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allowing for statistical process control that will allow for a more consistent

and uniform product.

❖ Economic improvement. Automation can serve as the catalyst for

improvement in the economies of enterprises or society. For example, the

gross national income and standard of living in Germany and Japan

improved drastically in the 20th century, due in large part to embracing

automation for the production of weapons, automobiles, textiles and other

goods for export.

Disadvantages of Automation

❖ Technology limits. Current technology is unable to automate all desired

tasks. Some tasks cannot be easily automated, such as the production or

assembly of products with inconsistent componentsizes or in tasks where

manual dexterity is required. There are some things that are best left to

human assembly and manipulation.

❖ Economic limits. Certain tasks would cost more to automate thanto perform

manually. Automation is typically best suited to processes that are

repeatable, consistent and high volume.

❖ Unpredictable development costs. The research and development cost of

automating a process is difficult to predict accurately beforehand. Since this

cost can have a large impact on profitability, it is possible to finish

automating a process only to discover that there is no economic advantage

in doing so. With the advent and continued growth of different types of

production lines, however, more accurate estimates based on previous

projects can bemade.

❖ Initial costs are relatively high. The automation of a new product or the

construction of a new plant requires a huge initial investment compared to

the unit cost of the product. Even machinery for which the development

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