Low Cost Automation Intelligence (LCAI) refers to the effective realization of automation with low investment. In other words, it is simple automation where the total effect is higher than the total investment.

To wit:

By

Automation = means

making

Total effects = ends > total investment = constraints

to be established.

Here

Total investment = labor consumed for conception or design (man-hours)

+ Hardware/software procurement costs

+ Cost of use

LCA application target systems include

1. Mechanical LCA...<mainly assembly and processing industries>.

2. Process LCA...<mostly in the chemical industry>.

3. Business LCA...<Rationalization of data processing>.

The three fields are explained here, centering on mechanical LCIA.

Low Cost Automation (LCA) Thinking Perspective

Generally, all activities are thought of in the relationship of goal → means, and LCA is only a means.

Therefore, from the perspective of thinking about LCA, it is important to understand the goal correctly.

Example

In order to get to work within the morning commute time period (goal).

If living in the city choose to take the tram (means)

To choose to drive if living in the suburbs (means).

no.1 ...... Key points of LCA that can cope with change

In Japan, LCIA has a long history and has been increasingly active since the 1960s, when it was in a period of rapid growth, with the goal of saving manpower (understaffing and reducing labor costs).

Since then, the automation process has evolved to FA (Factory Automation), CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing), and FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) in line with the development of the automobile industry, electronics industry, computer industry, and other industries.

However, as the life of a product tends to shorten, and as large-scale production line automation systems have problems in keeping up with changes, the demand for lightweight and simple automation is increasing worldwide.

This demand is known as LCA, and the key points of LCA that can respond to changes are explained below.

Example

The product life of a cellular phone is six months.

During this period, product development, production line preparation, and mass production implementation must be completed.

This cycle is shortening at an accelerated rate worldwide.

Key Points of LCIA Intelligence 2 ......

Automation”, which is only for manufacturing products more efficiently, has become saturated. We will strive to provide useful information for the conception and design of Intelligent LCA to realize effective manufacturing that creates new added value in diverse fields.

All production methods, including Intelligent Low-Cost Automation, are designed and realized based on the concepts of the production systems adopted in their respective eras. Therefore, before explaining low-cost automation in detail, we would like to first introduce the general process of change in the production system during the era of industrialized societies.

Evolution of production systems

Stage 1: From “empirical management” to “scientific management” of production systems ...... Taylorism

________________________________________

In the early 1900s, F.W. Taylor (USA) set up “standard jobs” and “standard times” for work in automobile assembly plants and allocated time accordingly, which made it possible to evaluate the efficiency of work.

This is also known as a standardized production system at the job level.

In the context of LCIA (Low Cost Automation), this is the era of focusing only on tools.

Stage 2: Production systems that make the same product over and over again for mass production ...... Fordism

________________________________________

In this era, assembly line operations emerged and the above mentioned allocation of operating time in stage 1 was replaced by mandatory operating time (operating cycles, pitch), which increased the efficiency of the entire production line. This was the era of Chaplin's movie “Modern Times”. In this era, 3S (Specialize, Simplify, Standardize) was advocated as the keyword in order to improve the efficiency of the production line.

That is, a production system that aims to achieve standardization at the production line level.

In the context of LCIA, this is the era of workholding fixtures.

Stage 3: Production system for efficient production of best-selling products ...... Toyota Production System (Toyotaism)

________________________________________

With the shift to the production of multi-variety products, this stage aims to change the philosophy of realizing production efficiency in terms of quantity. In this era, it is based on the concept of shifting from enforcing working hours for specialized workers to sharing working hours (helping each other) among multi-skilled workers, and pursuing the realization of level production on the production line and in the factory as a whole. In terms of production technology, in this era, “autonomy: human-centered automation” promotes the enhancement of technology by making abnormal conditions visible.

This is a production system that aims to realize continuous physical enhancement at the factory level.

In the context of LCIA, it can be summarized as the era of mechatronics.

Stage 4: Production system for rapid supply of best-selling products ...... Lean Manufacturing Method → CALS System

________________________________________

This type of production system was created against the backdrop of the shortening of product life cycles and the need to improve time efficiency in the context of globalization. It is exploring the possibility of making the time from development and design to production and sales simultaneous (parallel engineering), as well as the use of computer network technology to create long-lasting synergies between production, sales, and logistics.

This is also known as a collaborative production system at the supply chain level.

In the context of LCIA, it can be summarized as the era of control through computer algorithms.

LCIA (Low Cost Intelligent Automation), which is a means of improving productivity, is one of the elements of the production system. Before explaining LCIA, let us review the relationship between production systems and LCIA. The production system can be expressed as follows.

Production System = Manufacturing System + Management System

In this context, a manufacturing system is a system that utilizes the 5Ms (people, materials, equipment, manufacturing conditions, and measurements) + I (information) to achieve production with maximum efficiency, and LCIA corresponds to the equipment items therein.

The management system includes production management, quality management, cost management, and new product development program management.

Therefore, LCIA is an element included in the manufacturing system as a subsystem of the production system.

About the evolution of low-cost automation LCA

The strong emergence of the need for automation is rooted in the era of mass production (Fordism). Since the beginning of this era, human power, which had been used until then, had reached its limits, and therefore, there was a need to replace human power with another motive force, and to replace the skillful movements of human beings with tools, and automation was demanded in order to achieve the goal of mass production of industrial products.

In the following, we will introduce each generation of LCIA that corresponds to the evolution of the production system. first, we will show its concept by interpreting the 1st generation.

LCA - Generation 1

Automation by rotary and linear motion ...... Adoption of the “hinge mechanism”

________________________________________

Typical LCIA structural elements that appeared in the early days of Fordism.

Example 1

In early lens polishing machines, the flywheel was rotated by a motor, and the difference in rotational speed due to the difference in radial position of the flywheel was transmitted to the hinge mechanism through a friction-transferring pulley to produce an oscillating motion to finish polishing the lenses.

■Example 2

Pedal-driven sewing machine

■Example 3

Example of application in advanced processing technology:

As an optical element that controls the wavelength characteristics of light, there is an optical element called a diffraction grating. This element is a precision groove shape machined on the surface of quartz glass with nanometer-level (1 mm in parts per million) accuracy. This machine is named the “Ruling engine” because of the high-precision scales it produces, and Tohoku University uses a simple and highly reliable “hinge mechanism” as the drive mechanism for this machine.

As you can see from the examples above, the mechanical elements of the LCIA do not mean that the older generation is obsolete. Please understand the characteristics of each generation of LCIA structural elements and utilize them effectively.