Lights out (manufacturing)

Lights out or lights-out manufacturing is a manufacturing methodology (or philosophy), rather than a specific process.

Factories that run lights out are fully automated and require no human presence on-site. Thus, these factories can be run with the lights off. Many factories are capable of lights-out production, but very few run exclusively lights-out. Typically, workers are necessary to set up tombstones holding parts to be manufactured, and to remove the completed parts. As the technology necessary for lights-out production becomes increasingly available, many factories are beginning to utilize lights-out production between shifts (or as a separate shift) to meet increasing demand or to save money. An automatic factory is a place where raw materials enter and finished products leave with little or no human intervention.[1][2][3]

One of the earliest descriptions of the automatic factory in fiction was the 1955 short story "Autofac".

Contents

Real world examples

"Lights out" CNC machining

CNC machine tools do not require continuous operator attention, and some models can and are run unattended.[4] A few machine shops run unattended on nights and weekends.[1] These include Chasco Machine and Manufacturing Company and Northern Manufacturing Company.[2] However, Roger Smith attempted completely automated manufacturing while serving as CEO of General Motors and the company experienced negative results and a decline in quality.[5] One of the side effects of this was the permanent loss of 60,000 jobs for General Motors in the area of Flint, Michigan.[6] Although it was assumed that the company was facing hard times, they were actually making billions of dollars in profits and were looking for a reasonable excuse to ship the remaining manual labor jobs to Mexico.[6]

Existing "lights-out factories"

FANUC, the Japanese robotics company, has been operating a "lights out" factory for robots since 2001.[7] "Robots are building other robots at a rate of about 50 per 24-hour shift and can run unsupervised for as long as 30 days at a time. "Not only is it lights-out," says Fanuc vice president Gary Zywiol, "we turn off the air conditioning and heat too."

See also

References

  1. ^ "Toward the automatic factory" in "Electronic Servicing & Technology" magazine 1982 August
  2. ^ "Toward the Automatic Factory: A Case Study of Men and Machines" by Charles Rumford Walker 1977 ISBN 083719301X
  3. ^ "Automatic Factory" in Time magazine 1953 Sep. 28
  4. ^ TAKEI MASAMI(Fuji Heavy Ind. Ltd.) (2003). "Realizing Unattended Hours of Continuous Operation of Machining Center with Addition of Intelligent Function" (in Japanese). Subaru Technical Review 30: 251–256. ISSN 0910-4852. http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200313/000020031303A0371078.php. 
  5. ^ Greenwald, John and McWhirter, William and Szczesny, Joseph R. (June 1, 2003). "What Went Wrong? Everything at Once.". TIME Magazine. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976990-1,00.html. 
  6. ^ a b Roger and Me (VHS). Warner Brothers. 
  7. ^ Null, Christopher and Caulfield, Brian (June 1, 2003). "Fade To Black The 1980s vision of "lights-out" manufacturing, where robots do all the work, is a dream no more.". CNN Money. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2003/06/01/343371/index.htm.