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Introducing Automation into Manufacturing - A Philosophy
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INTRODUCING AUTOMATION INTO MANUFACTURING - A PHILOSOPHY M. G. Rodd D " /)(II'I IIII' 11 I of' /:' /l'I'lrim / ({lid E/nlnJllic Ellgill f l'l'illg, [ 'lI h 'N Sily CO /lfgf of'S"'({ IIS"II,
Sillg/f l llll Park, Sll'II11SnJ SA2 8 PP,
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Abstract. This paper attempts to introduce a philosophy towards the introduction of automation. It claims that microelectronics has effectively led to the start of the second industrial re%lution - a revolution which is going to be categorised by our ability to control the various technologies which have been developed since the first industrial revolution. It takes the approach, however, that the human being has to be at the centre of all human endeavour, and that any automation must be undertaken as an attempt to make the human being as effective a worker as possible. It argues that the worker less factory is in fact not the ideal, except in very special circumstances in which the human simply cannot exist. Rather, a philosophy should be adopted, particularly in the manufacturing sector, of examining each stage of the production facility, looking at the requirements of people, taking each task within the total manufacturing cycle and using all the tools of the automation era to make that person's performance as effective as possible . It argues that as the Engineer is responsible for mapping scientific innovation into industrial realities, he must regard himself, not mere ly as the Technician, but as an integral part of the total decision-making process. Keywords. Man's Role in Automation; Manufacturing; Social Impact of Automation.
Computer
Integrated
the solution to our naturally-expanding populations); they can, on the other hand, be used to destroy vast areas of our planet. Nuclear phy sics - the topic of such heated debate - has a r rived in our laps not just by chance in a world in which the current energy sources are rapidly being diminished. There can be little doubt that the future energy source must come from the nuclear area, but while, on the one hand, nuclear physics can provide the knowledge to allow the Nuclear Engineer to produce electricity or provide sources of power for ships and space vehicles, it can (as he is only too aware) be the source of total global destruction.
INTRODUCTION The traditional definition of Engineering has been "the systematic application of scientific knowledge to the design, creation and use of structures and machines". (1) A major problem facing the world as we know it today, is that this definition has often been applied without any direct reference to the needs of mankind. Rather, one should re-define Engineering as the systematic application of scientific knowledge and technology to the design, creation and use of structures and machines to the benef i t of mankind. Technology has no intrinsic value. Its use is justifiable only insofar as it serves the legitimate needs and aspirations of people either individually or in groups. Thus, every new scientific development should be examined in the light of the needs of mankind. Indeed, meeting these needs must be the obj e ctive of any engineering task.
The temptation, naturally, is to exploit each new discovery and development for the short-term benefit of a few but to the long- term detriment of the many. Engineers have always been regarded as rather naive beings, totall y fascinated by their toys and naturall y , th e refore, open to e xploitation by economic or political entrepreneurs, who are only t oo eager to bend these new development s to their own selfish aims. Indeed, many of our teaching systems are aimed at reinforcing the view that engineers are just t echnological boffins, there to map scientific principles into realistic and usable artifacts. How o ften the engineers in a university are regarded as being the barbarians, never voic i ng their opinions on political or social issues. Indeed, the rapid pace at which technology develops demands that so much of an engineer's time be spent on his
The intriguing thing which fac e s the sc i entific philosopher, is that e ach and every scientific discover y is a two-edged sword. As we delve deeper and deeper into the my steries of the Uni verse and as more and more profeund secrets become revealed, we, as thinking, reasoning animals, are faced with the challenge of utilising this newly-won knowledge. Fire, for example, can burn and destroy, or warm and sustain life. Missiles can be used to probe the mysteries of outer space and expand our horizons (and maybe, in the end, provide
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technology, that he simply may have neither the energy or, in many cases, the background to philosophise on the utilisation of his developments. He looks askance at the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but forgets that it was his peers who made available the technology, not just of the weapons involved, but indeed of the plane and the guidance system which made those horrific events possible. On the local front one sees this happening time and time again. "Isn't the pollution terrible today?" the engineer asks as he drives through the town, and yet, what is causing that pollution? The industrial revolution with its many minor extensions saw technology directly impacting the lives of people with, obviously, good and bad results. Many people saw their livelihoods destroyed and their carefully-protected crafts made redundant. Others, though, saw opportunities to export high-quality goods. New jobs were crea ted, ship-building industries flourished and the economy throve as a result. As a direct off-shoot of this new-found wealth, other aspects of people's lives were enhanced. The naive environmentalist will claim that the development of a new power station is an environmental disaster and yet, that selfsame person enjoys the benefit of the theatre, the opera without giving a single thought as to where the weal th is coming from to pay the actors, or the capacity to power the spotlights and the sound. The selfsame environmentalists who protest loudly about the nuclear age in Europe are accompanied by a cacophony of pop music blaring out through thousands of watts of sound systems, without giving a thought to where the power for the amplifiers is coming from; they fly the world in aircraft which are a direct result of the technology to which they claim to be totally opposed. My belief is that the second industrial revolution is currently on its way. Whilst many have claimed that developments such as radio and television, or indeed, the nuclear era, have in fact brought about new industrial revolutions my thesis is that the age of microelectronics has really impacted all technology to a degree as significant as the first release of technology to mankind. The main result of microelectronics is the ability to control. The electronics era has given us the power to control the various technological innovations which have been occurring all around us. The nuclear power station, without any form of control, is totally inept and of no value. Never before has mankind had at its fingertips, a technology to control the technologies which are powerful enough ei ther to destroy him or to raise civilisation to the highest threshold ever. Of course, control is what automation is all about and the prime target of this paper, indeed, is automation particularly in manufacturing. As has been discussed before, the technologist or engineer has been guilty of simply applying his technologies without thinking about their long-term consequences.
