Industrial Automation Magazine India

Automation has become an enabler for the industry

Published on : Thursday 17-10-2019

What are the latest trends in automation in manufacturing industry of India?

The latest in automation is not a catalogue of latest shining gadgets!

First observation that strikes is – Apprehension about automation is gone! Industry has well understood the benefits of automation, and today it is a technology of desire. The focus of Indian industry is more towards increase in diversity of applications with rather than a temptation to obtain and deploy the latest gadgets. Significantly, consumer expectations are giving a strong nudge towards automation, as much as regulatory demands. There is a good deal of excitement about digitalisation and data technologies right now.

As trends go, latest solutions for Intralogistics in terms of independently moving shuttles to convey products from one processing station to the next, has a potential to make batch size = 1 production a reality in short time. Preparing the legacy systems to communicate and share concurrent data has gained pace. Automation has become an enabler for the industry to track OEE, keep machine downtime at check and work closely with IT systems.

Automation becomes more software than hardware.

The picture of Automation has taken a vivid shape over the years. Underlying electronics improves all the time with higher speeds and memory capacities. However, power of automation now resides on software. The SW in automation has taken a leap over pre-loaded firmware and operating system. The source of versatility, flexibility of machines and factories comes out of the application SW. The application SW forms the heart of the machine. And such a powerful application is realised by means of a very powerful programming platform.

The SW in automation is not just merely for programming the controllers. As design of machine becomes more sophisticated, and as machines become more versatile, tools of modelling and simulation are growing in importance. The machines have a strong interplay between mechanics and electronics – called mechatronics. So does the tools for structural design – the CAD tools, the tools for modelling, tools for simulation and the programming platform. This cluster of software need a strong interconnect, and that will cut short time-to-market so significantly.

Is pace of changing technology too rapid for user industries to adjust to?
Moore’s law postulates a doubling in processing power every couple of years. And this applies for new technologies entering the market place every so often. Nevertheless, the important point to bear in mind is that user industry will adopt new technology only if it provides a competitive advantage or the benefit that the customer is demanding. Therefore, pace of changing technology is not the main issue that user industry has to contend with, it is the pace of change in customer preference.

Are user industries, especially SMEs, adequately informed and equipped to handle digital transformation and its challenges?
Digital transformation, very unlike to new processing technologies like Robots or Additive manufacturing, is an exercise in Change Management. Transformation is itself very disruptive, and any reasonably well performing business will try to avoid disruption. The difficulty with this approach is not so much, what your industry will or will not do, but rather what your existing or potential competitor may be doing. Then it is no longer playing the game competently, may be the rules of the game can change!

Government of India, through programs like SAMARTH Udyog, is doing quite a lot to propagate awareness and knowledge about Digital Transformation and its benefits. The percolation of the effect across breadth and depth of SMEs will take some time, but surely, it is happening.

The Indian market always has its own challenges when it comes to technology adoption, especially the RoI factor. Are things changing?
Indian industry is perennially in the quandary to decide between leveraging low labour cost and leveraging benefits of automation. We are witnessing a trend where the two strategies are converging in the competitive advantage they provide. Automation is needed and is mandatory to meet certain demands of product quality. Even more, to provide a transparency to the customer, automation is essential.
 
Therefore, to answer the question squarely – yes, things are changing.

What is the change? The change is that the focus is shifting from initial cost, cost of equipment, to the TCO or total cost of ownership. It also matters how the new technology affects overall throughput, maintainability, and relevant factors.

Is there a fine balance between total automation and safeguarding jobs?
Automation removes exposure of work force to hazardous and monotonous situations at work. Actually, automation deployed for such jobs where the value addition is low. If value addition is low, corresponding income is also low. Hence, automation shifts jobs from the low end of pay scale towards more meaningful, dignified and better earning end. Therefore, it is not a fine balance. Total automation is not a picture of a dystopic world where machines rule and humans become passive consumers. It is humans who will deploy machines to execute tasks that are routine, hazardous and cumbersome. This will free up humans to perform tasks of a more intellectual orders.

Sivaram PV, Non-Executive Chairman, B&R Automation India, has been associated with the company since its inception in India. He is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of Industrial Automation.