AUTOMATION IN PRODUCTION

By
Laukik P. Raut

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Industrial Automation

• The technology by which a process or procedure

is accomplished without human assistance.

• A technique that can be used to reduce costs and/or

to improve quality.

• Can increase manufacturing speed, while

reducing cost.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

• Can lead to products having consistent quality,
perhaps even consistently good quality

• It is implemented using a program of instructions

combined with a control system that executes the
instructions.

• To automate a process, power is required, both to drive

the process itself and to operate the program and
control system.
• Automated processes can be controlled by human
operators, by computers, or by a combination of the
two.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 Definition 1
• Automation is a technique that can be used to reduce
costs and/or to improve quality. Automation can
increase manufacturing speed, while reducing cost.
Automation can lead to products having consistent
quality, perhaps even consistently good quality.

Definition 2
• Automation is a technology concerned with
application of mechanical, electronic and computer-
based system to operate and control system.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

This technology includes;
• Automatic assembly machines
• Automation machine tools to process parts
• Industrial robots
• Automatic materials handling and storage system
• Automatic inspection system and quality control
• Feedback control and computer process control
• Computer system for planning, data collection and
decision making to support manufacturing activities

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

• If a human operator is available to monitor and
control a manufacturing process, open loop control
may be acceptable.

• If a manufacturing process is automated, then it

requires closed loop control , also known as feedback
control .

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

Example of open loop control system

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Example of closed loop control

Temperature
instruction

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Arguments in favor of Automation

• Automation is the key to shorter work week –

working hours per week reduces and , allowing
more leisure hours and a higher quality of life.
• Automation brings safer working conditions for
workers.
• Automated production results in lower prices and
better products

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Arguments against Automation

• It result in the subjugation of human being by a

machine – reduces the need for skilled labor
• There will be reduction in the labor force –
resulting un employment.
• Automation will reduce purchasing power-
markets will become saturated with products that
people cannot afford to purchase.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 SOME CONSIDERATIONS
• What automation and control technology is
available?
• Are employees ready and willing to use new
technology?
• What technology should be used?
• Should the current mfg process be improve
before automation?
• Should the product be improved before spending
millions of ringgit acquiring equips.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

MANUAL LABOR IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

• Task is too technologically difficult to automate.

• Short product life cycle.
• Customized product.
• To cope with ups and downs in demand.
• To reduce risk of product failure.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 BASIC ELEMENT OF AN AUTOMATED
SYSTEM
• Consists of 3 basic elements:
1) The actuator (which does the work)
• Controlled by the controller.
• The actuator in a automated process may in fact
be several actuators, each of which provides an
output that drives another in the series of actuator.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

BASIC ELEMENT OF AN AUTOMATED
SYSTEM…cont.

• Some actuators can only be on and off. Other

actuators respond proportionally with the
signal they receive from a controller

• Actuators can be selected for the types of inputs

they require, either DC or AC.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

BASIC ELEMENT OF AN AUTOMATED
SYSTEM…cont.

2)The controller (which ‘tells’ the actuator to do

work)
» A controlled system either may be a
simple digital system or an analog system.
» Digital and analog controllers are available
‘off the shelf’ so that systems can be
constructed inexpensive and with little
specialized knowledge required.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

BASIC ELEMENT OF AN AUTOMATED
SYSTEM…cont.
3) The sensor (which provides feedback to the
controller so that it knows the actuator is doing
work)

• Obviously, controlled automation requires

devices to sense system output.

• Sensors also can be used so that a controller can

detect and respond to changing conditions in its
working environment.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

BASIC ELEMENT OF AN AUTOMATED
SYSTEM…cont.
• Switches and transducers are another name
for sensors.

• Switches can detect when a measured condition

exceeds a pre- set level. Examples, closes when a
work-piece is close enough to work on.

• Transducers can describe a measured condition.

Examples, output increased voltage as a work-
piece approaches the working zone.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Types of Automation
• Hard Automation
– Controllers were built for specific purposes and could
not be altered easily.
– Early analog process controllers had to be rewired
to be reprogrammed.
– This controllers do what they are designed and built to
do, quickly and precisely perhaps, but with little
adaptability for change (beyond minor adjustments).
– Modification of hard automation is time-consuming
and expensive, since modifications can only be
performed while the equipment sits idle.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 TYPE OF AUTOMATION…cont.

• Soft Automation
– Modern digital computers are
reprogrammable.
– It is even possible to reprogram them and test the
changes while they work.
– Even if hardware changes are required to a soft
automation system, the lost time during changeover
is less than for hard automation

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM

• Automated Mfg. System can be classified into

three basic types:

Fixed Automation
– A system which the sequence of processing (or
assembly) operations is fixed by the equipment
configurations.

– Each operations in the sequence is usually

simple.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM…

– The features of fixed automation;

• High initial investment for custom-
engineered equipment
• High production rates
• Relatively inflexible in accommodating product
variety.
• Examples, machining transfer lines and
automated assembly machines.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM…

• Programmable Automation
– The production equipment is designed with
the capability to change the sequence of
operations to accommodate different product
configurations.
– The operation sequence is controlled by a
program, which is a set of instruction coded
so that they can be read and interpreted by
the system.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM…

– New programs can be prepared and entered into the

equipment to produce new products.

– The physical setup of the machine must be changed

for each new products.

– This changeover procedures takes time.

– Eg: numerical control (NC) machine tools,

industrial robots and PLC.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM…

– The features of programmable automation;

• High investment in general purpose equipment.
• Lower production rates than fixed automation.
• Flexibility to deal with variations and changes in
product configuration.
• Most suitable for batch production.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM…

• Flexible Automation
– An extension of programmable
automation.

