Don’t underestimate the power of robotic process automation. Will the Age of Ultron come to our world?
There is a lot of momentum in companies adopting robotic process automation technologies. The significant progress in digitalization and industrial revolution brings a new era of opportunities for companies and their facilities such as factories, laboratories or physical assets. New technologies like automation, artificial intelligence or machine learning are often terrifying to companies in some ways. They are shying away from adopting because of both the lack of potential added value and deployment complexity. Taking the necessary steps in technological innovation can give some positive benefits of implementing automation solutions. Robotic process automation is one of the digital transformation technologies that help companies robotize repeatable routine tasks and work. Just like other advanced solutions such as chatbots or self-driven cars, robotic process automation enables higher efficiency in human actions. By programming autonomous software robots to replicate some basic manual work or administrative processes that are normally operated by a human, a business can think of it as having a permanent worker/operator that can perform all activities faster and more cost-effectively than humans.
Robotic process automation (RPA) itself is in its infancy, but the general understanding of how RPA works and how it can be used is still growing. This solution is a powerful technology merging software, artificial intelligence, and machine learning capabilities to automate manual tasks run so far by humans. It also works that without the proper tools in place is subject to human errors creating possibilities for product failures. Bringing in RPA to an assembly line can remove the possibility for errors. RPA can automate the extremely time-consuming business processes related to different processes inside a company. The main point is the majority of the companies that have deployed RPA don’t intend to lay off employees who used to perform work now automated.
According to statistics and research projects on process performance management, a business research institute (APQC) found out that process automation was a part of 69 percent of the digital strategies prepared by companies. The point is if a company is a manufacturer, particularly in the process industries, investing in automation is vital for maintaining global competitiveness. A better model to automation investment begins with a strategic vision that drives a company to significant and measured improvement within a business process. Of course, business should look at automation from the top down, identifying business needs and then finding ways to approach how automation can be used effectively to meet those problems. Automation solutions give a lot of possibilities for companies within changing the range of services or possible capacities of production. With this mindset in place, it becomes easier to prepare automation and business strategy, and to see how those two approaches are linked to each other.
Smart companies are taking a process automation approach to implement new technologies in the right way, time and place. The global demand for industrial robots has accelerated due to the ongoing global trends toward automation including IoT into innovative industrial robotics. There are five leading countries representing total automation sales. China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the US are major markets where companies such as manufacturers focus on automation solutions for eliminating or reducing some fixed production costs. This move toward replacing humans by robots needs to be considered as a key factor of removing humans from the most difficult and dangerous parts of production stages. Rapidly rising demands for affordable products are the spark that is shifting companies quickly in favor of companies with deployed automation technologies.
There are always doubts as to the direction of the global economy, which may put a company at risk of bankruptcy. However, in many cases, automation investments produced improved financial performance and general company condition. Building a long term strategy based on automation technology can push a company toward a higher probability of success.
The value of human skills
Human history shows that people are smart and innovative and able to come up with solutions to their pressing problems. For instance, the Chinese invented the precise compass over 1000 years ago and an accurate and effective seismoscope to detect the distance of earthquakes by 132 A.D. (anno Domini). What is more, a mechanical clock was invented by them in 725 A.D. (a water-powered cogwheel clock).
These days, many topics are discussed and debated, from global warming to new innovative information technology products and automation solutions dedicated to different sectors. Global warming will be left behind and this brief will be only about IT and automation. Much has been said about automation and the replacement of the human workforce for years now. Recently, the bar has risen — autonomous machines are the future. The first thing to note is that there are many types of robots with many customized applications. In fact, robots have got different sizes, shapes, capabilities as well as applications which are used to program those machines. Carrying out a complex series of actions by machines crossed humans’ minds a long time ago. Most specify the time of robots was after World War II. If you look back through history for the first sign of automation, you will land at Ford Motor Company in 1948. During the process of ramping up a new production line, the company realized they needed more automation to compete with Chevrolet. After that, twenty-five years later, in 1961, Joseph Engelberger and George Devol set up Unimation Inc. and integrated the first industrial robot into Ford’s assembly line. The name of the first 1.8-ton robot was Unimate. It was in charge of moving heavy parts of a car between point A and point B along an assembly line. Carrying out the repetitive tasks, the machine replaced three employees who were working before the deployment process. The place where the robots were installed was not unexpected. The process of moving heavy parts by humans brought a lot of troubles and made work really dangerous. The machine created an opportunity to remove employees from the dangerous areas of a factory.
