Advantages and disadvantages
Automation or "automatic control", is the use of different control systems for a big selection in a very different coverage. For example operating equipment like machinery, industrial systems, boilers, ovens, steering and stabilization of ships, telephone networks, aircraft, cars, the street network and many other applications without human intervention. Some of these processes are completely automatized. Because of the automation there are many advantages, but we do not have to forget the disadvantages. On the one hand it's very safe for the employees in comparison with a machine, which works in very different and dangerous work spaces. Furthermore the machine works accurate the most time and a few times faster than a "human" employee. The biggest benefit of a "mechanical employee" is the money that would be saved in the long term. On the other hand many employees lost their occupation and their standard of living. Pupils only learn how to work with machines and control systems like personal computers. Because of this, the large part of the humans do not know how the obvious things are built and where they come from. Nevertheless every machine needs a human employee who controls and services it. Furthermore every machine can break down and that is in most cases very expensive. Industrial automation deals primarily with the automation of manufacturing, quality control and material handling processes. General purpose controllers for industrial processes include programmable logic controllers and computers. One trend is increased use of machine vision to provide automatic inspection and robot guidance functions, another is a continuing increase in the use of robots.
What is the meaning of automation???
One understands by automation the entire mechanised realisation of works with the help of machines which are able to carry out independent one or several working steps without human closing.
Automation is the use of control systems for operating systems into the use of industry.
If you start to automate something, then this process will give you a special success.
You can safe much money and a lot of worktime for your employees if you start to automate special processes.
In the following text I want to tell you something about automation.
An other word for automation is automatic control.The meaning of automation is the using of control systems for the mechanic industry.
The intention is the reduction of human intervention, so that the most procceses in industrieys have been completely automated.The biggest benefit of automation is that it saves labor, however, it is also used to save energy and materials and to improve quality, accuracy and precision.
The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic, was not widely used before 1947, when General Motors established the automation department.It was during this time that industry was rapidly adopting feedback controllers, which were introduced in the 1930s.
Engineer of automation
Engineers for automatic control engineering develop and look after systems which steer technical processes automatically.
They lead the assembly and introduction and supervise the company of the arrangements.
Among the rest, besides they are active in product development and distribution, in the technical customer advisory service, the working preparation and quality assurance as well as in the company organisation.
History
In 1745, the English blacksmith Edmund Lee invented an early device for automation, so that windmills turn independently in the wind.
With the advances in mechanics and new propulsion technologies such as the steam engine, the era of industrialization came up. Mass production in factories became possible. Animal and human power was increasingly replaced by motors.
1787 Edmund Cartwright sat first automatic looms, which he developed himself. They were the first automatic machines for industrial production.
The discovery of electricity and inventions of electrical engineering (19th century) enabled the decentralization of production, it was possible to send power over long distances.
First attempts were made to use electricity for measuring and controlling.
In the 20th century, the automation expanded with the fridge as the successor of the refrigerator on households. The heating system was automated through thermostatic radiator valves.
Innovations in electronics, in particular the development of transistors led to the drastic reduction of electrical circuits.
The development of integrated circuits eventually led to the devices could be fitted easily with logic. Digital technology has been the preferred means of automation.
Computer technology pioneered a technological development that lead to an overall increase automation in the production of industrial robots, fully automatic production lines or techniques such as pattern recognition in artificial intelligence.
As a result of automation often go to job losses.
A historical example of this is the redundancies in the American telephone companies in which lost due to the introduction of
the automated election system, a large number of telephone operators her job.
Why Automation is Important
Think about the cell phone and computer you use every day to do your job. Think about the car you drive to take to work. Think about the food you eat; water you drink; clothes you wear; and appliances you use to store, prepare, and clean them. Think about the television you watch, video games you play, or music system you listen to. Think about the buildings you visit.Think about any modern convenience or necessity. Just about anything you can think of is the result of complex processes. Without talented individuals to design, build, improve, and maintain these processes, these technological advances would never have occurred and future innovations would be impossible. Without automation professionals, our world and our future would be very different.
Automation do and will continue to play a crucial role in protecting us from cyber-attack; enhancing our quality of life; and ensuring the reliability, efficiency, safety, constant improvement, and competitiveness of our electric power systems, transportation systems, manufacturing operations, and industry as a whole. Without these individuals, we cannot advance into the future.
More than ever, businesses must pursue strategies that reduce costs, save time, and increase efficiency. Automation is a key tactic businesses often overlook when seeking ways get an edge over the competition. Automation in business is important to all businesses no matter the size. Smaller firms lack the armies of developers, contractors, and IT gurus that large conglomerates have at their disposal. This are few reasons why Automation is Important.
