Automation

Automation is the use of machines, control system and information technology to optimize productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. The correct incentive for applying automation is to increase productivity, and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of scale, and/or realize predictable quality levels. In the scope of industrial, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators withmachinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements while increasing load capacity, speed, and repeatability. Automation plays an increasingly important role in theworld economy  and in daily experience.

Automation has had a notable impact in a wide range of industries beyond manufacturing (where it began). Once-ubiquitous telephone operator have been replaced largely by automated telephone switchboards and answering machines. Medical processes such as primary screening inelectrocardiography or radiography and laboratory analysis of human genes, sera, cells, and tissues are carried out at much greater speed and accuracy by automated systems. Automated teller machines have reduced the need for bank visits to obtain cash and carry out transactions. In general, automation has been responsible for the shift in the world economy from industrial jobs to service jobs in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton), was not widely used before 1947, when General Motors established the automation department. At that time automation technologies were electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic. Between 1957 and 1964 factory output nearly doubled while the number of blue collar workers started to decline.

Advantage and disadvantage

The main advantages of automation are:

Increased throughput or productivity.

Improved quality or increased predictability of quality.

Improved robustness (consistency), of processes or product.

Increased consistency of output.

Reduced direct human labor costs and expenses.

The main disadvantages of automation are:

Security Threats/Vulnerability: An automated system may have a limited level of intelligence, and is therefore more susceptible to committing errors outside of its immediate scope of knowledge (e.g., it is typically unable to apply the rules of simple logic to general propositions).

Unpredictable/excessive development costs: The research and development cost of automating a process may exceed the cost saved by the automation itself.

High initial cost: The automation of a new product or plant typically requires a very large initial investment in comparison with the unit cost of the product, although the cost of automation may be spread among many products and over time