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Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 12, 2000 9:42 am, by SILVESTRI Marco - Computes
Text :
I've found your article very interesting, so I'd like to ask you a question:
In this article, you don't say anything about robotics: also robotics industries are all scrambling?
I live in Italy (that is considerable back US in technology world race) and - hey - here seem to me that manufacturing industries are starting to
introduce robotics, also due to lack of workers.
Thank you for your answering.
Marco Silvestri
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 13, 2000 1:07 pm, by Jim Pinto
Marco Silvestri asked :
>Are robotics industries also all scrambling?
Jim Pinto responds :
The objective of robotics is to develop machines that reduce human labor - first of all boring, time-consuming and dirty labor, but also achieving a level of quality not attainable manually.
Robotics - as a clearly identifiable segment - has had good penetration in the automotive business (assembly, paint-shops, etc.) It is a segment of industrial automation that is continuing to grow, with some penetration occurring outside automotive.
Look at "Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Market Growth" which refers to the North American Robotics Industries Association:
http://www.crsrobotics.com/markets/index.html?mkt_trends_fs.html
I recognize that a lot of my references are related primarily to the US, but that's still the largest market, and that's where most of my
information comes from.
Cheers:
jim
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Jim Pinto
email : jim@jimpinto.com
web: www.JimPinto.com
San Diego, CA., USA
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 13, 2000 11:42 am, by Matthew da Silva
I didn't read the article because it has a leading title, but I'll respond to Marco Silvestri's intelligent comments.
In the semiconductor markets also automation is growing (which is the opposite of declining ;)
I agree that primary processing of fuels should be close to the source. It's happening in the refining industry where you have floating refineries and storage vessels. Such vessels are the prototypes for off-world (cf Armageddon, Alien etc.) processing of raw materials which will happen in the future.
Steel is different because the product is subject to much more manufacturing after the refining process. Alumina, however, _IS_ refined close to its source because the yield per pound is so low.
Robotics are also booming, and automation for non-traditional markets such as food processing and handling, are also not declining AFAIK. In countries such as italy and Spain I think that you'll find a lot of growth in food processing. In fact, a company in the Basque part of northern Spain has developed its own smart valve positioner. There's also a new valve positioner been developed by Gemu (mainly sanitary control valves for semiconductor and pharmaceuticals). Another small company in Denmark -- traditionally important for oil production, the same town is also home to a Bettis positioner factory -- has introduced its own design valve positioner.
Finally, Neles just bought StoneL valve switch maker; it's clear where they are aiming.
With so many new products for automation of processing operations, I see potential for a lot of growth.
Maybe those companies are simply aiming at the wrong industries, and expect profits in identical places and identical volumes as during the 70s and 80s when computers were a novelty.
Best,
Matthew Yamatake Tokyo
http://www.yamatake.co.jp
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 18, 2000 12:59 pm, by Grenville Spearpoint, Nestle South Africa
Jim,
While it may not give industrial automation a significant lift there is scope for expansion in the food industry.
The confectionery industry is a good example. Not too long ago there was a occupation known as 'Sweet Makers' whose members had to serve an apprenticeship. IMO this industry lacks a number
of transducers that if available would make a valuable contribution to the expansion of automation.
Chocolate goes through a process of tempering not unlike the steel industry. This is a critical factor in it's production. It's been awhile since I was involved in the industry but I doubt if
a transducer exists that provides on-line measurement of chocolate temper. It is probably still done manually on the bench.
There also a high probability that flavours still cannot be measured automatically. Manned tasting panels are likely to be the order of the day. There are a number of similar tasks in the food industry that would benefit from the development of appropriate transducers.
You may also be surprised by the lack of automation expertise in some companies that are well established names in the supply of production machinery to the confectionery industry. Some of them make excellent plant from a mechanical point of view but automation of their plant is shockingly bad.
Regards
Grenville Spearpoint
miware@cis.co.za
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining? - Food technology
Oct 31, 2000 10:03 am, by David K.
