More Robots Do Not Equal Manufacturing Job Losses

More Robots Do Not Equal Manufacturing Job Losses

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) today published a white paper entitled “Robots Fuel the Next Wave of U.S. Productivity and Job Growth” in which data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a wide range of manufacturing firms document how and why increasing the use of robots is associated with increased employment.

A3 White Paper Robots and Employment

Key statistics from the A3 white paper show that during the non-recessionary periods – 1996-2000, 2002-2007, and 2010-2014 – general employment and robot shipments both increased. Since 2010, the robotics industry in the United States has grown substantially. Even during this period of record-breaking robot sales, U.S. employment increased. This new data is in stark contrast to media coverage and a perception that increasing use of robots causes higher rates of unemployment in the U.S.

At a glance:

  • Robots save and create jobs
  • Robots take care of the dull, dirty, or dangerous jobs
  • Robots extend workplace functionality, improving the bottom line
  • Robots are reviving American manufacturing
  • Robots create better, safer, higher paying jobs

“We are seeing concrete shifts in the factors that resulted in cuts to the U.S. manufacturing work force over the past few decades,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of A3. “Manufacturing automation increasingly provides the flexibility in the variety of tasks robots perform to drive improvements in overall product quality and time to market.”

Burnstein concluded, “One of the biggest challenges we now face is closing the skills gap to fill jobs. Robots are optimizing production more than ever, increasing global competitiveness, and performing dull, dirty and dangerous tasks that enable companies to create higher-skilled, better-paying, and safer jobs where people use their brains, not their brawn.”

Correlation does not equal causation

The white paper overlays graphs of robot sales and US employment. I asked Burnstein if he is trying to show causation from the correlation. He said that was not the intent. “It is not so much to show causation as it is simply to refute the argument,” he told me in an interview preceding the release. Taking the argument that robots cause unemployment, one would expect climbing robot sales to be reflected in declining employment. Statistics do not support that supposition.

Anecdotal evidence

As companies seek to bring manufacturing operations stateside while remaining cost-competitive, they continue to turn to automation to help lead the new wave of productivity and job growth in the U.S.

“The whole premise for our company is to bring manufacturing back to this country, and our new robot fits perfectly with that master plan,” said Geoff Escalette, CEO of faucet-maker RSS Manufacturing & Phylrich in Costa Mesa, California. “Our robot not only makes it possible to increase production speed without buying additional CNC machines, but also helped us open up 30 percent more capacity on existing machinery.”

Robotics also helps companies stay competitive when seeking new talent—particularly those who are interested in long-lasting careers working with technology.

“It’s really an opportunity for us to grow,” reports Matt Tyler, president and CEO of Vickers Engineering, a contract precision engineering manufacturer in Michigan. “Because we have robotics and are able to compete on a global scale, it makes the U.S. more competitive in manufacturing, and that’s good for all of us.”

The white paper includes notes from other manufacturers who both acquired additional automation and people.

The Association for Advancing Automation is the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 promotes automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done. A3 is the umbrella group for Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA – Advancing Vision + Imaging, and Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA). RIA, AIA, and MCA combined represent some 850 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, research groups and consulting firms from throughout the world that drive automation forward.

Study Finds Manufacturing Industry Ready for Internet of Things

Study Finds Manufacturing Industry Ready for Internet of Things

Jim Hilton-197 percent of survey respondents in the manufacturing industry believe IoT is the most significant technology initiative of the decade.

OK, that is the kind of statistic that grabs the attention of someone who writes extensively about the Industrial Internet of Things. But the statistic also seems counter to other surveys I have seen where most manufacturers seem to be clueless about IoT and what benefits it will bring versus the imagined cost of implementation.

The press release came from Zebra Technologies Corporation. You know, the industrial printer company, right? I remember reselling Zebra printers 20 years ago. The press release led to a conversation with Jim Hilton, senior director, Global Manufacturing Principal, Zebra Technologies.

He came to Zebra by way of Symbol Technologies which had been acquired by Motorola Solutions which was acquired Nov. 1 by Zebra. Yes, it’s far more than a printer company. He describes the company as an IoT company that does printing. However, he also looks at IoT as an over-used term. He’s probably on the right track with that observation.

In November 2014, Zebra released global findings from Forrester Consulting on the adoption of IoT across numerous industries, surveying IT and business decision makers from nearly 600 global firms.

That is the source of the quote leading this post. Other findings include:

  • 83 percent of surveyed manufacturers either already have IoT implementations in place or plans to deploy within a year.
  • Wi-Fi, real-time locating systems (RTLS), security sensors, barcodes, GPS and mobile computers were cited as the most important technologies for enabling IoT solutions.
  • Less than five percent of respondents believe the manufacturing industry is not prepared to make the changes required to implement IoT solutions.
  • Half of the surveyed manufacturers cited cost concerns as the largest barrier to adopting IoT solutions while 46 percent indicated privacy and security concerns along with integration challenges.

