How will Automation Affect Operations Management Practices over the Next Decade - Research Paper Example

Automation, as defined by Moray, Inagaki and Itoh (2000, Para. 1), “is any sensing, detection, information processing, decision-making, or control action that could be performed by humans but is actually performed by machine.” Therefore, automation involves changing the way people do work and thus affects operations management. Moreover, the rate of growth of using automation is increasing, as automation becomes cheaper, and so is international competition and availability of skilled labor and capital. Automation is significant because it can lead to higher quality products, higher productivity, and safer jobs (Black Enterprises, 1982, p.29). In addition, automation increases the quality of goods and services as it eliminates operator-induced errors. In this case, automation has mainly been used in mass production, batch, or job specific production. Operations management includes decision making about the design, planning, and management of the many factors that affect operations. Meanwhile, operations are an organization’s processes of transforming inputs into outputs. The level of performance of operations processes determines the quality of final products. Thus, the level of performance of operations process is influenced by quality of the process, its speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. Subsequently, the need for improvement in the level of efficacy in operation processes has led to automation. Some operation management practices that are affected by automation include design, planning and control or management. Automation is used to solve a specific problem; for instance, in lean manufacturing, automation is aimed at reduction of waste, improving flow, and shortening lead-time while improving the quality of the final product. On the other hand, automation can be used in reducing labor cost, increasing production, and improving the quality. Thus, the problem one wants to solve will dictate the type or level of automation required. Automation is classified into three categories depending on the purpose; firstly, automation that performs duties beyond human capability or human operators cannot accomplish task within desired duration. The second is automation of duties that human operators perform poorly, and finally, automation of risky or undesirable activities (Singh, Tiwari & Singh, 2009, p.9). Essentially, automation has reduced the number of human resource in operation; similarly, it has reduced human interaction. Further, the cost of automation is very high and requires specialized workers to handle and maintain these systems. Besides, the benefits of automation, there are process that cannot be easily automated. Automation will fuel development of more customized products and shorten production duration. Furthermore, through automation, higher quality goods will be produced as a result of improved product and process design. Some processes will became fully automated, thus requiring minimal human supervisory control. Similarly, automation will have profound effects on management of human resource and other operations. Essentially, automation will affect the organizational structure by shrinking management levels. This paper will explore how automation will affect designing of products and services and operational processes used to create goods and services over the next decade. Similarly, the paper also outlines the possible effects of automation on other operations management practices such as controlling, planning, and management. How Automation will affect design of products, Services, and operation processes Design in operation management encompasses design of products, services and the operation process. Design automation that is actively evolving will result in development of technology, which will automate the design of products from concept design through design layout and detail design. Primarily, design automation will facilitate cost cutting hence profitability. According to Joglekar & Whitney (1999, p.2), “generally, design automation impacts development process in that it speeds design process by 30 percent, speeds up design, only if the process is restructured by 33 percent and improves design fidelity.” Firstly, design automation will lead to development of customized range of products and facilitate faster product designing. Development of standardized product range will limit product range hence customers’ choice. According to Cincom, studies revealed, “73 percent of customers view product customization as critical for product over $100,000” (Joglekar & Whitney, 1999, p.2). Therefore, there will be more need for customized designed in future, with design automation aiding to develop several ranges of products for different customers’ needs. The graph below indicates the demand trends for customized and standardized products over time. Source: Using Design Automation to Reduce Costs, Increase Profitability http://www.conceptsinproduction.com/MotherEarth/Products/Products/SolidWorks%20Premium/White%20Papers/082218_SW_UsingDesignAutomation_WP_ENG.pdf. Thus, design automation will result in production of customized products to suit the needs of customers. Similarly, design automation will assist production mangers to innovate products lines within a short duration. Besides, most products are based on old design hence, with design automation, firms will able to get products with newer designs in the market, while customers will access products of higher quality due to improved product designs and processes. Subsequently, design automation will have meaningful benefits to organizations. These benefits include reduced sales support requirement due to faulty goods, and free up time by elimination of repetitive tasks. Moreover, design automation will facilitate increased productivity, consistency, and shorten will time to delivering placed orders, hence improved productivity. Automation will also affect and change the operation processes used in the future. Essentially, changes in product design caused by automation call for newer operation processes. Indeed, some product designs can only be produced effectively under an automated process rather than manual. In addition, automation of operation process will shorten the length of production duration. According to Joglekar and Whitney (1999, p.2), process automation can significantly reduce the development duration by half while maintaining or improving the design quality. According to Baciak (2007), “at Microsoft, automation reduced the process time from one week to one day for subscribing to a service.” Similarly, the operation