V automation in industry

Many industries are highly automated or use automation technology in some part of their operation. In communications and especially in the telephone industry, dialing, transmission, and billing are all done automatically. R.ailroads too are controlled by automatic signaling devices, which have sensors that detect cars passing a particular point. In this way the movement and location of trains can be monitored. . • '

Not all industries require the same degree of automation. Agriculture, sales, and some service industries are difficult to automate. The agriculture industry may become more mechanized, especially in the processing and packaging of foods; however, in many service industries such as supermarkets, for example, achcckout counter may be automated and the shelves or supply bins must still be stocked by hand. Similarly, doctors may consult a computer to assist in diagnosis, but they must make the final decision and prescribe therapy.

The concept of automation is evolving rapidly, partly because the applications of automation techniques vary both within a plant or industry and also between industries. The oil and chemical industries, for example, have developed the continuous-flow method of production, owing to the nature of the raw materials usedjln a refmeiy, crude oil enters at one point and flows continuously through pipes in cracking, distillation, and reaction devices as it is being processed into such products as gasoline and fuel oil. An array of automatic-control devices governed by microprocessors and coordinated by a central computer is used to control valves, heaters, and other equipment, thereby regulating both the flow and reaction rates.

In the steel, beverage, and canned food industries, on the other hand, some of the products are produced in batches. 'For example, a steel furnace is charged (loaded with the ingredients), brought up to heat, and a batch of steel ingots produced. In this phase very little automation is evident. These ingots, however, may then be processed automatically into sheet or structural shapes by being squeezed through a series of rollers until the desired jshape is achieved.

The automobile and other consumer product industries use the mass production techniques of step-by-step manufacture and assembly/pnis technique approximates the continuous-flow concept but involves transfer machines; thus, from the point of view of the auto industry, transfer machines are essential to the definition of automation.

Each of these industries uses automated machines in all or part of its manufacturing processes. As a result, each industry has a concept of automation that fits its particular production needs. More examples can be found in almost every phase of commerce. The widespread use of automation and its influence on daily life provides the basis for the concern expressed by many about the influence of automation on society and the individual.

VI automation and society

Automation has made a major contribution toward increases in both free time and real wajges enjoyed by most workers in industrialized nations. Automation has greatly increased production and lowered costs, thejeby making automobiles, refrigerators, televisions, telephones, and other goods available to more people. It has allowed production and wages to increase, and at the s^me time the work week has decreased in most Western countries from 60 to 40 hours.

A Employment

Not all the results of automation have been positive, however. Some commentators argue that automation has caused overproduction and waste-, that it has created alienation among workers, and that it generates unemployment. Of these issues, the relationship between automation and unemployment has received the most attention. Employers and some economists argue that automation has little if any effect on unemployment—that workers are displaced rather than dismissed and are usually employed in another position within the §ame company or in the same position at another company that has not automated.

Some claim that automation generates more jobs than it displaces. They point out that although some laborers may become unemployed, the industry producing the automated machinery generates more jobs than were eliminated. The computer industry is often cited to illustrate this claim. Business executives would agree that although the computer has replaced many workers, the industry itself has generated more jobs in the manufacturing, sajes, and maintenance of computers than the device has eliminated.

On the other hand, some labor leaders and economists argue that automation causes unemployment and, if left unchecked, will breed a vast army of unemployed that could disrupt the entire economy. They contend that growth in government-generated jobs and in service industries has absorbed those who became unemployed due to automation, and that as soon as these areas become saturated or the programs reduced, the true relationship between automation and unemployment will become known.

В Automation and the Individual

The effect of automation on the individual has been more drastic. The worker is either displaced or unemployed. Workers who remain must operate or maintain technologically aavapceci machines, and they may also be requj.red to monitor more of the plant operation and to make on-the-spot decisions. Thus, the education and experience levels of these workers are considerably above those of the workers who were displaced.

The number of workers in more automated industries, especially those using continuous flow processes, tends to be small, and the capital investment in equipment per worker is high. The most dramatic difference between these industries and those using Detroit automation is the reduction in the number of semiskilled workers. It would apnear then that automation has little use for unskilled or semiskilled workers, their skills being the most easily replaced by automated devices. The labor force needed in an automated plant consists primarily of such skilled workers as maintenance engineers, electricians, and toolmakers, all of whom are necessary to keep the automated machinery in good operating order.

Operating system

Operating System (OS), in computer science, the basic softwarejhat controls a computer. The operating system has three major functions: It coordinaTeTanamanipulates tomputerTiardware, ) such as computer memoir, printers, disks, >kЈy_b^rd^miOiise^nd monitor; it organizes Tiles on a ~ variety of storage media, such as floppy disk, hard drive^, compact disc, digital >ideo disc, and tape; and if manages hardware jirrors and the los^^data^) ^ У

An Operating System Interface. A screen shot from the Windows XP operating system displays) icons and other images typical of the graphical user interface (GUI) that makes computers-easy to use. With a GUI, a compute^user can easily execute commands by clicking on pictures, words, or icons with a pointing device known as a mouse.

HOW AN OS WORKS

Operating, systems control different computer processes, such as running a spreadsheet program or accessing information from the computer'sniemory. One important process is interpreting command^xnablingjdie..user to'communicate vvith the computer^Some command interpreters are te^Toriented, re^ufririg commands to be typed in or to be'selected via function keys on a keyboard.- Other command interpreters use graphics and let the userxommunicate by pointing and clicking on an icon,'an on-screen picture that represents a specific command. Beginners generally find graphically oriented interpreters easier to use, but many experienced computer users prefer text-oriented command interpreters. * ~"^r3>'

Operating systems are either single-tasking or multitasking. The more primitive single-tasking operating systems can run only one process at a time.TorTnstance, when the computer is printing a document, it cannot start another process or respond to new commands until the printing is completed.

All modern operating systems are multitasking and can runjeveral processes simultaneous!y.⁴)In most computers, however, there is only one central processing unit (GPU;lhTcTmrputational and control unit of the computer), so a multitasking OS creates the illusion of severalnrocesses running simultaneously on the CPU. The most common mechanism used to create/this illusion is time-slice multitasking, whereby each process is run individually^for a fixed period of time. If the process is not completed within the allotted time, it is suspended and another process is run. This exchanging of processes is called context switching? The OS performs4he "bookkeeping" that preserves a suspended process. It also has a mechanism, called а sc'he&illr, that determines which process will be run next. The scheduler runs short processes quickly-то minimize perceptible delayOThe processes appear to run simultaneously because the user's sense of time is mtich-slcrwer than the processing speed of the computer.

Operating systems can use a technique known as virtual memory to run processes that require more main memory than is actually available) To implement this technique, space on the hard drivers used to mimic the extra memory needed. Accessing the hard drive is more time-consuming than accessing main memory, however, so performance of the computer slows.