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Despite automation, human operators are still a key component in many industrial processes. When Covid-19 first swept the world last year, deskbound workers seamlessly decamped to their home offices or kitchen tables and moved their meetings online. But this simply wasn’t possible for many people who spend their days on a production line or operating machinery.
The first instinct among most industrial firms was to reduce staffing levels as much as possible in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Factories also had to set up infrastructure – from dividing screens to sanitising stations – to limit contact among remaining frontline workers. Industries with lengthy, cross-border supply chains recorded the worst drops in output as lockdowns were introduced.
Output slowed
In some cases, precautions would come to undermine productivity. According to a report by BBC News, staff at Toyota’s Deeside plant in North Wales used to build engines in 44 seconds before the days of social distancing. However, they were expected to work as much as 10% slower once Covid safety measures were in place.
Before the pandemic, forward-looking manufacturers would have been interested in automation as a cost-saving measure, not because they feared the spread of a virus in enclosed spaces. Now the benefits of having a workforce of robots seem clearer than ever before – and major industrial players appear to be taking note. Last year, trade volumes for industrial robots increased in many countries.
The Financial Times reported that US goods imports contracted 11% year on year in the first eight months of 2020, but imports of industrial robots rose 5% during the same period. Meanwhile, China logged a 14% annual growth in the production of industrial robots in August.
Does this mean that the long-prophesied full automation of human labour is upon us? Perhaps – but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a reduction in the number of jobs available to people. They’ll just be behind screens rather than manoeuvring machines.
Management at a distance
The research and advisory firm Gartner predicts that, by 2024, half of all factory work will be done remotely, with hourly workers only needed onsite to perform certain specialist tasks. Technologies such as the Internet of Things, augmented reality and artificial intelligence will enable engineers to have more insight into processes and machine performance than ever before. This means that some diagnostic and collaborative work could be undertaken from home.
Since 2017, the management consultancy McKinsey has surveyed global manufacturing companies to gauge the progress of the so-called fourth Industrial Revolution. Its 2020 report, published earlier this year, found that 94% of 400 respondents said that Industry 4.0 technologies had helped them to keep their operations running during the worst of the pandemic.
But it was the firms that had already scaled up their technological capabilities before Covid that were best-placed to respond during the crisis. Some 56% of respondents that hadn’t implemented Industry 4.0 found themselves “constrained in their ability to respond to Covid-19 in the absence of digital technologies to support them,” according to McKinsey.
In manufacturing, certain roles will easily be able to be carried out at a distance – especially within organisations that have made investments in technology. But, ultimately, some human hands will still be needed on deck for the foreseeable future.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.