Automation of Industrial Processes

Posted by Thomas Shaw on October 7th, 2021

The rapid expansion of a massive international industry needs the industrial sector to optimize production processes to attain a higher marketplace share and increase competitiveness. To achieve this, engineering has promoted the development of locations for instance mechanics, electronics and robotics to handle and consolidate the automation of industrial processes. Get more info about Michigan automation company



Automation is the implementation of intelligent systems and technologies to operate machinery and control production processes, irrespective of human operation in jobs that need higher effort and represent an enormous threat for the health and welfare of workers. Currently, you\'ll find 3 forms of automation in accordance with the degree of production and requires of a specific industry:



Fixed Automation:



Designed for large-scale manufacturing: A specialized machine or equipment is used to produce a part of a product or the product itself, in a fixed and continuous sequence. This sort of automation is excellent for making massive volumes of products that have a long-life cycle, an invariable design along with a broad customer demand. Its key limitations will be the high initial expense and the lack of flexibility of the equipment to adapt.



Programmable Automation:



Suitable for any smaller sized production volume, segmented by batches, programmable automation allows to change or reprogram the sequence of operation, by indicates of a software, to involve the variations on the product. Among essentially the most used equipment for this kind of automation are numerical control machines, robots and programmable logic controllers.



Flexible Automation:



Designed for an typical production level, flexible automation may be the extension of programmable automation. It reduces the programming time of your equipment and makes it possible for to alternate the elaboration of two products (in series) when mixing diverse variables. Flexibility refers towards the potential of teams to accept alterations inside the design and configuration with the product, hence decreasing fees for companies.



Positive aspects of Industrial Automation



Decreases manufacturing expenses

Increases the efficiency of the production process.

Speeds the response to market place demands.

Replaces the man with complex industrial processes that endanger his physical integrity

Favors business competitiveness.

Improves the security on the processes as well as the good quality in the production.



Disadvantages of Industrial Automation



Generates technological dependence

Requires a sizable initial investment

Lack of educated personnel to manage the equipment

Susceptibility to technological obsolescence

The resistance from the workers for the transform



One of your most important challenges in the implementation of automated systems in industries will be to balance the work carried out by computerized equipment and robots with the work performed by the operators. When technologies assists to optimize processes and limits human intervention, it does not replace it totally. The error is to associate industrial automation with unemployment because human presence is required for the management, supervision and control of complicated production processes.