Automation in manufacturing is undoubtedly a case in point. Never before have engineers produced tools which could ultimately lead to such mass unemployment. It is strongly suggested that before too long, and before it is too late, a deep understanding of automation and its role in our civilisation must be found. The prime thrust of this paper lies in this particular area. DEVELOPING A PHILOSOPHY OF AUTOMATION It must be clearly stated that the philosophy developed in this paper is highly simplistic, born out of a total frustration with scientific and technological philosophers who, like so many groups, develop a jargon which makes them feel secure and superior, until they become totally unable to communicate with anyone outside that tiny clique. What is needed at this moment, is a philosophy on automation which can be understood by all and which can be translated into real and meaningful action. Unless we can come to grips with the technologies which are now becoming available, the world is heading towards revolution and strife resulting from the frustration uf many millions of people who are unable to find work, and who simply see the gulf between the rich and the poor getting wider and wider. Think, for example, of the situation which could occur in mining in a country such as South Africa. Many hundreds of thousands of people are employed in the underground sector. Not only do they find employment there, but for a significant proportion of them, their earnings form one of the major incomes for the country from whence they come. Indeed, one of the major sources of income of countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland and Mocambique, is the money earned by their hundreds of thousands of workers on the South African mines. What then, are the consequences of fully-automated mining? Again, one is accused of fanciful thinking, and yet, it is now technologically feasible to undertake a large amount of the mining activities with a minimum of human intervention. Even a reduction of 50% of the workforce will wreak total havoc in many areas of Southern Africa. Nevertheless, if the decision on whether to automate or not is left to a small group of persons who are really concerned only about the financial performance of a company, then, when the time is right technologically, excuses will undoubtedly be found for the introduction of automation. This is not fanciful thinking; it has happened in many countries of the world, in other sectors of the economy, although the scale has fortunately not been as massive as it could be in the case of mining. Think again, of the impact on many of those fishing villages on the West coast of the Cape Province, where thriving communities suddenly became starving communities as the big fishing fleets encroached on their traditional fishing areas. Modern techniques of refrigerated boats, which could stay out of port for extended times, simply rendered those local, tiny businesses redundant. Throughout the world, one finds examples of the havoc which has been wrought by the
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introduction of technology without concern for the people concerned, justified always by grandiose economic reasons which might be valid, but which always somehow avoid the crucial issue of the little man at the bottom of the heap who suddenly finds himself without a job or, in many cases, an income. The socialist would naturally reply that everyone has a right to some form of income, and that therefore, the dole system should come into action - but again, is this correct? Isn't the experience more and more that there is somewhere, deep-seated, a need within man to see the fruits of his labours? Isn't there a significant need for people to work - not just simply to earn money, but as a very vi tal part of life itself ? There is no doubt that for some people, work is something they can do without, but I would estimate that in general, this is a minority view. Witness the behaviour of those tens of thousands of out-of-work youths in England, all of whom are supported by the dole system; their lives now revolve around playing TV games, watching television and wrecking the opposition supporters' club on Saturday afternoons. Witness too, the highly intelligent young man who can find employment only as a menial shunter or ticket collector - look in his eyes and see the frustration and resentment towards society. It can be argued that in many cases re-training schemes can offset the impacts of new technology. Indeed, many unions have successfully negotiated compulsory re-training programmes for their members. In certain areas such schemes have worked, but the realities of re-training must be appreciated. To transform, say, an artisan with 25 years' welding experience, into a computer/robot programmer is a mammoth task. The problem is compounded in a case where the "trainee" could be perhaps a 55-year-old petrol pump attendant with no formal education at all. Further, it has been shown (6) that in many cases, the theory of the redundant artisan becoming the skilled operator or programmer simply does not apply. The programming of, say, a robot is often better done by the engineer designing the system than by a shop-floor person. The premise that work is more than a means of earning money, and that it meets a deep-down human requirement, is at the core of this paper, bringing us back to the point that science and technology and their application must be all about mankind and meeting the needs of mankind. WHY AUTOMATION ? For the purposes of this thesis, automation can be defined as the use of electronic devices, controlled by a computer, in mechanical processes that would otherwise be controlled by human operators. (2) During the early days of automation, of course, this definition was very true, and early attempts at introducing the technology were aimed at fulfilling operational criteria which simply could not be met by human operators. So, for example, much of the early work in control theory rose directly out of the need to control position servo-mechanisms in aircraft and military
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applications. Naturally, automation was also introduced in controlling operations such as chemical plants, where necessary actions were too fast or were inaccessible to the operators. The space-age, of course, brought about the remote control of satellite positions etc. So, in general, it can be seen that early automation was aimed at providing a remote means of controlling an activity, simply because humans either could not react fast enough, or could not reach the site where the control was required. However, more recently, we are seeing automation being introduced in situations where a human operator can do the task, but simply cannot perform accurately or, possibly, fast enough. Automation appears to offer a solution in many cases where products take too long to be produced. Of course, this then raises the whole issue of why automation should be introduced. Clearly, one can justify automation on the basis that the human operator: cannot reach the site where control is required, or is not strong enough to fulfil the tasks required, or is not fast enough, or cannot take the environmental conditions, or cannot do the work accurately enough. What has, however, been forgotten in many cases, is that with additional training, the skills necessary to produce satisfactory results could be obtained. Again it has been a question of introducing solutions which have tremendous short-term benefits but which in the long-term are detrimental. This then leads us to question the whole basis for automation, particularly if we take the viewpoint that automation should really imply the utilisation of all possible scientific and technological knowledge as a means to improve a person's ability to perform in a given situation. A basic assumption of this paper is that the objective of any automation should indeed be to produce something which may be successfully marketed in a competitive market situation, bearing in mind the vital need to provide employment for those producing it. This, naturally, raises the issue of the marketing strategy. Whilst in a totally-protected economy, the consumer is offered no option and the "anything goes" approach will therefore predominate, in the capitalistic, western market (and, interestingly enough, to an increasing degree in certain communist societies) it is becoming very clear that to be successfully marketed, a product must be: at the right price, at the right time and of the right quality, and must meet the users' expectation A key to meeting these goals might be found in a comparison between the Western and Eastern philosophies of marketing. In the West, the marketing equation is stated as:
