1. INTRODUCTION
With the increased competition in global market and demand of
products both in quantity and quality, automation is becoming an
important tool to decrease the cost of production and increase the
productivity of an industry. With the development in computers, the
automation is not only applicable to control of the production processes
but also to the product design, production planning and process
designing. Examples are computer controlled machine tools, industrial
robots, computer aided design (CAD) units and flexible manufacturing
systems (FMS). Automation can be implemented into several areas of
manufacturing like Engineering Design, Manufacturing Planning,
Manufacturing Control, Factory Floor Automation etc.
The automation involves three logical steps- Mechanization,
Automation and Super Automation. The industries are presently heading
towards the super automation. Super Automation is the removal of complex
mental control tasks with the machines. In general automation
strengthens the economy of a country but it may eliminate the job
outright, parts of several jobs and worker's control over the rate
of output which results in the unemployment of the manpower.
2. STUDY AREA
The present work focuses on the parameter identification of
automation based on the Internal Scanning, External Scanning and
Competitive Positioning of the enterprise that a company must consider
while automating its manufacturing system and to evaluate the
performance. The main focus is on the industries which are involving
complex natures of production system like steel industry.
2.1 Objectives of Research Study:
The automation is becoming a necessity to the industries to deliver
better quality and variety of products at low cost to compete in the
global market. The industry has to design its production procedure so as
to produce its products at low cost and for this reason the industry is
bound to adopt automation. Although a number of researchers have
contributed to the assessment of automation needs but as due to
automation the requirement of manpower decreases and initial capital
investment increases a combined study is required to be done for
evaluating the extent of competence provided by automation to different
manufacturing enterprises. The present work focuses on identifying the
various parameters of automation. The major dimensions of parameters
are: -
1. What is present status & policies of the firm (Internal
Scanning)?
2. How the others are doing and what is available in the market
(External Scanning)?
3. How to make it more effective to earn competitiveness and
profitability (Competitive Positioning)?
2.2 Literature Review:
The most of the studies on automation has begun after World War II
when the globalization of the markets started and there was need of
providing a better quality of the products at a reasonable cost and at
increased level of demand to compete with the other organizations of
same type. The recent decade's research on automation has gained
headway with the development of electronics and computer industry and
various methods of automatic controls like fuzzy logic, neural networks
and artificial intelligence. A large number of papers had contributed to
the present work. The replacement of manpower with machines and its
effects like worker's training and manpower planning are also
significant factors (Leon C. Megginson, 1963) and (Richard H.P. Kraft,
1970). Reeve and others had focused their study on the steel sector and
interactive process model development was explained with the effects of
automation on steel industry (P. J. Reeve, A. F. MacAlister and T. S.
Bilkhu, 1999). Many researchers have considered that the increasing use
of computers in the manufacturing industries saves a potential amount of
human energy by reducing their mental task (C.A. Hudson, 1982 and Yutka
Yoshitani, 1980). To apply the use of computers the material and
engineering database is to be prepared and its careful analysis is
required (B. Malakooti, 1986). The firm size plays an important role in
the adoption of automation to a particular concern (Gian Carlo Cainarca,
Massimo G. Colombo, and Sergio Mariotti, 1990). The organizational
structure and its goals are also one of the deciding factors in
automation project (Jack R. Meredith, 1987). The safety of the process
automation at the designing stages and analysis of the possibilities of
failures should also be considered (A. Toola, 1993). With the
development of new technologies in control system like artificial
intelligence, adaptive control systems and fuzzy logic a number of
decisions are taken by the machines itself rather than by the operators.
To use such technologies in process control, the research has shifted to
the model development of the production processes involved in the total
production cycle. Because of the initial capital investment, the firm
must consider the life cycle, present method of production, available
alternate methods, demand and market analysis (Richard Jackson, Andrew
M. Tobias and K. Brian Haley, 1989) and (Angel Martinez Sanchez, 1991).
2.2.1 Internal Scanning:
For any organization going for the automation, has to undergo a
comprehensive study about its own present system. Due to large initial
capital investment, the organization must consider its organizational
policies, objectives, technological capabilities, operation control,
performance index and human aspects.
* Organizational Policies
Firm size plays an important role because it is difficult for small
scale industries to invest huge capital initially and also in case of
small scale industry the research within the company has not enough
space. Manufacturing enterprise sizes turn out to be positively
correlated to adoption rates of complex systematic innovations (Gian
Carlo Cainara, 1990). The organizational goals are another factor which
affects the automation. The short range plans is the key of achieving
the long range goals. The short term plans must be compatible with long
range goals (Jack R. Meredith, 1987).
* Objective Clarity
The organization must be clear about what percentage it can spend
on research and development of its sale and what kind of industrial
standards it wants to achieve? These are two major issues especially for
private enterprises which concentrate generally on their profit
maximization. There is a need to develop a strong R&D base in the
organization itself so that technology up gradation can take place
quickly, with minimal reliance on other sources. To meet these twin
objectives, investment in R&D will have to be increased (Rakesh
Narain and R. C. Yadav, 1997).