processes will evolve to be more specialized and subjected to more formal operating controls. Further, some sub-processes will be highly automated compared to others depending on the nature of each sub process. Some industries will become fully automated, reducing interaction between human operators and the system. In addition, human operators in automated process are likely to be replaced with intelligent robots, which will play the support and control duties. This is as a result of progressive division of labor, technical and administrative design strategies (Martin, et al., 1999, p.903). Similarly, the operation processes are likely to become extensively integrated. At this stage, selective improvement of a sub-process will be difficult, since minimal changes in the process will affect the entire process. Thus, minor changes will be costly since any change will require alteration in the entire process. Through automation, firms will be able to attain process maturity, which implies a high degree of control automation, control reliability, and preventive versus detective controls (Nelson & Ambrosini, 2007, p.30). However, the growing rate of automation will generate additional risks. Mostly, the benefits of automating a process are dependent on ability to use the technology appropriately. Thus, rapid innovation of newer technologies does not give labor adequate training time on how to use the machines. Moreover, there is little evidence to suggest that organizations will continue to benefit from improved productivity as a result of further refinement and integration of production lines through automation. Additionally, the management will face the challenge of constructing an environment that supports automation. How automation will affect planning Firstly, automation will affect decision making in the planning process as it increases information sharing. Besides, there will be wider availability of data and information that aids in planning stages. Additionally, automated decision making tools will facilitate in development of sound judgment (Davenport & Harris, 2005, p.2), as well as aiding managers to infer some operation or business problem. Thus, in future, automation will assist managers to be more effective. The available decision making tools are too complex and require skilled users; however, with continuous innovation there is a likelihood of development of easy to use decision making support tool. Further, automated decision-making will help to eliminate human biases and errors in decision-making. Therefore, managers will be in a better position to select appropriate strategies that will shape their organization’s future performance. Moreover, automated decision making tools will facilitate faster decision-making compared to traditional methods. Notably, automated decision making tools can be used in solution configuration, yielding optimization, making routing decisions and operational controls to name a few. Moreover, automated decision-making tools will communicate alternative recommendations to decision makers. Similarly, decision-making support tools will be integrated with external source of information, production workflows, and operational applications. Better planning is predictable since managers will be able to predict outcomes by evaluating modeling and by use of operational data. Automation of planning will facilitate scheduling of tasks; Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN), generates a sequence of ordered activities and resource requirement of each activity. These types of automated planning tools will assist planning and decision-making in the future, as they became affordable. Moreover, these systems will eliminate human error, as they have capacity to identify a conflict resulting from resource allocation. In addition, automated planning and scheduling system will have a profound impact on planning and operating the mission, besides lowering planning costs at the planning stage. Through utilization of automated planning tools, better plan structures will be developed, which substantially improve the efficiency of planning (Rintanen, 2006, p.9). Besides, planning has aided in development of paths of attaining the predetermined goals, which are then assessed depending on their time consumption and costs. On the other hand, over-reliance on automated decision-making tools might affect the quality of decision made. Given that automated decision support tools are as good as the quality of information used, so, if poor or incomplete data is used, it can distort the management information and result in poor decisions. How Automation will affect management in future With increased automation, technical know-how of workers is expected to rise, thus continuous capacity development will be the key component that management will have to deal with. Moreover, newer management styles will be employed due to greater job complexity and widening of responsibilities. Intrinsically, the relationship of workers and their supervisors in highly automated environment differs from one in semi-automated environment. Therefore, a management style that facilitates increased contact and improved worker-supervisor relation will be utilized. Indeed, supervisors will be able to monitor operation processes through remote monitoring and supervision. Thus, the operation processes will be much clearer and efficient. This is due to the fact that there will be increased separation of workers hence reduction of social interaction in a highly automated environment. Moreover, newer methods of organizational management will be employed such as self-supervision and minimal functional specialization (Martin, et al., 1999, p.905). The increasing use of automated machinery and control systems will place new demands on both the technical skills and the intellectual aptitudes of production workers. Similarly, it would increase the demand for highly skilled mechanical laborers and knowledgeable technicians who could operate the new automated devices. Another point worth noting is that automation of information processing system will have profound impact on organizational structure. Primarily, management levels will considerably shrink, as some management levels will be replaced by automation. Furthermore, automation of data management will facilitate information sharing and coordination between departments. With increased automation, there will arise more management resistance due to reduction of job opportunities. Automation also gives managers the means to monitor efficiency of office workers in a way hitherto impossible. .Moreover, the structure of authority and control will become more centralized. Additionally, automation