Automation equipment

Automation (ancient Greek: = self dictated), roboticization or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention.[1] In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Processes and systems can also be automated.

Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.

Many roles for humans in industrial processes presently lie beyond the scope of automation. Human-level pattern recognition, language recognition, and language production ability are well beyond the capabilities of modern mechanical and computer systems. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory data, such as scents and sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as strategic planning, currently require human expertise. In many cases, the use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches even where automation of industrial tasks is possible.

Specialised hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events. This leads to precisely controlled actions that permit a tight control of almost any industrial process.

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, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response. Service personnel who monitor and control these interfaces are often referred to as stationary engineers.[2]

Automation has had a notable impact in a wide range of highly visible industries beyond manufacturing. Once-ubiquitous telephone operators have been replaced largely by automated telephone switchboards and answering machines. Medical processes such as primary screening in electrocardiography 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 agrarian to industrial in the 19th century and from industrial to services in the 20th century.[3]

The widespread impact of industrial automation raises social issues, among them its impact on employment. Historical concerns about the effects of automation date back to the beginning of the industrial revolution, when a social movement of English textile machine operators in the early 1800s known as the Luddites protested against Jacquard's automated weaving looms[4] ? often by destroying such textile machines? that they felt threatened their jobs. One author made the following case. When automation was first introduced, it caused widespread fear. It was thought that the displacement of human operators by computerized systems would lead to severe unemployment.

Critics of automation contend that increased industrial automation causes increased unemployment; this was a pressing concern during the 1980s. One argument claims that this has happened invisibly in recent years, as the fact that many manufacturing jobs left the United States during the early 1990s was offset by a one-time massive increase in IT jobs at the same time. Some authors argue that the opposite has often been true, and that automation has led to higher employment. Under this point of view, the freeing up of the labour force has allowed more people to enter higher skilled managerial as well as specialised consultant/contractor jobs (like cryptographers), which are typically higher paying. One odd side effect of this shift is that "unskilled labour" is in higher demand in many first-world nations, because fewer people are available to fill such jobs..

At first glance, automation might appear to devalue labor through its replacement with less-expensive machines; however, the overall effect of this on the workforce as a whole remains unclear. Today automation of the workforce is quite advanced, and continues to advance increasingly more rapidly throughout the world and is encroaching on ever more skilled jobs, yet during the same period the general well-being and quality of life of most people in the world (where political factors have not muddied the picture) have improved dramatically. What role automation has played in these changes has not been well studied.

Currently, for manufacturing companies, the purpose of automation has shifted from increasing productivity and reducing costs, to broader issues, such as increasing quality and flexibility in the manufacturing process.

The old focus on using automation simply to increase productivity and reduce costs was seen to be short-sighted, because it is also necessary to provide a skilled workforce who can make repairs and manage the machinery. Moreover, the initial costs of automation were high and often could not be recovered by the time entirely new manufacturing processes replaced the old. (Japan's "robot junkyards" were once world famous in the manufacturing industry.)

Automation is now often applied primarily to increase quality in the manufacturing process, where automation can increase quality substantially. For example, automobile and truck pistons used to be installed into engines manually. This is rapidly being transitioned to automated machine installation, because the error rate for manual installment was around 1-1.5%, but has been reduced to 0.00001% with automation. Hazardous operations, such as oil refining, the manufacturing of industrial chemicals, and all forms of metal working, were always early contenders for automation.

Another major shift in automation is the increased emphasis on flexibility and convertibility in the manufacturing process. Manufacturers are increasingly demanding the ability to easily switch from manufacturing Product A to manufacturing Product B without having to completely rebuild the production lines. Flexibility and distributed processes have led to the introduction of Automated Guided Vehicles with Natural Features Navigation.

Automation equipment　　オートメーション化

オートメーション化により、機械装置が人間などの他の力を必要としないで、能動的に作動することをいう。

何らかの機械装置が人（あるいはそれ以外の動物）の手を介さずに動作することを言うが、どの程度の動作をするかは同じ「自動」を関する装置でも、その種類によってまちまちである。

これらは一定の動作を行う上で動力を利用する場合もあれば、一定の操作による機械要素の状態変化を利用して、所定の動きを行うものもみられる。それらは単純なものでは規定範囲内で動作を繰り返すものではあるが、複雑なものともなると与えられた条件で内部機能を切替え、それら条件に対応するよう設計されたものも見られる。

性質としての自動は、上に述べたとおり曖昧で、機械装置の種類によってもまちまちである。

当初の自動機器は、もっぱら実用品よりもその珍奇性を求めるために莫大な労力と富を投入して作られるものであった。これは産業の上で自動機器を導入するよりも、単に人員を雇用したほうが汎用性があったためであり、産業革命以前では大量生産の必然性も無く、すべてにおいて設計と制作にコストが掛かる機械装置で行うよりも、手作業で行ったほうが効率的であったためである。

しかし産業革命以降、着実に大量生産の必要性は増し、その一方で人力で何でも済ませるには人的コストが掛かるようになると、経済的な省力化を目的とした自動化が求められた。また大衆全体の生活の質が向上するに従って、快適性を目的にした自動化が求められていった。

次第に危険であったり過酷であるため人力での作業が困難な状況では安全確保のために自動機器の導入が進み、また単純であったり繰り返しの作業ではコスト削減と高速化のためにも自動化が進み、また快適性を求める上では煩わしいとか面倒臭いといった類の活動も自動化されている。その多くでは人の労力を自動機器が肩代わりすることで、より効率的な活動が可能となっている。

主に経営学や生産技術や業務の分野で経済的合理性に基づく目的で行われる自動化。産業の技術革新の要請から発達した。同じ人員のままで生産力を引き上げたり、より少ない人員で生産量を一定に保つときにしばしば自動化技術が導入される。省力化は、時には従来、生産や業務に携わっていた人が大幅に不要になる水準にまで進歩することもあり、産業革命期にもラッダイト運動が起こるなどしばしば衝突の要因にもなった。

人力による動作や手動（単独）による操作を簡略化あるいは全自動化して快適なものにする。あるいは、手動操作では一定の学習や熟練を必要とするものを自動制御に置き換えることでユーザビリティを向上させる。生産技術の効率化とは必ずしも直接結びついていない点で経済的な省力化と異なる。商品やサービスの発達にともなって付加価値を上げる目的で導入されることが多い。

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