Automation Systems: the Invisible Technology That Keeps the World Running

It’s my most favourite time of the year – the time when families get together to spend together and celebrate the holidays ahead. I’m hosting my parents this time around, as this has become a tradition in my family. And family gatherings with my parents always end up with us having some heated and deep discussion on a plethora of topics that I don’t even think about until they’re brought up. My dad can go on and rant about stuff for hours on end, be it Trump winning the presidency over in the US, the Great Coral Reef dying out due to poor politics here in Australia, or about robots slowly taking over people’s jobs, and what-not.

What he doesn’t understand though, is that everything that’s available on the market nowadays is as affordable as it is because the manufacturing process is automated. Everyone has an opinion on certain subjects, and that’s fine – everyone is entitled to one, but elderly people often times talk about things they are uneducated and uncertain about, but have just heard on the news without even checking the facts. My dad is no different than that. My point is, a lot of the things we own today were produced thanks to automation systems.

Automation systems are used to increase the rate of production, product reliability and quality with relative ease, while reducing the cost of design and production. Most importantly, they completely negate the human error factor, making the things that we use on daily basis completely safe, as long as they’re manufactured right.

Moreover, assembling products often times includes lifting, welding and honing heavy objects, which can take take their toll on a person’s health, so it’s better that they’re replaced by machines. The human factor can often times get in the way of production, and if you ask me personally, humans are much more high maintenance workers than machines. Machines don’t need frequent routine checks, all you need to do is insert a set of parameters and they will do their job.

Can you imagine if you had to pay an absurd amount of money for something as basic as a pen, yet alone a car. In that case cars would be something that only a fraction of the population would be able to afford. Well, I guess I’ll be spending another Christmas trying to argue some common sense with my old man. But hey, it’s his stubbornness that made me this open-minded in the first place, which is something I’ll be trying to avoid doing with my own kids. Happy holidays!