of information system will advance coordination within an organization due to increased flexibility (Martin, et al., 1999, p.902). Further, the workload of management is reduced; for example, management teams can easily collect feedback from their customers. Automation of human resource department will shorten HR recruitment cycle, increase reliability, and accuracy and hence the quality of the recruitment outcome. By automation of decision-making support tools, managers will have more time to handle problems related to interpersonal relations. Essentially, automation will improve data and information security to prevent competitors from gaining access of valuable information. This will be attained through data storage systems that give different levels of access to workers depending on nature of their work. On the other hand, increased automation will increase reliance of automated data storage systems that are susceptible to theft or malicious damage. Nevertheless, continuous automation will improve information security through development to safer systems. Additionally, the management process will benefit from reengineering systems, which eliminate operational weaknesses associated with automated systems. These reengineering systems will reduce lag time as they use real-time, eliminate clerical routine procedures, and reduce paper documentation and storage. By incorporating factors like autonomy, variety and responsibility in automated systems may maximize flexibility responsibilities and motivation of human workforce (Martin, et al., 1999, p.905). How Automation will affect analysis process Firstly, data collection process will be highly efficient, analysis of large volume of data will be possible, and data verification especially for bulk information will aided. In addition, automation will aid in value analysis, identification of unnecessary costs associated with products and raw material, and eliminating them without impairing the quality of services. However, it is likely that automation will complicate value analysis due to unpredictability of developmental costs. The automated analysis helps in analysis and extraction of information from analysis models. Effective measurement of operational performance requires that information be interpreted correctly; therefore, automation of analysis process will aid interpretation of data. Furthermore, through proper analysis, management teams will be able to make predictions, thus facilitating development of good strategies. Critical decisions are pegged on proper analysis of performance and information and data. Moreover, automated statistical analysis will assist managers to revel differences between various strategies and performance. Further, managers will be in a better position to confirm improvement by evaluating performance of various strategies. Moreover, proper data analysis and use of statistical methods will ensure that assumptions about effective means of implementing change are validated and that changes lead to improvements. Cause & Effect (C&E) analysis for process plants is one of the tasks associated with Process Carrying out safety analysis is important to prevent accidents and help in the design of control and protective systems for process plants. By utilization of cause & Effect (C&E) analysis automated tools, accidents will be prevented and help in the design of control and protective systems for process plants (An et al., N.d). Control Essentially, optimized control systems will enable organizations to engage in self-assessment, entity-level, and process-level monitoring, and automated testing (Nelson & Ambrosini, 2007, p.27). Indeed, the automated control testing will provide greater assurance, improvement, and support. In future, automation will improve the ability to manage inventory needs to eliminate cases of excessive inventory or running out of stock. Further, improvement of automated inventory control tools will reduce errors associated with program errors or flawed models. Thus, good control programs will provide accurate inventory reports, namely, inventory purchases, turnover, spoilage, and slow moving items. In addition, automation of process control will facilitate efficient use of resources and avoidance of wastage. Similarly, automation of control process will regulate the quality of outputs and throughput. New and modified equipment will be introduced to facilitate stricter control on process rather than a control on data integrity. Control on process will eliminate occurrence of inaccurate processes. Further, the control systems will be more integrated, as they will control several processes simultaneously. Additionally, automation of control systems will advance accuracy and prevent authorized changes in the production systems. Additionally, the operation process will be monitored using automated processes that monitor integrity of process sequence. Similarly, more accuracy is projected, as testing systems will facilitate detection of possible errors. Indeed, development of near-optimal regulatory control systems that can cope with variance in process conditions will optimize production (Martin, et al., 1999, p.910). Moreover, automation of control process will eliminate the use of human support in high-risk environments. Notably, in space exploration, there will be fewer astronauts going to space but their duties will be replaced with robots. Indeed, Human Supervisory Control (HSC), the process by which a human operator intermittently interacts with a computer, receiving feedback from, and providing commands to a controlled process or task environment, will become redundant (Cummings et al., N.d., p.1). Moreover, the control process will be improved, as processes will benefit from artificial cognition components to offer support where human operators need support. In the coming decade, control systems will provide extensive flexibility and higher levels of autonomy. Currently, the available robots are not flexible due to their limited sensory capability, thus they are unable to adapt to changing work environment. Besides, automated support lacks autonomy, as it relies heavily on human supervisory control. Thus, continuous development of advanced robotic systems with increased sensory and artificial intelligence will increase flexibility. In the long run, automated control systems will reduce implementation cost and improve productivity and performance. Similarly, automation of control processes will result in production of products reliably and at high precision. Automation will give rise to improved safety standards; for example, ground-proximity warning system in aviation industry has reduced aviation accidents. However, automated