So what is "automation"? First of all, we begin to understand "automation" from the definition of "automation". The encyclopedia explains that a machine or device operates or controls automatically according to specified procedures or instructions without human intervention. There are two key words in this explanation: "no intervention" and "automatic control", that is, to achieve two "provinces": the "people saving" of "no intervention" and the "worry saving" of "automatic control".
In case 1, in the process of "automation" transformation, a company did not have a thorough understanding of "saving people", but simply transformed people's work into machine or equipment work through "automation" transformation. The leader looked at it and said, wow, the effect is good. There were 20 people in the original line. After "automation", there were 10 people. After one year, the labor cost was saved Three hundred thousand. But the cost is not small. It took nearly a year and invested millions from project establishment to implementation. However, after careful analysis, we found that, in fact, through the improvement of the operation of the production line employees and the working machines and fixtures, and continuous work in a year, we can also save 10 people, but only spend a fraction of the "automation" investment.
Case 2: a group transformed a production line by introducing advanced automation equipment. After nearly half a year of trial operation, it was found that the effect was much worse than expected. What is the reason? If only from the performance of the equipment, it is quite good. First, the speed is fast, nearly three times faster than the backward equipment; The second is that the functions are complete. There are several processing modes to meet the needs of other functions. But there are also problems. First, the performance can not be brought into play effectively. The "high speed" of the equipment can not match the "appropriate speed" of many varieties and few batches in the market; Second, due to the complex and expensive equipment and harsh natural use conditions, it is unable to flexibly move the position and function conversion to adapt to the changing product varieties and production lines; Third, the adjustment, maintenance and repair of equipment are not only demanding, but also cumbersome and complex. They must be managed by special personnel. Once a fault occurs, it will affect the production of the whole production line and even become the management bottleneck of the factory.
Therefore, through the analysis of the above cases, I think: first, we can't "save people" for "saving people". We should first "save labor" and then "save people", that is, we can "automate" after eliminating seven wastes through job improvement. 2、 The selection of "automation" equipment should be based on the requirements of product production mode, and the product production mode should be based on the market demand mode for products. Is it multi variety and large batch or multi variety and small batch.
In short, in the face of the market demand environment of variants and variables changing faster and faster, it is undoubtedly the first step of "automation" to "save labor" and then "save people". In the process of equipment "automation" transformation in the second step, the selection of equipment should be considered especially by the characteristics of short design cycle, flexible conversion, less investment, single function and low maintenance cost, Is the correct direction for Chinese enterprises to operate in the future.