* Technological Capability
Technological capability includes the study of present status of
production system and the product variety the manufacturing enterprise
is producing. Innovation cycle plays an important role which includes
process and product innovation. Presently the concentration is shifting
from product to process innovation (Angel Martinez Sanchez, 1995). A
careful analysis of database and experimental data helps in finding the
possible alternates of automation in the existing production system (B.
Malakooti, 1986). Automation is blamed for posing risk and for
increasing the chance of human error in situations involving
disturbances; on the other hand, it is admitted that automation enables
sophisticated process control and handles the disturbances without human
interference (A. Toola, 1995). The integrated automation system can be
easily developed by modeling the production complexes as a composition
of components and by interrelating those components (Edgar Chacon,
Isabel Besembel, Flor Narciso, Jonas Montilva and Eliezer Colina, 2002)
and (S M Lee, R Harrison, A A West and M H Ong, 2007)
* Operation Control
With the advancement of control system various techniques like
adaptive control, fuzzy control and artificial intelligence system helps
in automation. In manufacturing enterprises the dynamic control of the
activities is done by controlling the process variables. Remote
operations permit an easier and more flexible configuration (S. L.
Jamsa-Jounela, 2001). A prerequisite for any automatic control system is
extreme accuracy during whole process (Kerim Cetinkaya, 2007). The use
of computers has enabled us to integrate the different processes
manufacturing and optimize the different activities and overall
production procedure (M. Eugene Merchant, 1983). A model has to be
developed for controlling the process parameters. The difficulties in
model development are Imperfect plant data, Time varying plants, Higher
order dynamics, Non-linearity, Complexity and Skills (A. A. Desrochers,
1982)
* Performance Index
Throughput and yield are two decision variables which give an idea
about the machine utilization and material utilization. Throughput
evaluates the number of hours for which the machine is engaged.
Throughput is limited by the slowest machine in line in the production
system and its control looks ahead of the production schedule. The
material utilization is measured by yield and is measure of tones output
to tones input. While considering saleable product prime yield is
considered (P. J. Reeve, A. F. MacAlister and T. S. Bilkhu, 1997). An
explicit relation between productivity, profitability and price recovery
factor is given by Alder: Profitability = Productivity X Price Recovery
Factor (Paul S. Alder, 1987) Turn over indicates the growth of an
industry and according to Sanchez growing industries are more
intensively automated than non-growing industries (Angel Martinez
Sanchez, 1995).
* Social Aspects
Automation is although replacing the human mental and physical
effort with machines but human aspects plays an important role in the
automation. Because change is not readily acceptable to the society so
comprehensive planning is required to make it possible that the labor
force working in the organization accept the automation process. The
existing worker's are to be motivated for adopting the new
automation system. Extrinsic motivation is financial incentive systems,
external working conditions, management techniques and human relations
while intrinsic motivation is about holistic approach, requirements,
cooperation, training and autonomy (T. Martin, E. Ulich and H. J.
Warnecke, 1990).
2.2.2 External Scanning:
The external scanning is the study about what is going on in the
world and what is present status of the industry? The organizations have
to consider the technological advancements, Govt. policies and legal
aspects and product life cycle to decide the future course of action.
* Technological Advancement
The company must be aware what are technological advancements in
hardware, software and system ware? Hardware means acquiring equipment
that will attain the short-range goals of the firm, yet be compatible
with and incorporate existing equipment as much as possible. Software is
typically considered to be the most difficult technical aspect of any
automation project. The probability of project completion on time and
within budget is primarily a function of the amount of new, unproven
software. The difficulty of compatibility between systems has made many
firms sensitive to the 'systems' issue. Factory automation is
essentially the task of taking standalone systems and integrating them
(Jack R. Meredith, 1987). Development of control system techniques like
neural network and artificial intelligence have made automation more
advanced. Adaptability and opacity are two major issues considered in
any automation project. Adaptability means the feasibility study and
opacity means the complexity of the automatic controls which makes a
worker to unable to understand the process overview (David A. Thurman,
David M. Brann and Christine M. Nitchell, 1997).
* Government Policies and Legal Aspects
The government policies, environmental awareness and labor unions
decide the future of automation in a particular industry. For example
the economic reforms initiated by the Government since 1991 have added
new dimensions to industrial growth in steel industry in particular.
Certain other policy measures such as reduction in import duty of
capital goods, convertibility of rupee on trade account, permission to
mobilize resources from overseas financial markets and rationalization
of existing tax structure for a period of time have also benefited the
Indian Steel Industry. With the increase in automation the employment
decreases because of the less demand of manpower. Changes in the general
level of unemployment are governed by three fundamental forces: the
effective growth of the labor force, the increased labor productivity
and the growth of total or aggregate demand for goods and services. The
general level or aggregate demand for goods and services is the prime
factor in determining the general level of unemployment. Vocational
education should also be taken into consideration for automation so that
a proper interface between the process knowledge and the worker can be
established so as to reduce the indirect labor cost (Richard H.P. Craft,
1970). The worker must be given enough space to apply their own
knowledge based on their past experiences to renovate an existing
production system with automated production system.