Selling Price=Manufacturing Cost+Profit The implication here is that the selling price is obtained simply by looking at the total manufacturing cost and adding the requisite profit! However, in the East, and particularly during the days when the Japanese industry was struggling to get off the ground, this equation underwent a slight mathematical modification. The equation essentially remains the same, but the philosophy behind it differs: Profit=Selling Price-Manufacturing Cost The implication here is that the selling price is fixed by the market. If, for example, the Japanese wish to sell a motor vehicle in the United States, they have to compete against a very large established market. Therefore, their vehicles have to be cost-competitive with those produced locally and indeed, must offer additional incentives to purchasers. The profit, therefore, which results from selling a vehicle, is determined directly by the manufacturing costs, but there is always the rider that the quality of manufacturing cannot suffer in order to bring the manufacturing costs down, otherwise the product would be unacceptable. So the key, then, is the need to get manufacturing costs down, but wi th improved quality. Indeed, this is the situation which is facing the South African market. The attitude that "it must be better because it is imported", which prevails throughout the consumer market in South Africa is brought about by the realities of the situation. Not only can we not compete from a cost point-of-view, but in most cases, our quality is seriously lacking. The question then is, how does one get the manufacturing cost down whilst providing the highest possible quality? The interesting key to resolving this question comes again from comparing the Western attitude to the Eastern. In the West, the attitude appears to have been that where there is a problem (because of an ineffective worker), the solution is simply to replace him, at whatever cost, by automation. In the East, however, one sees a different approach despite what the superficial evidence indicates. There is considerable evidence that the Eastern philosophy towards automation has been to attempt, wherever possible, to improve the ineffective worker's performance by means of automation, rather than simply to replace him; the key being that automation should be used to make workers as effective as possible and not simply to make them redundant. It cannot be denied that the Japanese philosophy towards life is very important in this consideration. There is ample evidence in many European and American companies, that in fact, dedication to the company's success is as strong as in many Japanese organisations. THE TOTAL SYSTEM APPROACH According to authors Hayes and Wheelwright (3) the steady decline in America's productive capacity and ability to compete in foreign markets can be blamed on the professional "fast track" manager: a
person who has figured out how to get ahead quickly, without learning much about the company's products or manufacturing techniques. He is more adept with monthly financial reports, the "bottom line" his managers watch so carefully, and less concerned with developing long-term strategy. U.S. companies have increasingly turned to people with legal, financial, and accounting backgrounds to fill their top positions. These managers tend to remain aloof from product and manufacturing detail in fact they are normally more interested in buying other companies than in selling their own products. As the authors point out, the basic fallacy is the notion that there is no need to invest, to build or to develop anything yourself. With capital and "good" financial management, anything can be bought and any problem simply sold away. Manufactur ing superiority however, the ability to "make it better" (as has been so successfully demonstrated by the Japanese), is a long, tough, competitive game, which does not produce quick results. Management has to be involved in manufacturing, and automation can contribute enormously. Engineers have to play a leading role in the overall business strategy instead of being merely consulted from time to time. As has been pointed out, the best Japanese engineers go into manufacturing and are constantly briefed as to the latest technology, which they are urged to exploit at all times. There can be little doubt that automation in manufacturing can be totally effective only if the whole system is made as effective as possible. There is no point for example, in a company's replacing a welder who happens to be inefficient by buying a robot at vast expense if in fact that welder contributes only a minute proportion of the total value of the product being produced. Indeed, there is much evidence to show that in many manufacturing systems, a considerable gain in the overall productivity of an operation can be achieved simply by re-organising the manufacturing operation. Simple philosophies produced by the Japanese, such as "Just-in-Time", can be far more effective than the introduction of a whole robotised production line. Just-in-Time, for example, requires an attitude of mind which says that the whole factory is dedicated to one goal - that of producing a marketable product; it requires each person in a team to be as effective as possible, and management to ensure that workers remain totally effective. Thus, the worker who has to walk half-a-kilometre to collect a box of nuts before he can complete his task, is ineffective, and in this case the management has let him down. Likewise, the worker who is incompletely trained cannot be expected to perform adequately. Everyone depends on everyone else for totally-efficient production. Products should flow smoothly down a line and people should be totally happy in their working surroundings, and not undergo the frustrations of sitting around for hours waiting for something to do because there is a blockage up-stream. If this blockage is caused by the delay in the delivery of a component by an outside supplier, then that outside supplier must himself fall
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into line and must be persuaded, maybe by such drastic methods as sole supply agreements, to deliver on time, in quanti ties as and when required, eliminating the need for large warehouses. It cannot be denied that any manufacturing system, regardless of the area of operation, is a very complex process and involves many steps, from the shop floor right to top management. Each and every one of these must be carefully examined in order to improve the operation. Simply automating one part of the system can have little or no benefit and indeed, because of adverse reactions of certain workers, can in fact have a detrimental effect.
TABLE 1
POSSIBLE PROBLEM
Each worker's task must be examined. Table I gives examples of some of the possible solutions to problems. In each case, it is a question of examining how effective the person is and what can be done to improve his situation and make him as efficient as possible. The impact of a worker's personal happiness and contentment within the workplace must never be underestimated. The fundamental problem is to assess the needs in any situation and to come up with the appropriate way of meeting these needs. THE INTRODUCTION OF ROBOTICS Robots have unfortunately had a disastrous introduction to the world. Film producers have seized upon some of their characteristics and have created the myth of the humanoid robot which rivals man and in fact, exceeds him in many ways. Thus the "R2D2" or "Twicky" robot is the picture envisaged by most people when the word "robot" is mentioned. There can be little doubt that the prospective introduction of a robot into a factory makes the workers understandably very apprehensive. Indeed, in many situations, robots have been used as a threat to workers - that unless they improve their
POSSIBLE SOLUTION
SHOP WORKER 1.
Job too heavy
2.