process with limited levels of intelligence will be susceptible to security threats and compromise the quality of products or efficiency of operation processes. Similarly, full automation is likely to fail as a result of inadequate user-system interfaces and incompatibility between human needs and system requirements (Martin, et al., 1999, p.902). Further, extensive use of automated system will create automated-induced complacency, which refers to as inability to detect automation malfunctions (Singh, Tiwari & Singh, 2009, p.9). Conclusion The growth rate of automation is increasing at a high rate due to international competition and availability of skilled labor and capital. Besides, automation is significant because it can lead to higher quality products and higher productivity. Automation is geared to solving a specific problem, thus the problem determines the level of automation. Furthermore, automation helps to performs duties beyond human capability or human operators cannot accomplish within desired duration, or even those duties that human operators perform poorly or/and risky and undesirable activities. Automation will affect product design and process design in future. Design automation, which is actively evolving, will result in development of technology that will automate the design of products from concept design, through design layout and detail design. Primarily, design automation will cut the process duration and increase productivity. Generally, design automation impacts development process in that it speeds design process by 30 percent. Additionally, automation will result in greater levels of customization of products and facilitate faster product designing. Furthermore, customers will access products of higher quality due to improved product designs and processes. Similarly, the operation processes will evolve to be more specialized and subjected to more formal operating controls. In addition, automation will help managers to improve the planning process by aiding in decision-making. Through easy to use and accurate decision support tools, better planning mechanisms will be utilized, hence promote productivity of organizations. Such tools will eliminate human biases and hasten the decision making process. Notably, automated decision making tools will be used in solution configuration, yield optimization, making routing decisions and operational controls to name a few. Through information sharing and accessibility, decision makers will be better placed when making crucial decisions in the future. Additionally, the management process will benefit from reengineering systems, which eliminate operational weaknesses associated with automated systems. These reengineering systems will reduce lag time, as they use real-time, eliminate clerical routine procedures, and reduce paper documentation and storage. Primarily, management levels will considerably shrink as some management levels will be replaced by automation. Furthermore, automation of data management will facilitate information sharing and coordination between departments. Essentially, automation will improve data and information security to prevent competitors from gaining access to valuable information. Further, the control systems will be more integrated, thus controlling several processes at the same time. Similarly, automation of control process will regulate the quality of outputs and throughput. New and modified equipment will be introduced to facilitate stricter control on process rather than a control on data integrity. Thus, automated control process will reduce occurrence of process errors or accidents in the future. In the coming decade, control systems will provide extensive flexibility and higher levels of autonomy. However, automated process with limited levels of intelligence will be susceptible to security threats and compromise the quality of products or efficiency of operation processes. References Baciak, M. (2007). Alchemy Technical Overview. Retrieved from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb220798.aspx Cummings, M.L. et al. (N.d). Human Supervisory Control Implications. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/labs/halab/papers/STANAG_UVS.pdf. Davenport, T. & Harris, J. (2005). Automated Decision Making Comes of Age. Retrieved from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/files/saleable-pdfs/46414.pdf An, H. et al. (N.d). Automated Cause & Effect Analysis for Process Plants. Retrieved from http://www.aidic.it/icheap9/webpapers/41An.pdf. Black Enterprises. (1982). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=2me7CQ30pyAC&pg=PA27&dq=How+will+automation+affect+operations+management+practices+over+the+next+decade?&hl=en&ei=TsKvTeChL4KAhQe3yfCKBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Joglekar, N. & Whitney, D. (1999). Automation Usage Pattern during Complex Electro Mechanical Product Development. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/ctpid/www/Whitney/morepapers/DAAP_Final_Report_Aug_1999.pdf. Martin, T. et al. (1999). Appropriate Automation-Integration Technical, Human, Organizational, Economics and Cultural Factors. Retrieved from http://doc.utwente.nl/23846/1/Martin91appropriate.pdf. Moray, N., Inagaki, T. & Itoh, M. (2000). Adaptive automation, trust, and self-confidence in fault management of time-critical tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Vol. 6, No. 1, 44-58. Retrieved from http://www.fatih.edu.tr/~hugur/self_confident/Adaptive%20automation,trust%20and%20self%20-confidence%20in%20fault%20management%20of%20time-critical%20tasks.PDF. Nelson, M. & Ambrosini, J. (2007). Enterprise Risk Management and Controls-Monitoring Automation Can Reduce Compliance Costs. Retrieved from http://www.protiviti.com/en-US/About-Us/Media-Center/Documents/Bank_Acctg_Finance.pdf. Rintanen, J. (2006). Introduction to Automated Planning. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=20&ved=0CFgQFjAJOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.83.1757%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=impact%20of%20automated%20planning&ei=-SiwTc36Jo-DhQfErt2QBw&usg=AFQjCNF-dEHncyNgjnsKvIRKdVJe3kxLTg&cad=rja. Singh, A., Tiwari, T. & Singh, I. (2009). Effects of Automation Reliability and Training on Automation- Induced Complacency and Perceived Mental Workload. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol. 35, Special Issue, 9-22. Retrieved from http://medind.nic.in/jak/t09/s1/jakt09s1p9.pdf. Using Design Automation to Reduce Costs, Increase Profitability. Retrieved from: http://www.conceptsinproduction.com/MotherEarth/Products/Products/SolidWorks%20Premium/White%20Papers/082218_SW_UsingDesignAutomation_WP_ENG.pdf. Read More