Automation – The Big Words Blog Site

A key focus of my blog is Technology. Automation has been gradually implemented into our industries and there’s more to come. Not many people think about it in their day to day lives but it’s important for all of us to consider. The following contributed post is entitled, What Automation Can – And Can’t – Do For Us.

* * *

Pixabay – CC0 Licence

The very concept of automation is enough to spark a dozen conversations in which the questions range from a simple “good or bad?” to more complicated ones like “what does it mean for small business?”. There is no doubt that we are in a period of increasing technological involvement in our lives, both working and domestic. Opinions differ on what this says about where our future is going; it’s definitely a complicated issue.

Deciding how to feel about this rise in automation is tricky. On the one hand, it can depersonalize a workplace and lead to redundancies. On the other, automation can streamline working processes and keep things moving. There are arguments for and against, and below we’re going to look at a few of those in order to see if we’re ready for more automation in the working world.

Automated systems can work 24/7…

If you can successfully train a machine or code a program to do a job that is usually done by a person, then you have created a worker that never needs to eat or sleep. That means that you aren’t beholden to tight time frames that are dependent on shift workers whose performance will vary during the day as they get tired, hungry or distracted.

…but they can’t work off their own initiative

The flipside of these 24/7 workers that never eat or sleep is that they also can’t think. If a trained worker spots an anomaly in the work in front of them, they can alert someone to it. In many circumstances, they can fix the flaw themselves or devise a workaround. While much of the focus on automation looks at how it covers for human fallibility, that’s very much a two-way street and it’s why you need to have actual workers in the warehouse at all times.

Automated systems can replicate an instruction 100%…

Try, right now, to draw a perfectly straight line without a ruler. If you manage that, draw a perfect circle.

What you will notice is that you didn’t even get to step two, because a human being can’t physically do those things free-hand. There will always be a flaw. That’s what’s so exciting about smart manufacturing. It allows human vision to be made into something solid without the risk of flaws.

…but they can’t spot a logical flaw in an instruction

If you tell a machine to 3D-print a hairbrush that is 9” in length, it will do just that, and you’ll have a perfectly reasonable, nine-inch long hairbrush. If you get confused and tell the same machine to print a 9’ hairbrush, it’s going to try and print a nine-foot long hairbrush – and if it has the materials to do so, that’s what you’ll get. That’s what it’s been told to do, and the product will be flawless. Details like that, obvious to most experienced engineers, are why humans are a necessary part of the process.

Automation as a concept certainly has its upsides, and its incorporation into the world of work could solve a lot of problems. As long as this is done alongside a recognition of the essential part human ingenuity plays, it can end up being good for all of us.

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. There is a lot of talk these about the increased role of automation in the business world. There are some important considerations to think about in terms of incorporating automation into your operations. The following contributed post is thus entitled, What You Should Know About Business Automation.

* * *

You can’t turn a corner in today’s business world without hearing about automation. By utilizing automation, you can increase the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of your business processes. Things like marketing, recruiting, and time saving can become a breeze, and you and your team will be able to focus on more important work.

Here, you’ll find what you need to know about business automation so you can do it effectively. Take a look and see what you can learn below:

image

Ensure You Understand The Processes That You’re Automating
If you don’t fully understand the process you’re supposed to be automating, you won’t be able to do it effectively. Make sure you evaluate the process and change it where necessary.

Let Your Team Test Out Solutions
Assign a team to your automation solutions, allowing them to experiment to find the best tools and then test and implement them gradually. Remember to help your team adopt these new automation processes, too. An automation process will only work as well as the team who uses it. Most people don’t like change, and it can be hard. Remember to build in change management and training to any workflow automation you introduce. By clicking here your team can begin their exploration of processes that can introduce reduced costs and time savings.

Calculate Your ROI
Although automation can make things much easier when you have it up and running, it’s not always going to be simple. You need to make sure you estimate the time/cost savings that the automaton process will give you, compared to the time and costs it will take to automate the process. Is the amount of time it takes to recoup that investment acceptable?

Consider Security Risks
Anything that is automated and digitized can also be hacked. Automation makes things so much faster for you, but it can also make things much faster for an attacker. Make sure you think about security in advance and plan for it.

Go Slowly And Prioritize
Automating your workflow takes a lot of upfront time and resources, but if you go about automation the right way you will recoup this. However, there are learning curves involved, so going slowly and prioritizing is key. Make a list of what will have the biggest impact on your company and how much work/effort/rich is involved as you implement each one.

Keep It Simple To Begin With
You can’t always predict the issues you’ll run into with automation, so it’s best to start with something simple. You’ll avoid wasting time and resources and you’ll even learn things you didn’t know about your organization. You can carry these lessons forward when you start off simple and it’ll help you to prepare for bigger things will maximizing your productivity gains.

Ensure You Have Super High Quality Control Standards
Automation will have bugs just like any other computer system. These bugs mean you must have a degree of quality control so you can monitor and measure effectiveness and ensure each process is working as expected.