Increasing both efficiency and revenue as well as reducing overhead are the main objectives for business process automation. Digital transformation in the twenty-first century could not happen without robots and automation. Large systems drive the global economy, provide for human needs and fulfill what a human wants. The name of one of the most popular robots which can be met on a daily basis is the iRobot vacuum cleaner. Since 2002, the release date of the robot, it has become very popular in many households around the world. Robots can be met in restaurants, hotels, shopping malls as well as at airports. It provides very simple services which so far have been done by people, saving their personal time for more important things.
The next very interesting robot system which was invented in 2003 is Kiva systems. Autonomous mobile robots used to manage inventory around warehouses changed the logistics industry completely. In 2013, Amazon purchased Kiva for $775 million and almost immediately took them in house renaming to Amazon Robotics. Traditional distribution centers such as Amazon, eBay or Staples were powered by an army of people who were walking miles a day to pick items which had been ordered. This process was expensive, inefficient and generated a lot of errors. After the acquisition process, most of the people at a warehouse were removed and replaced by platform robots. All items started being stored on portable storage units which now are moved by robots individually according to an order. This relatively new approach to automated item handling system increased efficiency and eliminate time-consuming intermediate processes.
As the machine is becoming increasingly automated, the business world can move a step ahead and focus on leadership and management systems where artificial intelligence cannot be implemented. Human input and oversight are also critical for process automation to be successful. In a perfect scenario, it would be great to plug and play, putting robots in place and letting them do their thing. However, currently, humans have to still look at and lead large projects to complete deployments successfully. So there is a huge advantage compared to machines — the value of human skills. While the adoption of automation and robotics is happening quickly, companies have a responsibility to reskill and reorganize their workforce. According to statistics, people who are smart and intelligent have an enormous value for business as they are able to generate additional value. With an eye towards the future, innovation will be more difficult to be achieved because of the higher financial barrier for moving up.
Moving towards the future
E.P. Thompson in his book dated 1967 described the world before the industrial revolutions where work was defined as task-oriented time. The general approach was based on the natural work-rhythms of the tasks an individual attends to. There was a little demarcation between work and life at that time. Not many wishes to return to that time as the increasingly popular concept of work-life balance is being promoted and separating work and personal life. Mainly, time-oriented approaches are popular in large companies where people work for a set of period of time making calls, preparing presentations or entering data and then moving on to another timed task.
As technological mechanization increased, humans found themselves in a different relationship to their tools and lifetime. The main benefit of automation and robotics is flexibility and scalability to decreased cycle time and improved throughput. The time which is saved by automation can be used by people on focusing on customer satisfaction, improving employee morale or building bots that make current processes work better.
Humans now are working side by side with machines, under the same schedule, on-site or virtually. They started feeling sorry for robots when things go wrong and the robot dies. Giving them names and even debating over their gender is proof that the human race is changing its thinking about machines in general. According to Google’s director of engineering, computers will be able to understand human languages, learn from experience and outsmart humans by 2029. Currently, many companies are used to using bots for providing customer support services for instance. A person who makes a call to a technical support center believes that she or he is talking to a real person but in fact, the caller is talking to a bot. Another process which has been automated by machines is an application which is in charge of scheduling meetings in a calendar. The process is really simple — you add an additional email address to the loop which is sent to an artificial intelligence system. The application analyzes the information and adds a new meeting to your Outlook calendar.
One of the most difficult parts of making robots more human is sharing feelings. Emotions are something that people reserve for themselves. If a machine is capable of feelings, it would change the perspective of what humans think of as classically human. Of course, to be emotional like people, robots need bodies and cultural identity. Humans possess emotions such as sadness, happiness, fear or courage; perhaps other creatures like animals have them too. Currently, there is a lot of research in this field looking for a way how to manage this huge challenge. According to MIT Technology Review magazine, a humanoid robot dedicated to fighting fires on US Navy ships, named Octavia, has mastered an impressive range of facial expressions. The robot collects a lot of information from the environment around and processes it, expressing some basic emotions. She can see, hear and touch. Using microphones and a voice-recognition program, the robot can detect people’s voices. What is more, she takes a virtual stock of her surroundings and analyzes the facial features, complexion, and clothing. Octavia is also able to identify 25 different objects. Although this is the first generation of Octavia robots, it gives hope the robots with emotions can be more useful in the future for people. The emotional chip installed in robots can allow them to process emotions in a manner similar to humans. This solution of the future can be used for storytelling — an e-storyteller could better understand a text to influence more emotions.
