Types of Automation

Automa­tion is a method using a wide range of com­put­er- and machine-aid­ed tasks to help improve pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and cre­ate eas­i­er ways to do busi­ness. Dif­fer­ent types of automa­tion are com­mon­ly used in dif­fer­ent types of indus­tries. For exam­ple, auto­mat­ed meters and pumps assist con­sumers dai­ly when they pump their gas. In indus­tri­al set­tings, dif­fer­ent types of automa­tion pro­vide ben­e­fits to com­pa­nies includ­ing decreased part-cycle times, high­er qual­i­ty prod­ucts, and increased work­er safety.

Indus­tri­al Automation

Using tech­nol­o­gy to per­form tasks that can be repet­i­tive, dan­ger­ous, or oth­er­wise unsuit­able for humans is known as indus­tri­al automa­tion. Numer­i­cal­ly con­trolled (NC) equip­ment, indus­tri­al auto­mat­ed robots, flex­i­ble man­u­fac­tur­ing sys­tems (FMS), and com­put­er-aid­ed man­u­fac­tur­ing (CAM) are all types of automa­tion that indus­tries imple­ment into their factories.

Numer­i­cal­ly Con­trolled Machines

Numer­i­cal­ly con­trolled (NC) machines uti­lize com­put­ers to store, cal­cu­late, and exe­cute oper­a­tions that are usu­al­ly per­formed by hand. A com­mon exam­ple of an NC machine is the com­put­er­ized numer­i­cal con­trolled (CNC) mill. Instead of posi­tion­ing each cut by hand and metic­u­lous­ly mov­ing the crank to cut each part, a CNC mill uses com­put­ers to ana­lyze, cut, and mill each piece with pre­ci­sion. CNC mills and oth­er NC machin­ery pro­duce parts with few­er errors and high­er accuracy.

Indus­tri­al Robots

Automat­ing indus­tri­al appli­ca­tions with an auto­mat­ed robot­ics sys­tems pro­vides many of the same ben­e­fits as NC equip­ment – high­er qual­i­ty parts, reduced cycle times, and increased sav­ings to name a few. Indus­tri­al robots, like oth­er automa­tion types, can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep up with indus­try demands. Envi­ron­ments that prove to be dan­ger­ous for human work­ers are suit­able for indus­tri­al robots. Despite a high ini­tial cost, the return on invest­ment (ROI) for an indus­tri­al auto­mat­ed robot is typ­i­cal­ly about six months due to the increased sav­ings and pro­duc­tion that robots pro­vide. These machines can per­form many indus­tri­al auto­mat­ed robot­ic appli­ca­tions includ­ing weld­ing, mate­r­i­al han­dling, assem­bly, pal­letiz­ing, and painting.

Flex­i­ble Man­u­fac­tur­ing Systems

A flex­i­ble man­u­fac­tur­ing sys­tem (FMS) com­bines NC machines, indus­tri­al robots, and oth­er types of indus­tri­al automa­tion into one automa­tion sys­tem. A FMS would typ­i­cal­ly pro­duce sim­i­lar prod­ucts and parts but still main­tain the flex­i­bil­i­ty to change parts or processes. 

Com­put­er-Aid­ed Manufacturing

Com­put­er-aid­ed man­u­fac­tur­ing (CAM) gen­er­al­izes indus­tri­al automa­tion one step fur­ther. CAM involves using com­put­ers in the pro­duc­tion, plan­ning, and con­trol of FMS and, more gen­er­al­ly, the entire man­u­fac­tur­ing process. A com­mon exam­ple of CAM is com­put­er-aid­ed design (CAD) or com­put­er-aid­ed design and draft­ing (CADD). CAD and CADD make use of com­put­er pro­grams to dig­i­tal­ly plan prod­ucts, parts, lay­outs, indus­tri­al robots, and a vari­ety of oth­er aspects of indus­tri­al set­tings. CAM also includes auto­mat­ed sched­ul­ing and man­u­fac­tur­ing flow analysis.

With­out var­i­ous types of indus­tri­al automa­tion, every aspect of man­u­fac­tur­ing would have to be done man­u­al­ly. Cycle times would be much slow­er than they are today due to the reduced orga­ni­za­tion, con­sis­ten­cy, and effi­cien­cy that var­i­ous types of automa­tion offer.

If you have more ques­tions or are inter­est­ed in inte­grat­ing a robot­ic sys­tem on your pro­duc­tion line, con­tact Robots​.com experts today; online or at 877−762−6881.