Job too dirty Job requires long walk
3•
4. Thus, in order to improve the operation of a factory a complete, global viewpoint of the operation must be undertaken, and the complete flow through the plant fully understood and investiga ted. Having optimised the flow wherever possible, then each person's activities within that operation must be carefully examined and personal contributions to the product evaluated and made as effective as possible. This examination is not just at shop floor level, but indeed goes right through to management. It might, in many cases, simply involve re-training; but it also requires other attitudinal questions to be addressed. The attitude towards quality, for example, is very important; the old concept of inspecting continually down a line has been shown to be very questionable. Again, the Japanese philosophy is to ensure that each worker is aware of his role in the total operation, and for the workers to inspect their products themselves. Indeed, many factories in the East now simply inspect (if necessary) incoming components and carry out one final inspection at the end of the line. Down the line, each worker is responsible for quality control. Machines and machine tools are carefully monitored automatically where necessary, rather than monitoring the product that they are turning out.
Possible Solutions to Manufacturing Problems
5.
Uncomfortable working Large number of different parts
1. Employ overhead crane or robot 2. Introduce a robot 3. Provide automatic materials handling system or direct delivery by supplier. 4. Relocate work place 5. Colour-code parts or provide direct feedback via computer inspection system
DESIGN ENGINEER 1. Many tedious
calculations 2. Large number of technical drawings and documentation
1. Purchco.se
appropriate computer packages 2. Introduce adequate computer aided design system
MANAGER 1. Insufficient
production information 2. Insufficient market information 3. Continual strikes
1. Introduce plant-wide data acquisition system 2. Provide on-going market survey facility 3. Train managers, and examine deepseated reasons.
performance, they will be "replaced" by the robot. Given that many workers do not have the skills to perform properly, there is no doubt that much of the adverse reaction towards robtics was only to be expected. However, the true situation is that the current robot, and indeed the robots of maybe the next fifty years or so, are merely mechanical manipulators which can be programmed to do tedious tasks extremely effectively and extremely accurately. Robots have neither the intelligence of the worker, nor, particularly, his adaptability. They can, of course, work in situations in which the human cannot and hence can be used very advantageously in situations, as mentioned previously, in which the human cannot perform adequately. According to Nitzan (4), appropriate robot applications can be ranked as follows: 1. Lethal 2. Harmful
- high-radiation area - paint-spraying, handling toxic chemicals 3. Hazardous combat, fire-fighting 4. Strenous - heavy loads, visual inspection 5. Noisy - forging, riveting - sorting, assembling 6. Dull
Simply to replace a human by a robot because the human goes on strike, is an invalid reason for introducing a robot.
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However, to introduce the robot into a situation where the human cannot take the environmental conditions or simply cannot produce fast or accurately enough, are valid reasons. However, in the latter case, the motivation for robot introduction must be examined very carefully. If the human cannot perform fast enough, then why not introduce five humans? Of course, the economics might make this impossible and this again would be a valid reason. However, the point being made here is that the robot should not just be seen as a means of doing away with human labour. Indeed, unless we can accept that the robot is only one of many electro-mechanical mechanisms available to assist the worker, then we shall not be able to justify to ourselves and to our future generations, why we deliberately put humans out of work. Of course, this is still a very simplistic reason, but one which is extremely important to understand very clearly. My thesis is that automation is a vital tool in ensuring the on-going progress of the human race. We cannot avoid striving for higher efficiency in our manufacturing sector. Not to automate as a general policy is naive and totally irrational. Only if we were capable of controlling the actions of the rest of the world and indeed, of controlling the natural aspirations of man, could we adopt a policy of simply doing away with automation. We have to acknowledge that it is inherent in the human character to work and to be useful and productive within society. This has been proved time and time again. To strive towards a society in which all the work is done by machines, is just not going to be acceptable to the bulk of humanity. CONCLUSIONS The march of technology has been seen as inevitable. We often hear that certain technologies will be introduced whether we 1 ike it or not. This has been shown, particularly over recent times, to be totally a fallacious theory. Take for example, the current tide of opinion against nuclear energy. Examining this tide very carefully one sees that most sensible intelligent thinkers are not saying nuclear energy is not viable, they are onl y saying that the technology is not read y at the moment for successful introduction. Other even more dramatic examples of the rejection of a technology are all around us. The decline in the home computer market is one. Some years ago, one of the promoters of the personal computer claimed that every household in the world would soon have its own home computer. This has been proved to be incorrect, as is witnessed by the demise of many of the personal-computer manufacturers. There is no doubt that the personal computer is an important development, and many homes will make use of it. On the other hand, many will not, and it is not simply a matter of cost. Restaurants with high-quality waiters and waitresses still exist, despite the fact that food can be served via slot machines. The automatic vending of food, whilst useful for fast foods at railway stations, has certainl y not replaced the many fine restaurants throughout the world which continue to flourish and grow. Even the famous MacDonalds still front their
operation by personal delivery of food, where they could handle the whole operation by conveyor belts and computers. The microelectronics era, more than anything else, has given us the ability to choose between technologies. It has also given us the ability to control the technologies, and has provided us with previously unthought-of methods of rapid communication between people, and between people and machines. It has also effectively shrunk the world markets. With highly-efficient transportation methods, countries are free to export wherever their goods will find a ready market. In such a competitive situation, every country has to look at its production methods and there can be no doubt that automation will play an ever-increasing role in making industry more efficient. However, we have the ability to assess carefully where to automate and how this can best be done, always bearing in mind that behind every human activity are the humans themselves. In an address to the student body California Institute of Technology 1938, Albert Einstein said (5):
of in
"It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessing. Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours, concern for the great unsolved problems of the organisation of labour, the distribution of goods - in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations." ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to all his former co-workers in the MechaTronics Research Programme of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and especially Gerald Bloch, the deputy Director and Simone Shall. REFERENCES (1)
The Macmillian Encyclopedia, 1981, Macmilli a n, pp.413.
(2)
The Macmillian Encyclopedia, 1981 Macmillian, pp.99.
(3)
Hayes, R. and Wheelwright, S. (1985), Restoring our Competitive Edge: Competing through Manufacturing, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
(4)
Nitzan, D. (1985), Development of Intelligent Robots: Achievements and Issues, IEEE, J. of Robotic s , Vol. RA-1, No. 1.
(5)
Shapley, H. (Ed), (1954), A Treasury of Science, Angus and Robertson, pp.40.
(6)
Shall,S. (1985), The Implications of Introducing Robots into Industry, MSc Report, University of the Witwatersrand.