Hilton went on to say, “Manufacturing operations are running more efficiently than ever before due to the installation of smart machinery and sensors on connected factory floors driving less machine downtime, better asset utilization and faster time to market. Our survey affirms that Industry 4.0 is well underway but more education and information sharing can be done to increase IoT adoption in the manufacturing space. Zebra Technologies is committed to bridging this gap by enabling a more intuitive manufacturing experience where processes, tools and staff are more deeply and smartly interconnected.”

Business Opportunities from Industrial Internet of Things

Business Opportunities from Industrial Internet of Things

timSowellTim Sowell, Schneider Electric (Wonderware) vp and fellow, has been writing a weekly blog that I report on for a while now. His Operations Management Systems Evolution blog is always thoughtful and informative.

Recently, I have discovered another Schneider Electric blog, this one by someone whom I do not know (I think)–Gregory Conary.

Each take a look at the Industrial Internet of Things in these posts.

Conary’s recent post discussed the “business opportunities we are seeing emerge from this megatrend.”

He cites information compiled by LNS Research, in its eBook Smart Connected Operations: Capturing the Business Value of the Industrial IoT. 47 per cent of respondents to its Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) online survey indicated that they did not expect to invest in IoT technologies in the “foreseeable future”. A further 19 per cent indicated that they did not expect to invest in IoT technologies in the next 12 months.

Conary states, “Frankly I’m not surprised. IIoT seems to bring with it the hype of something that will take a long time to adopt. In some cases I think this can be true. And while we are unclear on what time frame is meant by the term ‘foreseeable future’ referenced above, I believe there are business opportunities that can be capitalized on now and in the medium term. IIoT is more prevalent than we imagine. There are examples and business practices that we often don’t even recognize as being enabled by IIoT – things like increasing industrial performance and augmenting operators are two of the opportunities which can make a difference to your business now.”

Increased industrial performance

“Using data to improve industrial performance by connecting things to each other – this is happening now. How is it happening? Through wireless technologies, low cost sensors and using advanced analytics. In practice, this is a decision support system for complex manufacturing operations.”

I agree with Conary. We’ve had the foundation and platform for the Industrial Internet of Things for a long time. It just continues becoming more robust. As better data analytics algorithms are developed and better ways to communicate and display information are devised, then usefulness to manufacturing operators, maintenance technicians, engineers, and managers will increase dramatically.

Tim Sowell riffed off an article in Wired. “As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues its run as one of the most popular technology buzzwords of the year, the discussion has turned from what it is, to how to drive value from it, to the tactical: how to make it work.

We need to improve the speed and accuracy of big data analysis in order for IoT to live up to its promise. If we don’t, the consequences could be disastrous and could range from the annoying – like home appliances that don’t work together as advertised – to the life-threatening – pacemakers malfunctioning or hundred car pileups.”

Sowell adds this analysis, “This follows on from my discussion 2 weeks ago around the need to avoid just gathering data, vs gaining the proportional amount of knowledge and wisdom, which brings in a term you hear a lot ‘machine learning’.”

From Wired, “The realization of IoT depends on being able to gain the insights hidden in the vast and growing seas of data available. Since current approaches don’t scale to IoT volumes, the future realization of IoT’s promise is dependent on machine learning to find the patterns, correlations and anomalies that have the potential of enabling improvements in almost every facet of our daily lives.”

Sowell concludes, “In the industrial world this more applicable than nearly all industries, and in many cases we are already applying “machine levels” at different levels. A key part in the shift from ‘Information’ to ‘knowledge’ is having the tools to drill into historians based on events and to discover learnings and patterns. Once validated and discovered these are turned into ‘self-monitoring’ conditions to understand the current state of the device, and predict / recognize conditions well before they happen. Providing the ‘insight’ to make awareness and decisions where the machines/ devices are telling you where the opportunities are. But a key part of machine learning is that this knowledge in not a once off step, it is a continuous evolution leveraging the gathering history data and developing increased amounts of knowledge.”

Final thought

Both Conary and Sowell point directly to the new reality and to new challenges. We can now gather much more data than we can make sense of. As soon as we have those tools, we will provide better tools to operations and maintenance to improve plant performance.

11 Tips for Stimulating Enterprise Software Adoption

11 Tips for Stimulating Enterprise Software Adoption

LNS Research Manufacturing Operations Management researchMike Roberts at LNS Research has posted a blog 11 Tips for Stimulating Enterprise Software Adoption. Many, if not all, of these tips have been written about before. This is a useful compilation of them in one place. Reading between the lines, I wonder if he’s talking about putting in one of those huge, monolithic software solutions that, in reality, have a spotty record of installation and adoption. Even so, these are more important than ever.