* Product Life Cycle
Product life cycle and demand decides the future of automation in
any industry. For a longer product life cycle the manufacturing
enterprise can rely on its fixed automation of the key processes of the
system which can surely improve productivity and quality (Kun Liao and
Qiang Tu, 2007). The quantity of demand of a product in the market may
compel the industry to opt for automation to increase its production
rate.
2.2.3 Competitive Positioning:
Competitive positioning is the study to make an organization to
compete in the global market and to maximize its profit.
* Market Demand
An organization has to study the market development, market share
and the competition it is getting from different organizations of the
same kind in the market while adopting the automation. For sales
planning and production planning market development is major factor
(Yutaka Yoshitani, 1983). To enhance the market share capability, to
deliver variety of products with high quality and short delivery
increases the need of automation. (Reeve, MacAlister and Bilkhu, 1999).
An investigation between market demand and supply and a careful
integration between production and business studies is required for the
enhancement of automation projects in an industry.
* Economical aspects
At the end organization has to consider its economical aspects like
what is the sale value per employee, budgeting of the automation project
and its profit to automate the production system. The demand for
production increases with the increase in the sales of the products in
the market and therefore the need to invest in the machinery also
increases. Profits have a positive influence on expansion plans and
automation of manufacturing processes (Angel Martinez Sanchez, 1991).
3.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The literature on the automation concludes that for a manufacturing
enterprise, the automation is dependent on eleven parameters (Table
No.1). A manufacturing enterprise can evaluate the internal factors by
studying its organizational policies, objective clarity, technological
capabilities, operation control, performance index and social aspects.
All these internal parameters will give an idea about the need of
automation in the manufacturing enterprise. The external factors like
technological advancements, government policies and legal aspects and
product life cycle will decide the alternate actions which an enterprise
can take to automate the production process to increase its
productivity. Market demand and economical aspects are the result
oriented parameters and will explain the effect of automation on the
manufacturing enterprise.
For the future studies a model can be developed interrelating these
parameters and a comprehensive set of deterministic variables can be
explored for the evaluation of competence provided by automation to the
manufacturing enterprises.
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Technology in the U.S. Metalworking Industry", Management
International Review, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 333-346, 1991
(3.) Angel Martinez Sanchez, "Innovation Cycles and Flexible
Automation in Manufacturing Industries", Technovation, 15(6), pp.
351-362, 1995.
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Strategies for hot strip rolling mill", Journal of Manufacturing
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component-based approach to the design and Implementation of assembly
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pp. 763-773, 2007
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in Automation of Mineral and Metal Processing", Control Engineering
Practice 9, pp. 1021-1035, 2001.
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Vikas Acharya, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Somesh Sharma, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Sunand Kumar, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal
Pradesh, India
Vikas Acharya is pursuing his Ph.D. on "Developing Measures to
Assess the Extent of Competence Provided by automation to Indian Steel
Corporations" from National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur,
India.
Dr. Somesh Sharma has earned his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore and presently working as Assistant Professor in
National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. His research interests are
optimization, modeling, simulation and efficiency management.
Dr. Sunand Kumar is Professor and Head of Department in Mechanical
Engineering Department at National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur
Table 1 EXPLORING THE PARAMETERS OF AUTOMATION
S. Cardinal Adjuvant
No. Dimensions dimensions Decision Variables
1. Internal 1. Organizational 1. Organizational Structure
Scanning Policies 2. Firm size
3. Company's strategy and goals
2. Objective 4. R&D expenditure to sales
clarity ratio
5. Industrial standards
3. Technological 6. Innovation cycle 7. Safety
capability 8. Engineering & material
database
9. Interrelation between
production units
4. Operation 10. Remote calibration
control 11. System accuracy
12. Supervision 13. Integration
14. Modeling
5. Performance 15. Productivity
index 16. Price recovery factor
17. Yield 18.Throughput
19. Turnover
6. Social aspects 20. Labor force
21. Labor productivity
22. Motivation
2. External 7. Technological 23. Hardware, Software and
Scanning advancements System ware
24. Neural Networks and
Artificial Intelligence
25. Adaptability 26.Opacity
8. Govt. Policies 27 Govt. Policies
& Legal 28. Environmental awareness
Aspects 29. Labor unions
30. Unemployment 31.Vocational
education 32. Direct & indirect
labor cost 33. Manufacturing
pro activeness
9. Product Life 34. Product Variety
Cycle 35. Customer Services
36. Demand
3. Competitive 10. Market 37. Market development
Positioning Demand 38. Market share
39. Competition
40. Integration of production
& business studies
11. Economical 41. Sales per employee
aspect 42. Budgeting
43. Profits