INTRODUCING AUTOMATION INTO MANUFACTURING - A PHILOSOPHY M. G. Rodd D " /)(II'I IIII' 11 I of' /:' /l'I'lrim / ({lid E/nlnJllic Ellgill f l'l'illg, [ 'lI h 'N Sily CO /lfgf of'S"'({ IIS"II,
Sillg/f l llll Park, Sll'II11SnJ SA2 8 PP,
e1-:
Abstract. This paper attempts to introduce a philosophy towards the introduction of automation. It claims that microelectronics has effectively led to the start of the second industrial re%lution - a revolution which is going to be categorised by our ability to control the various technologies which have been developed since the first industrial revolution. It takes the approach, however, that the human being has to be at the centre of all human endeavour, and that any automation must be undertaken as an attempt to make the human being as effective a worker as possible. It argues that the worker less factory is in fact not the ideal, except in very special circumstances in which the human simply cannot exist. Rather, a philosophy should be adopted, particularly in the manufacturing sector, of examining each stage of the production facility, looking at the requirements of people, taking each task within the total manufacturing cycle and using all the tools of the automation era to make that person's performance as effective as possible . It argues that as the Engineer is responsible for mapping scientific innovation into industrial realities, he must regard himself, not mere ly as the Technician, but as an integral part of the total decision-making process. Keywords. Man's Role in Automation; Manufacturing; Social Impact of Automation.
Computer
Integrated
the solution to our naturally-expanding populations); they can, on the other hand, be used to destroy vast areas of our planet. Nuclear phy sics - the topic of such heated debate - has a r rived in our laps not just by chance in a world in which the current energy sources are rapidly being diminished. There can be little doubt that the future energy source must come from the nuclear area, but while, on the one hand, nuclear physics can provide the knowledge to allow the Nuclear Engineer to produce electricity or provide sources of power for ships and space vehicles, it can (as he is only too aware) be the source of total global destruction.
INTRODUCTION The traditional definition of Engineering has been "the systematic application of scientific knowledge to the design, creation and use of structures and machines". (1) A major problem facing the world as we know it today, is that this definition has often been applied without any direct reference to the needs of mankind. Rather, one should re-define Engineering as the systematic application of scientific knowledge and technology to the design, creation and use of structures and machines to the benef i t of mankind. Technology has no intrinsic value. Its use is justifiable only insofar as it serves the legitimate needs and aspirations of people either individually or in groups. Thus, every new scientific development should be examined in the light of the needs of mankind. Indeed, meeting these needs must be the obj e ctive of any engineering task.
The temptation, naturally, is to exploit each new discovery and development for the short-term benefit of a few but to the long- term detriment of the many. Engineers have always been regarded as rather naive beings, totall y fascinated by their toys and naturall y , th e refore, open to e xploitation by economic or political entrepreneurs, who are only t oo eager to bend these new development s to their own selfish aims. Indeed, many of our teaching systems are aimed at reinforcing the view that engineers are just t echnological boffins, there to map scientific principles into realistic and usable artifacts. How o ften the engineers in a university are regarded as being the barbarians, never voic i ng their opinions on political or social issues. Indeed, the rapid pace at which technology develops demands that so much of an engineer's time be spent on his
The intriguing thing which fac e s the sc i entific philosopher, is that e ach and every scientific discover y is a two-edged sword. As we delve deeper and deeper into the my steries of the Uni verse and as more and more profeund secrets become revealed, we, as thinking, reasoning animals, are faced with the challenge of utilising this newly-won knowledge. Fire, for example, can burn and destroy, or warm and sustain life. Missiles can be used to probe the mysteries of outer space and expand our horizons (and maybe, in the end, provide
285
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technology, that he simply may have neither the energy or, in many cases, the background to philosophise on the utilisation of his developments. He looks askance at the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but forgets that it was his peers who made available the technology, not just of the weapons involved, but indeed of the plane and the guidance system which made those horrific events possible. On the local front one sees this happening time and time again. "Isn't the pollution terrible today?" the engineer asks as he drives through the town, and yet, what is causing that pollution? The industrial revolution with its many minor extensions saw technology directly impacting the lives of people with, obviously, good and bad results. Many people saw their livelihoods destroyed and their carefully-protected crafts made redundant. Others, though, saw opportunities to export high-quality goods. New jobs were crea ted, ship-building industries flourished and the economy throve as a result. As a direct off-shoot of this new-found wealth, other aspects of people's lives were enhanced. The naive environmentalist will claim that the development of a new power station is an environmental disaster and yet, that selfsame person enjoys the benefit of the theatre, the opera without giving a single thought as to where the weal th is coming from to pay the actors, or the capacity to power the spotlights and the sound. The selfsame environmentalists who protest loudly about the nuclear age in Europe are accompanied by a cacophony of pop music blaring out through thousands of watts of sound systems, without giving a thought to where the power for the amplifiers is coming from; they fly the world in aircraft which are a direct result of the technology to which they claim to be totally opposed. My belief is that the second industrial revolution is currently on its way. Whilst many have claimed that developments such as radio and television, or indeed, the nuclear era, have in fact brought about new industrial revolutions my thesis is that the age of microelectronics has really impacted all technology to a degree as significant as the first release of technology to mankind. The main result of microelectronics is the ability to control. The electronics era has given us the power to control the various technological innovations which have been occurring all around us. The nuclear power station, without any form of control, is totally inept and of no value. Never before has mankind had at its fingertips, a technology to control the technologies which are powerful enough ei ther to destroy him or to raise civilisation to the highest threshold ever. Of course, control is what automation is all about and the prime target of this paper, indeed, is automation particularly in manufacturing. As has been discussed before, the technologist or engineer has been guilty of simply applying his technologies without thinking about their long-term consequences.
