automation

Examples of automation in the following topics:

• Warehousing

  • Some warehouses are completely automated, and require only operators to work and handle all the tasks.
  • Pallets and products move on a system of automated conveyors, cranes, and automated storage and retrieval systems coordinated by programmable logic controllers and computers running logistics automation software.
  • These systems are often installed in refrigerated warehouses where temperatures are kept very cold to keep product from spoiling, especially in electronics warehouses where they require specific temperatures to avoid damaging the parts, and also where land is expensive, as automated storage systems can use vertical space efficiently.
  • Automated storage systems can be built up to 40m high.

• Technology decisions

  • Automated machinery, programmable equipment, and management information systems can provide speed, low unit processing costs, labor cost savings, increased accuracy and consistency, and sophisticated tracking and decision support systems to increase operations efficiency and effectiveness for both manufacturing and service environments.
  • For example, if a manufacturing company believes that automation will increase the firm's flexibility to adapt to a changing competitive environment, questions should be asked, such as:
  • Deere managers use a mix of low technology/labor intensive production methods and automated/programmable technologies in its manufacturing plants.

• Electronic Banking

  • Automated teller machines (ATMs) now make it possible for you to do much of your banking whenever you choose .
  • In many cases, automated teller machines of different banks are linked together in networks so you can use them when you travel to a different town, another state, or even another country.
  • Further technological advances have led to the creation of automated banking machines (ABMs).

• Materials Handling

  • Material handling systems range from simple pallet rack and shelving projects, to complex overhead conveyor systems and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS).
  • Due to the automated nature of the whole production process, the MHS must respond in concert with timeliness for all requirements of the processes and systems.

• Trade Credit or Accounts Payable

  • Increasingly, large firms often use specialized automation solutions (commonly called ePayables) to automate the paper and manual elements of processing an organization's invoices.

• Productivity Gains in Manufacturing

  • It's not that there isn't the need for manufacturing jobs so much as it's businesses learning to do more with less, be it with more efficiency processes, or have more automation.
  • Perry Sainati, founder and president of Belden International, explains that U.S. manufacturing has been transformed these days and is in the midst of a remarkable recovery because for three years running, manufacturing has not been about job growth; it's been about automation, process improvement, productivity, and it's been about quality.
  • The days of huge factories employing thousands upon thousands of men and women have been replaced with modern factories using lean manufacturing with better design, processes, and automation.

• Productivity Gains from Hardware

  • These technologies automated inventory management.
  • Computers did not revolutionize manufacturing because automation, in the form of control systems, had already been in existence for decades.

• Vending Machines

  • These are referred to as automated retail kiosks.

• Information and Knowledge

  • An area of research known as information access aims to automate the processing of large and unwieldy amounts of information and to simplify users' access to it.

• Online Direct Banks