Grenville Spearpoint,
It is interesting as a Nestle resource that you find such a lack of technology because in counterpoint I have done a couple of projects for Nestle utilizing high level motion control and process control in England and Russia, where Nestle was in fact capitalizing on latest technologies. I do notice that the installed base of technology seems to flow slowly from corporate headquarters areas to plants in other countries, sometimes even other areas of a country. It seems that as these companies seek to build plants in other countries to save expense they also do not promote the highest tech solution for the plant. Is this due to a shortage of local expertise or further cost cutting measures I wonder.....
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 19, 2000 12:56 pm, by Jim Pinto
Grenville Spearpoint comments :
>>While it may not give industrial automation a significant lift
there is scope for expansion in the food industry.
Jim Pinto agrees :
Yes, there are segments of IA that are doing fine, and where there is room for innovation. Food is an example - of an industry that is always "local". There is a significant amount of
innovation and productivity improvement that is possible.
Go find the green-fields!
Cheers:
jim
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Jim Pinto
email : jim@jimpinto.com
web: www.JimPinto.com
San Diego, CA., USA
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 12, 2000 4:21 pm, by John Coppini
Here's my opinion:
1. The industry is overcrowded; there are too many manufacturers. Just look at any magazine like "Control Engineering". Dozens and dozens of boring ads hawking the same, tired equipment. You only need so many sensors, controllers, PLCs, HMIs, etc., etc., etc.
2. The majority of companys treat their employees like a disposable commodity. They hire fresh, naive graduates and fire them when the personnel start making too much money compared to what can be gotten straight out of school. The result is a severe degradation of engineering expertise based on experience and hard-won, hands-on education. Many projects become R&D projects when they should simply be design projects that are based on past project experience ---- problem is the past experience has been fired or has wised-up and quit to go to greener pastures or more professional lines of work. After all, when you see all of your associates treated like highly educated migrant workers, one gets the message. Particularly, given the new class of scab migrant worker: the H1B.
So, can anyone tell me where I am wrong?
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 18, 2000 11:04 am, by Greg Goodman
> 1. The industry is overcrowded; there are too many manufacturers.
> Just look at any magazine like "Control Engineering". Dozens and
> dozens of boring ads hawking the same, tired equipment. You only
> need so many sensors, controllers, PLCs, HMIs, etc., etc., etc.
> So, can anyone tell me where I am wrong?
I don't think you're wrong.
But then, I'd have thought that a couple dozen different models of automobile would pretty much satisfy every identifiable consumer requirement. Ditto all the other commodity "durable" components that fill the marketplace: VCRs, camcorders, televisions, the umpty-thousand
different PC's and laptops from major manufacturers, mail-order houses, and corner chop-shops... There are a lot of these things around because they offer lots of trade-offs. Some are feature-rich and cost more while others cater to the "don't make me pay for more buttons than i'm
going to use" crowd; some are built to last and cost more while some are bought for an 8-year-old's bedroom where the additional cost isn't
justified because the additional robustness won't actually improve its survivability..." People have lots of reasons for making the choices they do; technical merit is just one of them. Even suitability to the task isn't always the most important one. Is there *any* technical
justification for a Humvee in a city? (Well, okay, Srbenica is a city. I limit the example to large, well-paved civilian-occupied cities not
currently at war.)
My technical prejudices would have me believe that engineers choose products to solve technical problems, based on clear-sighted evaluations of the technical merits and the price/performance characteristics of a component or solution, and the support and service offered by the seller. If this is, in fact, the case, then the wide variety of offerings are apparently justified by a broad range of requirements.
If this is not the case, and engineers are buying components and solutions based on political considerations, personal experience with a
particular vendor, favorite colors, religious preferences, fashion statements, keeping up with the Joneses, or whatever... then the wide variety of offerings is justified because the vendors have correctly identified that they are satisfying more than simple technical
requirements.
--
Greg Goodman
Chiron Consulting
chironsw@swbell.net -- http://www.swbell.net/chironsw -- (713) 869-6876
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