by Barnaby Meins

Created on: May 20, 2008

The advert of the information era has lead to the emergence of new technology in the workplace. In the case of manufacturing sector, the more prominent technology that has emerged is advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT), which has been commonly used in many manufacturing factories.

In the evolution of AMT, Manual Technology has lead to Mechanized Technology, which are basically machines for labor. Mechanized Technology, in turn, has lead to Automated Technology, which allows for mechanization of control functions.

High volume of standardized products requires hard automation while low volume of a variety of products needs flexible automation. AMT has resulted in a wide variety of Computer-Aided technology in the industry, including Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP)

The following describes the impact of new Computer-Aided technology in the workplace. CAD provides high resolution interactive graphics and assists in development of product designs. CAE provides computational engineering analysis of designs generated through CAD. In most circumstances, CAD and CAE are integrated and used together.

CAM use computers directly to control processing or for material handling equipments. It is used indirectly to support operations, such as capacity planning, scheduling, purchasing and inventory control. In CAD and CAM integration, the design specifications are translated to manufacturing specifications electronically and automatically, after which, there is the evaluation of designs in terms of functionality and manufacturability.

CAPP provides a significant link between CAD and CAM. It determines the processing steps required to make a part. Furthermore, CAPP programs develop process plans or route sheets.

In AMT, robotics has gained widespread usage. Examples of such robotic usage are mechanical manipulators under computer control and automated guided vehicles. The former provide material handling functions and actual operations while the latter are computer guided and controlled carts used to move parts and equipment. Numerical Control Machines, where there are computer control of processing machines, are also quite common nowadays.

The main advantages of new technology like AMT is better product quality and shorter time for product to appear in market. Other benefits of new technology in the workplace are production cost reductions, database availability and appearance of a new range of capabilities.

Adoption of such advanced technologies requires skilled resources, capital and volume of business for viability in the business. Companies adopting the new technology in the workplace should have financial support for capital investment and access to good human resource base of engineers and technicians. They should adopt such technologies because of tight labour market and external competition.

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