Chapter1 (Basic Automation)

AUTOMATION
ROSLINDA BINTI ISMAIL

DEFINITION
• Automation is a technology concerned with the application of
mechanical, electronic, and computer- based systems to operate and
control production. This technology includes automatic machine tools to
process parts, automatic assembly machines, industrial robots, automatic
material handling and storage systems, automatic inspection systems for
quality control, feedback control and computer process control, computer
systems for planning, data collection and decision-making to support
manufacturing activities.
What is Industrial Automation?
• Automation takes a step further

mechanization that uses a particular
machinery mechanism aided human
operators for performing a task.
Mechanization is the manual operation of
a task using powered machinery that
depends on human decision making.
• On the other hand, automation replaces
the human involvement with the use of
logical programming commands and
powerful machineries.
Industrial Automation
• Industrial Automation is the replacement with computers and
machines to that of human thinking. The word Automation gives the
meaning ‘self dictating’ or ‘a mechanism move by itself’ that derived
from the Greek
words Auto and Matos where auto means self while Matos means
moving.
• In a brief, industrial automation
can be defined as the use of
set technologies and automatic
control devices that results the
automatic operation and control of
industrial processes without
significant human intervention and
achieving superior performance
than manual control. These
automation devices include PLCs,
PCs, PACs, etc. and technologies
include various industrial
communication systems.
Why Industrial Automation? (Advantages of
Automation System)
1. To increase productivity
• Automation of factory or manufacturing or
process plant improves production rate
through a better control of production. It helps
to produce mass production by drastically
reducing assembly time per product with a
greater production quality. Therefore, for a
given labor input it produces a large amount
of output.
Why Industrial Automation? (Advantages of Automation
System)
2. To provide optimum cost of operation

Integration of various processes in industry
with automated machineries, minimizes
cycle times and effort and hence the need of
human labor gets reduced. Thus the
investment on employees has been saved
with automation
System)
• 3. To improve product quality

• Since the automation reduces the human
involvement, the possibility of human errors
also gets eliminated. Uniformity and product
quality with a greater conformity can be
maintained with automation by adaptively
controlling and monitoring the industrial
processes in all stages right from inception of
a product to an end product.
System)
• 4. To reduce routine checks

• Automation completely reduces the need
for manual checking of various process
parameters. By taking advantage of
automation technologies, industrial
processes automatically adjusts process
variables to set or desired values using
closed loop control techniques.
System)
• 5. To raise the level of safety

• Industrial automation increases the level of
safety to personnel by substituting them
with automated machines in hazardous
working conditions. Traditionally, industrial
robots and robotic devices are
implemented in such risky and hazardous
places.
Basic purpose of Automation in
manufacturing industry
• Increase productivity
• Improve quality of products & to reduce waste
• To reduce the costs
• For safe handling of hazardous substances
• To replace heavy work from workers
Advantages of automation
• It provides better quality of goods and services
• It causes reduction in direct labor costs
• There is affective control on operation
• There is greater accuracy, more output and greater speed
• The production planning and control is to be done in the beginning only
• The working conditions can be improved
Disadvantages of automation
• Huge capital investment required
• High maintenance cost
• Unemployment
• Large inventories are required
• Required high skill manpower
Types of automation
• Fixed automation
• Flexible automation
• Programmable automation
FIXED AUTOMATION
• It is a system in which the sequence of processing (or assembly) operations is

fixed by the equipment configuration. The operations in the sequence are
usually simple. It is the integration and coordination of many such operations
into one piece of equipment that makes the system complex. The typical
features of fixed automation are:
• a. High initial investment for custom–Engineered equipment;
• b. High production rates; and
• c. Relatively inflexible in accommodating product changes.
FIXED AUTOMATION
• The economic justification for fixed automation is found in products with
very high demand rates and volumes. The high initial cost of the
equipment can be spread over a very large number of units, thus making
the unit cost attractive compared to alternative methods of production.
Examples of fixed automation include mechanized assembly and
machining transfer lines.
Fixed automation
• High initial investment
• High production rate
• Relatively inflexible in accommodating product variety
PROGRAMMABLE AUTOMATION
•
In this 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 instructions coded so that the system can read and interpret
them. New programs can be prepared and entered into the equipment to
produce new products. Some of the features that characterize
programmable automation are:
Programmable automation
• High investment in general purpose equipment
• Lower production rates than fixed automation
• Flexible to deal with variations and changes in product configuration
• Most suitable for batch production
FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION
•
It is an extension of programmable automation. A flexible automated system
is one that is capable of producing a variety of products (or parts) with
virtually no time lost for changeovers from one product to the next. There is
no production time lost while reprogramming the system and altering the
physical setup (tooling, fixtures, and machine setting). Consequently, the
system can produce various combinations and schedules of products instead
of requiring that they be made in separate batches. The features of flexible
automation can be summarized as follows:
Flexible automation
• High investment for a custom engineered system
• Continuous production of variable mixtures of products
• Medium production rate
• Flexibility to deal with product design variation

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AUTOMATION

ROSLINDA BINTI ISMAIL

• Automation takes a step further

2. To provide optimum cost of operation

• 3. To improve product quality

• 4. To reduce routine checks

• 5. To raise the level of safety

• It is a system in which the sequence of processing (or assembly) operations is

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