I’ll summarize a few here. Head over to the blog to catch them all along with their

  1. Ensure Executive Sponsorship and Buy-In for the Project

Executive sponsorship is key to getting budget approval for an enterprise software investment, but the role of leadership has to extend beyond that. One aspect that may facilitate executive buy-in and use is evaluating solutions with robust executive dashboards and reporting capabilities early on.

  1. Include Users in the Solution Selection Process Upfront

It’s important to not alienate the professionals who will actually use the solution from the processes of developing user requirements, selection, and coming up with a deployment plan.

  1. Put Together a Deployment Team to Support the Project over Its Lifecycle

Because every company has a unique set of IT resources and user requirements, it’s feasible to forecast on-the-fly adjustments will be required during the deployment to create a better user experience or to troubleshoot a system issue.

 

  1. Execute a Pilot Deployment before Transitioning Enterprise-Wide

It’s common for companies to initiate a deployment with a single module or two to attain early user feedback and get the process down.

  1. Identify & Empower “System Champions” to Support and Drive Adoption

Just like there are early adopters on the technology adoption lifecycle for consumer products, the same can be said in the business world.

  1. Invest in Change Management that Ensures Long-Term Adoption

Although leadership should anticipate some resistance, they should also have a plan for overcoming it.

Operations Management Software Features Integrated Scheduling

This press release from a company new to me came from a PR person whom I have known for years. So, I trust him to not feed me much BS (as some try to do). This is from an MES developer called Critical Manufacturing whose product is cmNavigo.

The software sounded interesting, but some words were used in the release that raised my “meter” level. The phrase, “the most modern, comprehensive and unified MES system available for complex manufacturing operations”, just laid there inviting questions. So, I asked. Here is the answer by way of introducing this company and its latest product.

I asked about “most,” “modern,” “comprehensive,” and “unified.” Each of those words are important, but beg for explanation. Here is the response. “Key to the argument is the fact that their system is designed for complex processes used in manufacture of high technology products such as semiconductors, electronics and medical devices. cmNavigo is modern in that it is built on the latest Microsoft platform; it is comprehensive in that it integrates more than 30 MES functions; and it is unified in that all of this functionality is native to cmNavigo, not relying on third parties. They know of no other MES vendor designing for this market that can make all three of those claims.”

That is fair.

By the way, there is a webcast with Julie Fraser moderating  February 19th webinar. Register here.

Press release

Critical Manufacturing, a supplier of integrated manufacturing execution systems (MES) to empower operations of the global high-technology manufacturing industry, introduces cmNavigo 4.0, the industry’s first comprehensive MES software with embedded finite scheduling. By tightly unifying scheduling into critical MES functions in a modern, Microsoft-based operations management system, cmNavigo 4.0 software improves on-time delivery, shortens total cycle time, and makes better use of plant resources.

“As margins in global high-technology manufacturing shrink, many manufacturers are finding that their legacy MES systems don’t have the flexibility and functionality to meet the demands of today’s volatile markets. The new scheduling, quality control, warehouse management, and shift handoff capabilities we are announcing today reflect our commitment to provide the most modern and unified MES solution available,” said Francisco Almada-Lobo, CEO, Critical Manufacturing. “This new functionality will help manufacturers improve cost control, better manage inventory, and boost productivity of advanced, discrete production operations.”

New Scheduling Functionality Optimizes Production to Meet Customer Demand

cmNavigo 4.0 scheduling models plant floor resources and defines the role of each in fulfilling a mix of orders in an optimal near-term time frame, driven by customer demand. Schedules can be weighted around multiple production criteria and key performance indicators, such as minimizing delivery delays, maximizing machine loads, and reducing cycle times.

Built on Microsoft application development layers, the new scheduling application integrates with more than 30 extensible MES applications. These provide visibility and traceability, operational efficiency, quality management, factory integration, operations intelligence, and factory management. The modern architecture empowers operations managers to configure and extend models and define workflows without the need for programming.

Integrating scheduling and other MES functionality so tightly avoids duplication of master data, allows real-time updates across different areas of the plant floor, and eliminates the need to maintain separate interfaces. Other new cmNavigo integrated applications announced today deliver the following capabilities:

  • Lot-based sampling enables automated calendar or time-based sampling of production.
  • Document management provides visualization, control, and approval of shop-floor, operations-related documents.
  • Warehouse management synchronizes exchange of information and material between the warehouse and the plant floor.
  • Durables-tracking simplifies tracking of durable components such as boards, fixtures, tooling and masks, supporting recipe management, maintenance, exception handling, and data collection.
  • A shift logbook enhances both performance and safety by regulating exchange of critical information between shifts.

The new scheduling, sampling, factory management, tracking and logbook features of the software combine to address a wide range of MES needs in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, and medical device manufacturing and other manufacturing industries that might have both high mix and high volume lines. cmNavigo 4.0 software is available now for implementation throughout the world.

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