Automation in manufacturing is undoubtedly a case in point. Never before have engineers produced tools which could ultimately lead to such mass unemployment. It is strongly suggested that before too long, and before it is too late, a deep understanding of automation and its role in our civilisation must be found. The prime thrust of this paper lies in this particular area. DEVELOPING A PHILOSOPHY OF AUTOMATION It must be clearly stated that the philosophy developed in this paper is highly simplistic, born out of a total frustration with scientific and technological philosophers who, like so many groups, develop a jargon which makes them feel secure and superior, until they become totally unable to communicate with anyone outside that tiny clique. What is needed at this moment, is a philosophy on automation which can be understood by all and which can be translated into real and meaningful action. Unless we can come to grips with the technologies which are now becoming available, the world is heading towards revolution and strife resulting from the frustration uf many millions of people who are unable to find work, and who simply see the gulf between the rich and the poor getting wider and wider. Think, for example, of the situation which could occur in mining in a country such as South Africa. Many hundreds of thousands of people are employed in the underground sector. Not only do they find employment there, but for a significant proportion of them, their earnings form one of the major incomes for the country from whence they come. Indeed, one of the major sources of income of countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland and Mocambique, is the money earned by their hundreds of thousands of workers on the South African mines. What then, are the consequences of fully-automated mining? Again, one is accused of fanciful thinking, and yet, it is now technologically feasible to undertake a large amount of the mining activities with a minimum of human intervention. Even a reduction of 50% of the workforce will wreak total havoc in many areas of Southern Africa. Nevertheless, if the decision on whether to automate or not is left to a small group of persons who are really concerned only about the financial performance of a company, then, when the time is right technologically, excuses will undoubtedly be found for the introduction of automation. This is not fanciful thinking; it has happened in many countries of the world, in other sectors of the economy, although the scale has fortunately not been as massive as it could be in the case of mining. Think again, of the impact on many of those fishing villages on the West coast of the Cape Province, where thriving communities suddenly became starving communities as the big fishing fleets encroached on their traditional fishing areas. Modern techniques of refrigerated boats, which could stay out of port for extended times, simply rendered those local, tiny businesses redundant. Throughout the world, one finds examples of the havoc which has been wrought by the
Illtrodu cillg- :\utomatiull illto
introduction of technology without concern for the people concerned, justified always by grandiose economic reasons which might be valid, but which always somehow avoid the crucial issue of the little man at the bottom of the heap who suddenly finds himself without a job or, in many cases, an income. The socialist would naturally reply that everyone has a right to some form of income, and that therefore, the dole system should come into action - but again, is this correct? Isn't the experience more and more that there is somewhere, deep-seated, a need within man to see the fruits of his labours? Isn't there a significant need for people to work - not just simply to earn money, but as a very vi tal part of life itself ? There is no doubt that for some people, work is something they can do without, but I would estimate that in general, this is a minority view. Witness the behaviour of those tens of thousands of out-of-work youths in England, all of whom are supported by the dole system; their lives now revolve around playing TV games, watching television and wrecking the opposition supporters' club on Saturday afternoons. Witness too, the highly intelligent young man who can find employment only as a menial shunter or ticket collector - look in his eyes and see the frustration and resentment towards society. It can be argued that in many cases re-training schemes can offset the impacts of new technology. Indeed, many unions have successfully negotiated compulsory re-training programmes for their members. In certain areas such schemes have worked, but the realities of re-training must be appreciated. To transform, say, an artisan with 25 years' welding experience, into a computer/robot programmer is a mammoth task. The problem is compounded in a case where the "trainee" could be perhaps a 55-year-old petrol pump attendant with no formal education at all. Further, it has been shown (6) that in many cases, the theory of the redundant artisan becoming the skilled operator or programmer simply does not apply. The programming of, say, a robot is often better done by the engineer designing the system than by a shop-floor person. The premise that work is more than a means of earning money, and that it meets a deep-down human requirement, is at the core of this paper, bringing us back to the point that science and technology and their application must be all about mankind and meeting the needs of mankind. WHY AUTOMATION ? For the purposes of this thesis, automation can be defined as the use of electronic devices, controlled by a computer, in mechanical processes that would otherwise be controlled by human operators. (2) During the early days of automation, of course, this definition was very true, and early attempts at introducing the technology were aimed at fulfilling operational criteria which simply could not be met by human operators. So, for example, much of the early work in control theory rose directly out of the need to control position servo-mechanisms in aircraft and military
~[allufa cturillg-
2H7
applications. Naturally, automation was also introduced in controlling operations such as chemical plants, where necessary actions were too fast or were inaccessible to the operators. The space-age, of course, brought about the remote control of satellite positions etc. So, in general, it can be seen that early automation was aimed at providing a remote means of controlling an activity, simply because humans either could not react fast enough, or could not reach the site where the control was required. However, more recently, we are seeing automation being introduced in situations where a human operator can do the task, but simply cannot perform accurately or, possibly, fast enough. Automation appears to offer a solution in many cases where products take too long to be produced. Of course, this then raises the whole issue of why automation should be introduced. Clearly, one can justify automation on the basis that the human operator: cannot reach the site where control is required, or is not strong enough to fulfil the tasks required, or is not fast enough, or cannot take the environmental conditions, or cannot do the work accurately enough. What has, however, been forgotten in many cases, is that with additional training, the skills necessary to produce satisfactory results could be obtained. Again it has been a question of introducing solutions which have tremendous short-term benefits but which in the long-term are detrimental. This then leads us to question the whole basis for automation, particularly if we take the viewpoint that automation should really imply the utilisation of all possible scientific and technological knowledge as a means to improve a person's ability to perform in a given situation. A basic assumption of this paper is that the objective of any automation should indeed be to produce something which may be successfully marketed in a competitive market situation, bearing in mind the vital need to provide employment for those producing it. This, naturally, raises the issue of the marketing strategy. Whilst in a totally-protected economy, the consumer is offered no option and the "anything goes" approach will therefore predominate, in the capitalistic, western market (and, interestingly enough, to an increasing degree in certain communist societies) it is becoming very clear that to be successfully marketed, a product must be: at the right price, at the right time and of the right quality, and must meet the users' expectation A key to meeting these goals might be found in a comparison between the Western and Eastern philosophies of marketing. In the West, the marketing equation is stated as:
Selling Price=Manufacturing Cost+Profit The implication here is that the selling price is obtained simply by looking at the total manufacturing cost and adding the requisite profit! However, in the East, and particularly during the days when the Japanese industry was struggling to get off the ground, this equation underwent a slight mathematical modification. The equation essentially remains the same, but the philosophy behind it differs: Profit=Selling Price-Manufacturing Cost The implication here is that the selling price is fixed by the market. If, for example, the Japanese wish to sell a motor vehicle in the United States, they have to compete against a very large established market. Therefore, their vehicles have to be cost-competitive with those produced locally and indeed, must offer additional incentives to purchasers. The profit, therefore, which results from selling a vehicle, is determined directly by the manufacturing costs, but there is always the rider that the quality of manufacturing cannot suffer in order to bring the manufacturing costs down, otherwise the product would be unacceptable. So the key, then, is the need to get manufacturing costs down, but wi th improved quality. Indeed, this is the situation which is facing the South African market. The attitude that "it must be better because it is imported", which prevails throughout the consumer market in South Africa is brought about by the realities of the situation. Not only can we not compete from a cost point-of-view, but in most cases, our quality is seriously lacking. The question then is, how does one get the manufacturing cost down whilst providing the highest possible quality? The interesting key to resolving this question comes again from comparing the Western attitude to the Eastern. In the West, the attitude appears to have been that where there is a problem (because of an ineffective worker), the solution is simply to replace him, at whatever cost, by automation. In the East, however, one sees a different approach despite what the superficial evidence indicates. There is considerable evidence that the Eastern philosophy towards automation has been to attempt, wherever possible, to improve the ineffective worker's performance by means of automation, rather than simply to replace him; the key being that automation should be used to make workers as effective as possible and not simply to make them redundant. It cannot be denied that the Japanese philosophy towards life is very important in this consideration. There is ample evidence in many European and American companies, that in fact, dedication to the company's success is as strong as in many Japanese organisations. THE TOTAL SYSTEM APPROACH According to authors Hayes and Wheelwright (3) the steady decline in America's productive capacity and ability to compete in foreign markets can be blamed on the professional "fast track" manager: a
person who has figured out how to get ahead quickly, without learning much about the company's products or manufacturing techniques. He is more adept with monthly financial reports, the "bottom line" his managers watch so carefully, and less concerned with developing long-term strategy. U.S. companies have increasingly turned to people with legal, financial, and accounting backgrounds to fill their top positions. These managers tend to remain aloof from product and manufacturing detail in fact they are normally more interested in buying other companies than in selling their own products. As the authors point out, the basic fallacy is the notion that there is no need to invest, to build or to develop anything yourself. With capital and "good" financial management, anything can be bought and any problem simply sold away. Manufactur ing superiority however, the ability to "make it better" (as has been so successfully demonstrated by the Japanese), is a long, tough, competitive game, which does not produce quick results. Management has to be involved in manufacturing, and automation can contribute enormously. Engineers have to play a leading role in the overall business strategy instead of being merely consulted from time to time. As has been pointed out, the best Japanese engineers go into manufacturing and are constantly briefed as to the latest technology, which they are urged to exploit at all times. There can be little doubt that automation in manufacturing can be totally effective only if the whole system is made as effective as possible. There is no point for example, in a company's replacing a welder who happens to be inefficient by buying a robot at vast expense if in fact that welder contributes only a minute proportion of the total value of the product being produced. Indeed, there is much evidence to show that in many manufacturing systems, a considerable gain in the overall productivity of an operation can be achieved simply by re-organising the manufacturing operation. Simple philosophies produced by the Japanese, such as "Just-in-Time", can be far more effective than the introduction of a whole robotised production line. Just-in-Time, for example, requires an attitude of mind which says that the whole factory is dedicated to one goal - that of producing a marketable product; it requires each person in a team to be as effective as possible, and management to ensure that workers remain totally effective. Thus, the worker who has to walk half-a-kilometre to collect a box of nuts before he can complete his task, is ineffective, and in this case the management has let him down. Likewise, the worker who is incompletely trained cannot be expected to perform adequately. Everyone depends on everyone else for totally-efficient production. Products should flow smoothly down a line and people should be totally happy in their working surroundings, and not undergo the frustrations of sitting around for hours waiting for something to do because there is a blockage up-stream. If this blockage is caused by the delay in the delivery of a component by an outside supplier, then that outside supplier must himself fall
Introducing .\utolll
into line and must be persuaded, maybe by such drastic methods as sole supply agreements, to deliver on time, in quanti ties as and when required, eliminating the need for large warehouses. It cannot be denied that any manufacturing system, regardless of the area of operation, is a very complex process and involves many steps, from the shop floor right to top management. Each and every one of these must be carefully examined in order to improve the operation. Simply automating one part of the system can have little or no benefit and indeed, because of adverse reactions of certain workers, can in fact have a detrimental effect.
TABLE 1
POSSIBLE PROBLEM
Each worker's task must be examined. Table I gives examples of some of the possible solutions to problems. In each case, it is a question of examining how effective the person is and what can be done to improve his situation and make him as efficient as possible. The impact of a worker's personal happiness and contentment within the workplace must never be underestimated. The fundamental problem is to assess the needs in any situation and to come up with the appropriate way of meeting these needs. THE INTRODUCTION OF ROBOTICS Robots have unfortunately had a disastrous introduction to the world. Film producers have seized upon some of their characteristics and have created the myth of the humanoid robot which rivals man and in fact, exceeds him in many ways. Thus the "R2D2" or "Twicky" robot is the picture envisaged by most people when the word "robot" is mentioned. There can be little doubt that the prospective introduction of a robot into a factory makes the workers understandably very apprehensive. Indeed, in many situations, robots have been used as a threat to workers - that unless they improve their
POSSIBLE SOLUTION
SHOP WORKER 1.
Job too heavy
2.