Apart from you and me, industries need robots as well for their business processes. The need for understanding asset conditions is critical for many industries. For instance, the energy industry has to supply electricity over long distances for millions of households. They hold a lot of different machines, infrastructure, and energy plants as well. They need to ensure that their infrastructure throughout an entire country is maintained well and no issue can occur. To be sure that the life of assets is fine, industries use a lot of different technologies including IT software products and robots. One of the examples is a robot which is produced by a pioneering company from Switzerland named ABB. Many enterprises are using ABB’s inspection services to examine the internal structure of machines without taking a machine apart. The robot can be sent into confined spaces where a human cannot go and send real-time data and details about a specific area of a machine. How does it work? The energy industry needs transformers to transfer electricity between two or more circuits (an interconnection of an electrical component). As an essential part of an electrical substation, transformers are critical for the entire electricity grid systems. Generally, there is oil inside the transformers for insulation and cooling purposes. Every time when an inspection service was needed, employees had to remove oil. The process generated additional costs and was time-consuming. As the robot is controlled remotely it can also be used underwater and the oil does not have to be removed for the inspection service. This very simple robot can also be used by other industries, e.g. the marine sector. The robot can be used to monitor the status of pipelines under water. Many companies also deliver a professional software solution as a part of a robot. The service management platform allows users to schedule a technical maintenance service ahead of time to take advantage of a planned outage and minimize the period of time needed for downtime.
Robots can improve the ability to accurately identify the root cause of a problem and go into spaces where a human cannot. What is more, robots can also provide high-quality images and additional information for review by experts outside the company. This data is also used to confirm asset readiness and predict any future potential failures. If you look at the topic worldwide, the global market for inspection robots is expected to grow at an annual rate of 21% by 2021. The demand is driven by companies which have to maintain a high quality of asset maintenance such as the oil & gas, petrochemical or energy industries. There’s been a rapid growth of robotic inspection applications over the last few years. The robots offer a lot of benefits over manual inspection processes, especially in dangerous areas.
Summary
After fifty years since the moment of inventing the first robot, the number of those machines used worldwide is estimated at around 1.3–1.6mln. Robots have changed the landscape of current factories pushing them forward to become innovative places of production. Robotics technology facilitates mass production which automatically generates a lower unit cost of production. It influences the prices of products and creates a rich in developed countries. Industrial robots are used widely mainly in Japan, South Korea, China, the USA, and Germany. Today the biggest robot producers are companies such as Fanuc, Motoman, ABB, and Kuka.
Automation investments with the best ROI are based on long-term strategies. Many companies focus on the wrong areas of business, taking an approach that is not orientated to finding the best overall solutions for the lowest cost. Automation projects are expected to cut costs within automated areas. What are more, companies implementing automation technologies have a competitive advantage over their competitors, both in product quality and operation costs? Eliminating manual execution of commands subject to human errors is another upside of implementing automation. As always, IT is everywhere now including process automation. Because of IT applications, automated business processes are being controlled precisely. For companies spread around the world, consistency has a very important role as customers can experience the same level of services from your business where ever they are.
One of the most famous disadvantages of process automation is the fear of losing jobs by humans. Many disagree with this statement, saying that companies that automate their business processes have the capacity to generate more jobs. That is because they become more efficient and able to deliver a larger number of projects and serve more customers in the same period of time. People who go through this process experience stress and difficulties connected with the awareness that they will be replaced by a robot.
There is no reason to believe that one-day human labor will somehow disappear as machine labor becomes more efficient, effective and cheaper. The machine market will always need to be monitored by humans standing by as technicians for when something goes wrong or the machines need to be programmed in order to learn new things. The industry is already rife with automated systems and robots. Replacing humans by robots is a result of profit-maximizing decisions by the company owners. No predictions have been prepared about how advances in automation technologies will see humans replaced in all kinds of jobs in the long term
Almost all companies are paying more attention to new technologies which can put their businesses higher compared to competitors. In the end, enterprises need to develop a strategic plan as automation technologies continue to change the workforce and the role of a human in a business circle. Robotics has already changed your company, now you should learn more about it and prepare for changes in the future.
Written by Lukasz Kudlak
