Machine Automation
Automation equipment is a large category of machinery that encompasses all computerized machines used in the manufacturing industry. This equipment is used in the production, assembly and packaging stages of manufacturing. Industries such as food processing and packaging, agricultural tool and construction tool manufacturers, medical supply companies, automotive and aerospace all benefit from the use of machine automation. These
manufacturing automation machines include equipment like assemblers, bulk feeder, plastics processors, material handling and injection molding systems, radial and axial inserters, laser marking and component sequencers. Machine automation is often integrated into the
assembly line. In an assembly line, one person or one machine makes a single part of the product over and over again. These parts are all assembled together, rather than individually, in a systematic manner, saving time and money. This concept began in the early nineteen hundreds by Henry Ford, and in essence was the beginning of mass production.
The computerized aspect of machine automation is also referred to as
CNC, or computer numeric control machining. This programming system involves a variety of software including computer assisted design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and other advanced programs such as photo imaging, all of which allow a manufacturing company to set up their
production equipment to practice
precision machining. Automated systems such as assembly lines would not be able to mass produce products if it were not for the software that programs each machine to do exactly what is necessary to produce the same product over and over again. CNC machining is vital to the technological advances of machine automation.
Robotic automation is the current step as well as the foreseeable next step in this advancement. Currently, most assembly machines are actually robotics, the major difference between a regular machine and the robotic being that robots may be programmed to do more then one task while machines may only practice one at a time. The efficiency of a robots ability to practice multiple tasks is priceless, and the advances in robotics promise even more to come.