Job too dirty Job requires long walk
3•
4. Thus, in order to improve the operation of a factory a complete, global viewpoint of the operation must be undertaken, and the complete flow through the plant fully understood and investiga ted. Having optimised the flow wherever possible, then each person's activities within that operation must be carefully examined and personal contributions to the product evaluated and made as effective as possible. This examination is not just at shop floor level, but indeed goes right through to management. It might, in many cases, simply involve re-training; but it also requires other attitudinal questions to be addressed. The attitude towards quality, for example, is very important; the old concept of inspecting continually down a line has been shown to be very questionable. Again, the Japanese philosophy is to ensure that each worker is aware of his role in the total operation, and for the workers to inspect their products themselves. Indeed, many factories in the East now simply inspect (if necessary) incoming components and carry out one final inspection at the end of the line. Down the line, each worker is responsible for quality control. Machines and machine tools are carefully monitored automatically where necessary, rather than monitoring the product that they are turning out.
Possible Solutions to Manufacturing Problems
5.
Uncomfortable working Large number of different parts
1. Employ overhead crane or robot 2. Introduce a robot 3. Provide automatic materials handling system or direct delivery by supplier. 4. Relocate work place 5. Colour-code parts or provide direct feedback via computer inspection system
DESIGN ENGINEER 1. Many tedious
calculations 2. Large number of technical drawings and documentation
1. Purchco.se
appropriate computer packages 2. Introduce adequate computer aided design system
MANAGER 1. Insufficient
production information 2. Insufficient market information 3. Continual strikes
1. Introduce plant-wide data acquisition system 2. Provide on-going market survey facility 3. Train managers, and examine deepseated reasons.
performance, they will be "replaced" by the robot. Given that many workers do not have the skills to perform properly, there is no doubt that much of the adverse reaction towards robtics was only to be expected. However, the true situation is that the current robot, and indeed the robots of maybe the next fifty years or so, are merely mechanical manipulators which can be programmed to do tedious tasks extremely effectively and extremely accurately. Robots have neither the intelligence of the worker, nor, particularly, his adaptability. They can, of course, work in situations in which the human cannot and hence can be used very advantageously in situations, as mentioned previously, in which the human cannot perform adequately. According to Nitzan (4), appropriate robot applications can be ranked as follows: 1. Lethal 2. Harmful
- high-radiation area - paint-spraying, handling toxic chemicals 3. Hazardous combat, fire-fighting 4. Strenous - heavy loads, visual inspection 5. Noisy - forging, riveting - sorting, assembling 6. Dull
Simply to replace a human by a robot because the human goes on strike, is an invalid reason for introducing a robot.
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However, to introduce the robot into a situation where the human cannot take the environmental conditions or simply cannot produce fast or accurately enough, are valid reasons. However, in the latter case, the motivation for robot introduction must be examined very carefully. If the human cannot perform fast enough, then why not introduce five humans? Of course, the economics might make this impossible and this again would be a valid reason. However, the point being made here is that the robot should not just be seen as a means of doing away with human labour. Indeed, unless we can accept that the robot is only one of many electro-mechanical mechanisms available to assist the worker, then we shall not be able to justify to ourselves and to our future generations, why we deliberately put humans out of work. Of course, this is still a very simplistic reason, but one which is extremely important to understand very clearly. My thesis is that automation is a vital tool in ensuring the on-going progress of the human race. We cannot avoid striving for higher efficiency in our manufacturing sector. Not to automate as a general policy is naive and totally irrational. Only if we were capable of controlling the actions of the rest of the world and indeed, of controlling the natural aspirations of man, could we adopt a policy of simply doing away with automation. We have to acknowledge that it is inherent in the human character to work and to be useful and productive within society. This has been proved time and time again. To strive towards a society in which all the work is done by machines, is just not going to be acceptable to the bulk of humanity. CONCLUSIONS The march of technology has been seen as inevitable. We often hear that certain technologies will be introduced whether we 1 ike it or not. This has been shown, particularly over recent times, to be totally a fallacious theory. Take for example, the current tide of opinion against nuclear energy. Examining this tide very carefully one sees that most sensible intelligent thinkers are not saying nuclear energy is not viable, they are onl y saying that the technology is not read y at the moment for successful introduction. Other even more dramatic examples of the rejection of a technology are all around us. The decline in the home computer market is one. Some years ago, one of the promoters of the personal computer claimed that every household in the world would soon have its own home computer. This has been proved to be incorrect, as is witnessed by the demise of many of the personal-computer manufacturers. There is no doubt that the personal computer is an important development, and many homes will make use of it. On the other hand, many will not, and it is not simply a matter of cost. Restaurants with high-quality waiters and waitresses still exist, despite the fact that food can be served via slot machines. The automatic vending of food, whilst useful for fast foods at railway stations, has certainl y not replaced the many fine restaurants throughout the world which continue to flourish and grow. Even the famous MacDonalds still front their
operation by personal delivery of food, where they could handle the whole operation by conveyor belts and computers. The microelectronics era, more than anything else, has given us the ability to choose between technologies. It has also given us the ability to control the technologies, and has provided us with previously unthought-of methods of rapid communication between people, and between people and machines. It has also effectively shrunk the world markets. With highly-efficient transportation methods, countries are free to export wherever their goods will find a ready market. In such a competitive situation, every country has to look at its production methods and there can be no doubt that automation will play an ever-increasing role in making industry more efficient. However, we have the ability to assess carefully where to automate and how this can best be done, always bearing in mind that behind every human activity are the humans themselves. In an address to the student body California Institute of Technology 1938, Albert Einstein said (5):
of in
"It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessing. Concern for man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours, concern for the great unsolved problems of the organisation of labour, the distribution of goods - in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations." ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to all his former co-workers in the MechaTronics Research Programme of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and especially Gerald Bloch, the deputy Director and Simone Shall. REFERENCES (1)
The Macmillian Encyclopedia, 1981, Macmilli a n, pp.413.
(2)
The Macmillian Encyclopedia, 1981 Macmillian, pp.99.
(3)
Hayes, R. and Wheelwright, S. (1985), Restoring our Competitive Edge: Competing through Manufacturing, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
(4)
Nitzan, D. (1985), Development of Intelligent Robots: Achievements and Issues, IEEE, J. of Robotic s , Vol. RA-1, No. 1.
(5)
Shapley, H. (Ed), (1954), A Treasury of Science, Angus and Robertson, pp.40.
(6)
Shall,S. (1985), The Implications of Introducing Robots into Industry, MSc Report, University of the Witwatersrand.