Industrial Automation Poised to Disrupt the Manufacturing Sector
Published on : Wednesday 20-05-2020
The global manufacturing industry is witnessing a change and entering the world of smart factories and automated manufacturing. Although, the industry experts predicted that it could worsen the manual operations.
Industrial automation is a successful approach to increase efficiency and drive down complexity, only if the human effort and machine collaborate in a better way. There is a wide increase in the innovation and development of automation technologies, owing to the increase in demand for new production models and levels of efficiency.
For instance, when automation and robotics are implemented appropriately, it can significantly improve the average production capabilities along with lowering the production lead times. Such a factor is the main reason for the companies incorporating automation technologies as an alternative to traditional assembly lines.
Automotive Industry – In the past few years, the automotive OEMs such as General Motors, Tesla, and Toyota have been at the forefront of automation through integrating autonomous and semi-autonomous robotic machinery in the production lines. The auto assembly plants are formerly using robotic technology for years; and now, automation is marking its steps in the vehicle manufacturing industry. The automation is applied to the whole supply chain of production plants, integrated with data mining algorithms and data annotation to work as Just-in-Time production. Moreover, it offers flexibility and agility to cater to the demand shifts through preventing production waste and cost. For instance, Tesla Inc. presented the concept of super automated vehicle producing factories.
Electronics Industry – There is a rapid growth in demand for smartphones, television, and industrial electronics across the globe. To meet the high consumption, the manufacturers are adopting the robotic process automation (RPA). Moreover, the increase in daily labor wages in emerging economies, such as China, is increasing the penetration rate for RPA across the production lines. For instance, Foxconn, a leading electronics giant, aims to automate 30% of its production lines by 2020.
In conclusion, the manufacturing industries witness a high degree of precision and reduced production errors through automation and robotics. Also, the rise in demand for eliminating delays, preventing accidents and production errors, and creating new business paradigms, automation technologies are widely influential for the manufacturing industry in the current industry scenario.