This week's blog entry will start with a joke (not the usual
sarcasm or anecdote). It goes like this:
A pastor, a doctor and an engineer are playing golf, but are
becoming agitated because they're playing behind a particularly slow set of
golfers. The pastor notices a groundskeeper approaching on a lawn tractor.
"Let's have a word with him," says the pastor. "Excuse me,
do you know why the group ahead of us is taking so long?"
The groundskeeper explains that the golfers ahead are a
group of firefighters that had lost their sight battling a fire at the course
clubhouse years before. The firefighters are now allowed to play for free
whenever they want. The pastor, doctor and engineer each pause and reflect for
a moment.
"I'm going to say a special prayer for them," says the
pastor.
"I'll talk to an ophthalmologist at the hospital and see if
he can help," says the doctor.
The engineer is silent for a few seconds longer--until, "Why
can't these guys play at night?"
THE END.
Engineers are renowned for their problem solving,
practicality and straightforwardness. In
the instance above, this is what separates the engineer from his fellow
sportsman. Each applies his discipline to helping the firefighters, but it's
only the engineer who finds a solution.
It's easy to see how this sort of mindset also birthed
lights-out manufacturing. Robots don't need light, just sensors. They also
don't need food, air, water, breaks, sick time, encouragement, raises, etc. About
30 years ago, GM tried to implement lights-out manufacturing only to find its
robots were painting themselves, not cars.
From a technological standpoint, 30 years can change
everything (like from brick-sized cell phones to smartphones geniusphones).
Today, lights-out automation technology can be integrated into nearly any
operation. FANUC Corp. of Japan is an OEM with a lights-out factory that builds
50 other lights-out robots a day. In fact, FANUC runs for a month at a time
before humans enter the factory, and only to remove and ship finished
products. FUNAC has been doing this
since 2001, yet more widespread adoption of lights-out manufacturing has been
sparse. One source believes that manufacturing automations has
penetrated less than 10% of the available market.
Some of the benefits are obvious, such as no labor costs,
reduced facilities costs, improved efficiency and almost zero downtime. Other
benefits, such as surging production during cheaper energy periods, or
producing components of differing complexity during different shifts, are less
obvious. Despite this, lights-out manufacturing remains a fringe technology for
many industries.
Could it be a cultural hesitancy to begin replacing factory
workers with robots en masse? (Could you imagine the negative PR and outcry
from unions?) Could it be the technology is still overpriced for all but the
largest of OEMs? (There has been some recent
movement on the price and availability forefront.) Perhaps it's the
potential for machine break-down while unattended that scares manufacturers
off.
It's tough to tell if we're at the dawn of dark
manufacturing, or if the benefits of lights-out factories will never reach
enlightenment.
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