– Capable of producing a variety of parts/products

with virtually no time lost for changeovers from
one part style to the next.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATED MFG. SYSTEM… cont.

– The features of flexible automation;

• High investment for custom- engineered
system.
• Continuous production of variable mixtures of
products.
• Medium production rates.
• Flexibility to deal with product design variations.
• – Examples, flexible manufacturing systems for
performing machining operations.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
Relationship between product variety &
quantity

Low

Medium

100 10000
Hig1,0h00,000
35
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
Relationship of fixed, programmable and
flexible automation

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 REASON FOR AUTOMATING

• To increase labor productivity

• To reduce labor cost
• To improve worker safety
• To improve product quality
• To mitigate the effects of labor shortages
• To reduce/eliminate routine manual
& clerical tasks.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

REASON FOR AUTOMATING… cont.

• To reduce mfg lead time

• To accomplish processes that cannot be done
manually
• To avoid the high cost of not
automating

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 MANUAL LABOR IN PROD. SYSTEM
There are situations which manual labor is usually
preferred over automation:
• Task is too technologically difficult to automate.
• Short product life cycle
• Customized product
• To cope with ups and downs in demand
• To reduce risk of product failure

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES

American Prod. And Inventory Control Society(APICS)

gives three principles:

• Understand the existing process

• Simplify the process
• Automate the process

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

STRATEGIES FOR AUTO./PROD SYSTEM

• Specialization of operation
• Combined operations
• Simultaneous operations
• Integration operations
• Increased flexibility
• Improved material handling and storage
• On-line inspection

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 STRATEGIES FOR AUTO./PROD
SYSTEM… cont.
• Improved material handling and storage
• On-line inspection
• Process control and optimization
• Plant operations control
• Computer-integrated manufacturing

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 AUTOMATION CONTROL

• Usually implies a sequence of mechanical

steps.
• A camshaft is an automation controller
because it mechanically sequences the steps
in the operation of an internal combustion
engine.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 Methods of work part transport

• a) Continuous transfer:-

• the work parts are moved continuously at constant

speed. This requires the work heads to move during
processing in order to maintain continuous registration
with the work part.

• Examples of its use are in beverage bottling operations,

packaging, manual assembly operations where the
human operator can move with the moving flow line,
and relatively simple automatic assembly tasks.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

• In some bottling operations, for instance, the bottles
are transported around a continuously rotating
drum. Beverage is discharged into the moving bottles
by spouts located at the drum‘s periphery. The
advantage of this application is that the liquid
beverage is kept moving at a steady speed and hence
there are no inertia problems.

• Continuous transfer systems are relatively easy to

design and fabricate and can achieve a high rate of
production

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 b. Intermittent transfer:-
• As the name suggests, in this method the work
pieces are transported with an intermittent or
discontinuous motion.
• The workstations are fixed in position and the parts
are moved between stations and then registered at
the proper locations for processing.

• Examples of applications of the intermittent transfer

of work parts can be found in machining operations,
press working operations or progressive dies, and
mechanized assembly. Most of the transfer
mechanisms reviewed.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 c. Asynchronous transfer

• This system of transfer, also referred to as a ―power-

and-free system, allows each work
• part to move to the next station when processing at the
current station has been completed. Each
• part moves independently of other parts. Hence, some
parts are being processed on the line at
• the same time that others are being transported
between stations. Parallel stations or several series
stations can be used for the longer operations,
• and single stations can be used for the shorter
operations. Therefore, the average production rates
• can be approximately equalized.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 Transfer mechanism
• I) Linear transfer mechanisms
i. Walking beam systems:
With the walking beam
transfer mechanism, the
work parts are lifted up
from their workstation
locations by a transfer
bar and moved one
position ahead to the
next station. The
transfer bar then lowers
the parts into nests
which position them
more accurately for
processing.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 ii. Chain-drive conveyor system

Either a chain or a flexible steel belt is used to transport the

work carriers. The chain is driven by pulleys in either an “over-
and-under” configuration, in which the pulleys turn about a
horizontal axis, or an “around-the-corner” configuration, in
which the pulleys rotate about a vertical axis. This general
type of transfer system can be used for continuous,
intermittent, or non synchronous movement of work parts.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 II. Rotary transfer mechanisms

i. Rack and Pinion: This mechanism is simple but is not

considered especially suited to the high-speed operation
often associated with indexing machines. The device is
pictured in Figure and uses a piston to drive the rack, which
causes the pinion gear and attached indexing table to rotate.
A clutch or other device is used to provide rotation in the
desired direction.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 ii. Ratchet and Pawl

This drive mechanism is shown in Figure. Its operation

is simple but somewhat unreliable, owing to wear and
sticking of several of the components.

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur

 iii. Geneva Mechanism

The two previous mechanisms convert a linear motion into a

rotational motion. The Geneva mechanism uses a continuously
rotating driver to index the table, as pictured in Figure. If the
driven member has six slots for a six-station dial indexing
machine, each turn of the driver will cause the table to advance
one-sixth of a turn. The driver only causes movement of the
table through a portion of its rotation.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
 Buffer storage

A storage system can be used as a buffer storage zone

between two processes whose production rates are
significantly different.

A simple example is a two-process sequence in which the

first processing operation feeds a second process, which
operates at a slower production rate.

The first operation requires only one shift to meet

production requirements, while the second step requires two
shifts to produce the same number of units.

An in-process buffer is needed between these operations

to temporarily store the output of the first process.
Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur
Buffer storage…. cont

Laukik P. Raut, GHRCE, Nagpur