Automation.
Publié le 11/05/2013
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Not all industries require the same degree of automation.
Agriculture, sales, and some service industries are difficult to automate.
The agriculture industry may becomemore mechanized, especially in the processing and packaging of foods; however, in many service industries such as supermarkets, for example, a checkout countermay be automated and the shelves or supply bins must still be stocked by hand.
Similarly, doctors may consult a computer to assist in diagnosis, but they must makethe final decision and prescribe therapy.
The concept of automation is evolving rapidly, partly because the applications of automation techniques vary both within a plant or industry and also between industries.The oil and chemical industries, for example, have developed the continuous-flow method of production, owing to the nature of the raw materials used.
In a refinery,crude oil enters at one point and flows continuously through pipes in cracking, distillation, and reaction devices as it is being processed into such products as gasolineand fuel oil.
An array of automatic-control devices governed by microprocessors and coordinated by a central computer is used to control valves, heaters, and otherequipment, thereby regulating both the flow and reaction rates.
In the steel, beverage, and canned food industries, on the other hand, some of the products are produced in batches.
For example, a steel furnace is charged (loadedwith the ingredients), brought up to heat, and a batch of steel ingots produced.
In this phase very little automation is evident.
These ingots, however, may then beprocessed automatically into sheet or structural shapes by being squeezed through a series of rollers until the desired shape is achieved.
See Iron and Steel Manufacture.
The automobile and other consumer product industries use the mass production techniques of step-by-step manufacture and assembly.
This technique approximatesthe continuous-flow concept but involves transfer machines; thus, from the point of view of the auto industry, transfer machines are essential to the definition ofautomation.
See Automobile Industry.
Each of these industries uses automated machines in all or part of its manufacturing processes.
As a result, each industry has a concept of automation that fits itsparticular production needs.
More examples can be found in almost every phase of commerce.
The widespread use of automation and its influence on daily life providesthe basis for the concern expressed by many about the influence of automation on society and the individual.
VI AUTOMATION AND SOCIETY
Automation has made a major contribution toward increases in both free time and real wages enjoyed by most workers in industrialized nations.
Automation has greatlyincreased production and lowered costs, thereby making automobiles, refrigerators, televisions, telephones, and other goods available to more people.
It has allowedproduction and wages to increase, and at the same time the work week has decreased in most Western countries from 60 to 40 hours.
A Employment
Not all the results of automation have been positive, however.
Some commentators argue that automation has caused overproduction and waste, that it has createdalienation among workers, and that it generates unemployment.
Of these issues, the relationship between automation and unemployment has received the mostattention.
Employers and some economists argue that automation has little if any effect on unemployment—that workers are displaced rather than dismissed and areusually employed in another position within the same company or in the same position at another company that has not automated.
Some claim that automation generates more jobs than it displaces.
They point out that although some laborers may become unemployed, the industry producing theautomated machinery generates more jobs than were eliminated.
The computer industry is often cited to illustrate this claim.
Business executives would agree thatalthough the computer has replaced many workers, the industry itself has generated more jobs in the manufacturing, sales, and maintenance of computers than thedevice has eliminated.
On the other hand, some labor leaders and economists argue that automation causes unemployment and, if left unchecked, will breed a vast army of unemployed thatcould disrupt the entire economy.
They contend that growth in government-generated jobs and in service industries has absorbed those who became unemployed dueto automation, and that as soon as these areas become saturated or the programs reduced, the true relationship between automation and unemployment will becomeknown.
B Automation and the Individual
The effect of automation on the individual has been more drastic.
The worker is either displaced or unemployed.
Workers who remain must operate or maintaintechnologically advanced machines, and they may also be required to monitor more of the plant operation and to make on-the-spot decisions.
Thus, the education andexperience levels of these workers are considerably above those of the workers who were displaced.
Many researchers have described the effect that Detroit automation has on the individual worker as one of alienation.
Excessive absenteeism, poor workmanship, andproblems of alcoholism, drug addiction, and sabotage of the production lines are well-documented symptoms of this alienation.
Many studies have been made since the1930s, and all conclude that much of the alienation is due to the workers' feelings of being controlled by the machine (because workers must keep pace with theassembly line), boredom caused by repetitious work, and the unchallenging nature of work that requires only a minimum of skill.
The number of workers in more automated industries, especially those using continuous flow processes, tends to be small, and the capital investment in equipment perworker is high.
The most dramatic difference between these industries and those using Detroit automation is the reduction in the number of semiskilled workers.
Itwould appear then that automation has little use for unskilled or semiskilled workers, their skills being the most easily replaced by automated devices.
The labor forceneeded in an automated plant consists primarily of such skilled workers as maintenance engineers, electricians, and toolmakers, all of whom are necessary to keep theautomated machinery in good operating order.
See also Technology.
Contributed By:Michael N.
BeselMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
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