Automation in Industry
Nowadays automation plays a big role in the industry. The big companies start using robot or other automatic things for the sake of better production. It surely increases the efficiency and also costs lower than human-based kind of production. It may seems like a big investment at the beginning, but after few years the company is going to gain more profit than before, thanks to the automation. The increasing usage of automation in the industry is the result of technology's drastic development, particularly in 21st century. Because of the new level of technology, automation take bigger part in many parts of world, mainly in the industry.
Although this seems like a good thing for the factory, it could actually be a double-edged sword for them. First, unlike human, computers could not improvise. When the system broke, the production stops for few minutes or even hours waiting for the computers to get fixed. The loss is unimaginable, it varies from the unfinished shoes or foods for example, to the high cost of reparation, if the computer is severely damaged. Second, more and more people lose, or don't even get a job due to lack of human needs in the industry. It ruins the system, might as well causing demonstration from the labors, which could end up as a massive chaos.
As a solution, perhaps the industry could include automation as big part of production without forgetting the number of labors. It may not be good for one or both, but at least that is a pretty fair solution.
Types of automation
One of the simplest types of control is on-off control. An example is the thermostats used on household appliances. Although technically it is a form of automation, its capabilities are primitive. Sequence control, in which a programmed sequence of discreteoperations is performed, often based on system logic that involves system states. An elevator control system is an example of sequence control. The advanced type of automation that revolutionized manufacturing, aircraft, communications and other industries, is feedback control, which is usually continuous and involves taking measurements using a sensorand making calculated adjustments to keep the measured variable within a set range.
Computer control:
Computers can perform both sequential control and feedback control, and typically a single computer will do both in an industrial application.Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) are a type of special purpose microprocessor that replaced many hardware components such as timers and drum sequencers used in relay logic type systems. General purpose process control computers have increasingly replaced stand alone controllers, with a single computer able to perform the operations of hundreds of controllers. Process control computers can process data from a network of PLCs, instruments and controllers in order to implement typical (such as PID) control of many individual variables or, in some cases, to implement complex control algorithms using multiple inputs and mathematical manipulations. They can also analyze data and create real time graphical displays for operators and run reports for operators, engineers and management.
Advantages of automation
- reduced human labor costs
- improved quality and increased predictability of quality
- discharge of the person of heavy physical or monotonous work
- reduction of the false production
- For example robots are often used in more dangerous applications or in extremely repetitive actions, because that can be ergonomically problematic for human worker. So this kind of work is more safety for human worker.
- Increased Productivity
- Consistency, Reliability, and Accuracy. This is a key advantage of automated equipment. The most favorite pros of automation is that he human error element is greatly reduced. It consequences that there are less work accidents.
Furthermore providing assurance that parts and components will be of consistent high quality.
- High Volume Production
- Increase in Safety
- Reduction in production time, because machinery and equipment is faster than human worker
Disadvantages of automation
- high initial cost
- an automated system has not the intelligence by some risks a human could react faster then a machine
- the research and development cost of automating a process may exceed the cost saved by the automation itself
- Less versatility, because machines are not so flexible like a human worker
- More pollution, because machines causes an increase of gases or chemicals
- Large initial investment at the beginning of automation. Automated machines are very expensive. The costs are often nearly a million dollars.
- Increase in unemployment, because human workers are no longer required
- Unpredictable costs in maintenance and repair of machines or robots
Important discoveries for the automation
1785 Edmond Cartwright invented the full-mechanised loom.
1913 Henry Ford develops the first assembly-line production
1941 Konrad Zuse develops the Z3 calculator.
The computer age begins.
1969 Richard Morley and Odo J. Struger build the first control SPS
Automation tools
Engineers can now have numerical control over automated devices. The result has been a rapidly expanding range of applications and human
activities. Computer-aided technologies (or CAx) now serve as the basis for mathematical and organizational tools used to create complex systems.
Notable examples of CAx include Computer-aided design (CAD software) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM software). The improved design,
analysis, and manufacture of products enabled by CAx has been beneficial for industry.
Information technology, together with industrial machinery and processes, can assist in the design, implementation, and monitoring of control
systems. One example of an industrial control system is a programmable logic controller (PLC). PLCs are specialized hardened computers which are
frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events.
An automated online assistant on a website, with an avatar for enhanced human–computer interaction.
Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate
with PLCs and other computers. Service personnel who monitor and control through HMIs can be called by different names. In industrial process
and manufacturing environments, they are called operators or something similar. In boiler houses and central utilities departments they are
called stationary engineers.
Different types of automation tools exist:
ANN - Artificial neural network
DCS - Distributed Control System
HMI - Human Machine Interface
SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
PLC - Programmable Logic Controller
Instrumentation
Motion control
Robotics
