. Change-over between different parts is simple.

AUTOMATION AS A BASIC PHILOSOPHY 

Basically, automation· can be termed a philosophy or method of manufacturing. It may require transfer machines or automatic materials handling. Also, it may demand complex electrical control, use of 

instrumentation, and application of feedback techniques. Accomplishment of really economic plant automation requires a careful combination of equipment, machines, and controls, depending on the conditions of production. 

Economic plant automation involves using, in proper degree and combination, such items as automatic machines, automatic mechanisms, automatic controls, automatic computers, automatic data-processing 

systems, and automatic devices for handling, conveying, processing, assembling, inspecting, and packaging. With this wide range of equipment, automation systems today are being developed to a high degree, in more complex operations and in larger plants than in the past. An example which demonstrates a range of equipment and instrumentation is a typical t:ransfe~ machine for automotive castings.  Transfer bar and chain carry the pallets of parts. The operator unloads the cleaned and finished part from the pallet fixture, loads a raw casting, and pushes a button to start the loaded fixture into the line. Although many transfer machines are single-purposed, the trend is toward more flexibility in their design. This type is composed of basic standard units which, when necessary, can be repositioned and retooled for product changes. Spaces are left for the. addition of other units along the transfer stations. 

The high degree of perfection which has been reached in all these areas of automatic operation, along with the tremendously expanding market of recent years, has made automation practical in many indus

tries. Not only do the speed and accuracy of operation of much modern equipment demand automation, but the monotony of repetitive operations, heavy labor, and dangerous conditions in many instances 

creates problems that can be solved adequately in no other way. The sheer bulk and time-consuming handling of necessary paperwork for modern enterprises have led to automatic data-handling and computing systems to provide immediate information vital to economic operation. Flexible automatic control in the form of a tape into which complete coded information is recorded can be used to spearhead paperwork operations not only in one manufacturing office but throughout a series 

of widely separated manufacturing plants.

ECONOMICS OF AUTOMATION 

As products gro~ more diversified and complex and market demands increase to fulfill the modern needs for better living, not only does the demand for machinery, electrical power, and control grow, but the basic production task of assembling the finished products becomes staggering. With a .single item in one plant, this problem resolves itself into how to assemble 3,500,000 separate parts into some 25,000 

similar units each day. The practical result today is automation. 

It is here and already at work for us. From a practical standpoint; automation need not comprise gigantic 

multimillion-dollar projects as with some transfer machines. Applied in reasonable degree, even on an in-plant designed basis, partial automation can provide real dollar-and-cents savings. Standard automatic machines can be equipped so as to offer flexible autom~tic operations. 

A' special six-station press arranged to .assemble low-cost ball bearings automatically. 

The shell, two r~ngs, and balls are hopper-fed into fixtures for proper positioning. The operation 

sequence is (1) align finished shell and inspect; (2) insert first race ring; (3) insert balls and lubricate; (4) insert second race ring and inspect; (5) form shell around rings and balls; and (6) finish form for size and running clearance with upper ring. At' the completion of the six operations shown, the bearings drop into the package. 

Increased productivity, better quality, and lower labor costs greatly improve the wage and profit picture in plants with automation. Lower unit costs made possible with automation not only more than pay for 

the equipment but result in better satisfied customers and workers. Many examples could be cited. One case indicates the trend. On one automatic press line, 1000 horsepower. in electric motors and 

$250,000 worth of electrical drive and control equipment are used. The line saved $1200 per working day or the cost of- the equipment yearly. Contrary to some ideas, however, roughly the same number 

of employees are required but productivity is much higher without the need for incentives. ' 

There are many examples where automatic machines. have produced phenomenal cost savings-reduced production cost.~ on a fastener, for instance, from $12 to $2 per thousand; on another.:assembled component, reduced costs from $4 to 40 cents per thousand; on radio and television equipment, reduced costs on some. operations of approximately 50 per cent; etc. An important factor to recognize here is that small plants and job-lot operations can also reap the benefits of automation. Systems for 

automatic poultry packing have been installed for less than $15,000. 

Other small plant or small-lot manufacturing which have been automated are automobile radiators, special gears, auto headlight components, smelting and refining, tire mounting, appliance assembly, 

rubber molding, aircraft wing riveting, etc.

17.1 INTRODUCTION (Grabbe)

THE ROLES OF SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND ENGINEERING IN AUTOMATION

(1) Science supplies us with essential information about the physical world, including the people in, it. The scientific method is proposition building and testing  hypothesis that provides error-correcting  feedback loop using quantitative experiment. 

(2) Mathematics includes reasoning which can be used on the simplified models of items in the physical world. More advanced automation is possible with better models. These better models are often more 

complicated. Hence, we need the large automatic computers to deal with them. 

(3) Engineering is the application of theories of science and mathematical procedures to solve man's problems. In this instance they are problems concerning improved or extended automation of industry and business. 

DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATIC SYSTEM 

 

3.3.3 Elements 

As the elements of an automatic industrial or business subsystem 

we shall take: (1) the subsystems input equipment or sensory pickups, (2) the SUbsystem output equipment or controlled actuators, and (3) the processors or combination computer-amplifiers which connect input and output. Of course the environment of the automatic subsystem is present in the form of (4) a set of driving signals, disturbances, and initially stored energies, and (5) externally coupled input and output parts of the whole system which in special cases would be described as source and sink admittance levels. 

A Design Method 

 

(1) Decide on the class of problems to be solved by the automatic system.

(2) Estimate the class of environments to be encountered by the system during its operation. 

(3) Develop blocks of the whole system, using estimates based on pertinent past experience and on realistic assumptions and calculations for weighting or transfer functions of the subsystems. 

(4) Decide on measures of effectiveness of the system in the attainment of its various objectives. 

(5) Define each type of error by an appropriate criterion that measures the amount by which the actual-system effectiveness fails to attain each desired-system objective. 

(6) Make error analyses assuming a linear invariant approximating system for each system objective. Use the Laplace transformation method, together with "rout locus" aids to treat the approximating system. Use a real-time simulator to study the whole system. That is, make a full-scale dynamic model of the system by means of a computer-simulator and then run through the set of operational modes under the set of estimated environmental conditions. Information learned from simulation should be fed back into the system design to improve (a) system stability margin, (b) equality of response to typical sets of 

input signals under expected operating environmental conditions, and (c) reliability of operation. 

(7) In the simulator, replace linear computer approximations to components and subsystems of the system under design by nonlinear components and Subsystems. Again check the various modes of the 

simulated system. 

(8) As the actual linear and nonlinear hardware components of the system become available, use them. As before, check the modes of the now partially actual and partially simulated system. 

(9) Successively refine the system error analysis using statistical ensembles for drives, boundary conditions, and disturbances. Adjust the system design connections and parameters-until the system stability, quality, and, reliability are satisfactory. 

(10) By the same process used in the development of the main system, develop monitoring instrumentation for locating failing components in the main system.

(11) Run a set of tests on the main system to determine appropriate statistics on the reliable life of components and subsystems. 

(12) Collect appropriate statistics on the system during its era of actual operation and use the results to further improve the design of later editions of the automatic systems.

3.3 DESIGN OF AN AUTOMATIC SYSTEM (Grabbe)

Ud. 29.4.2022

Pub 29.6.2021