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Future in Maintenance: Will Machines And AI Replace Maintenance Workers?

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Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Software

Future in Maintenance: Will Machines And AI Replace Maintenance Workers?

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A widespread narrative on work in the future is that machines will take care of everything. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and modern algorithms powered by new energy sources will replace the way this world works. People will be out of jobs as they will not be able to compete with machines powered by AI. Leading to widespread unemployment and dispossession of the masses. The state of affairs is, allegedly, no different for maintenance activities in the future and looks bleak for maintenance employees. 

Now, is this the bleak future we face, or is it ‘immanentizing the eschaton’ as Willian F. Buckley puts it? For that, we have to take a look at the current state of maintenance automation, the potential evolution of the same, and historical precedents for such radical changes.

Maintenance automation: A Swiss army knife?

Maintenance activities have become a lot simpler with the help of technology. Managing maintenance schedules to predictive maintenance can be accomplished with the aid of modern technology. Everything with some level of computerized decision-making is broadly termed automation. But there are varying degrees of automation depending upon the entity making the decisions in various processes.

All processes in an industrial environment are formed by one or more of the following functions.

1. Monitor function

2. Advice function

3. Decide function

4. Implement function

The control of each of these functions can be handled by a computer or a human. Based on this, there are ten levels of automation starting from complete manual control to full automation. In full automation, all the functions in the process are controlled by a computer. The different levels of automation and who controls different functions in each of those levels are illustrated in the table given below.

The aim of all automation advancements is to reach the level of full automation. Today in most automation instances, computers control only one or two of the functions that form the process. The common narrative is that technological improvements snowball and compound to an exponential degree to deliver fully automated systems in the not-so-distant future. This will lead to the take over of all maintenance activities by machines and AI replacing all maintenance workers.

But what the narrative misses out on is the law of diminishing returns. According to the definition from Investopedia, “The law of diminishing marginal returns is a theory in economics that predicts that after some optimal level of capacity is reached, adding an additional factor of production will actually result in smaller increases in output.”

Applying the law in maintenance automation, after a period of compounding a ceiling is reached from where incremental improvement requires a disproportionately high amount of time, resources, and effort. This follows the trajectory of an S-curve as shown above. The progress in automation will follow a snail’s pace after a critical limit is reached. 

The real-world impact of the S-curve can be seen everywhere in technological advancement. The capacity of semiconductor chips was supposed to grow exponentially to infinity. “Faster and faster processors every year” was the narrative pushed during the initial phases of semiconductor development. Today, semiconductor manufacturing is fast approaching the physical limitation and the cost of improving the tech is orders of magnitude higher than earlier.

A similar ceiling for innovation will also hit the march to full automation of maintenance activities in manufacturing facilities. The cost of implementing incremental automation will rise exponentially after reaching a critical limit. Till the critical point automation technology will rise exponentially at a minimal cost. The problem is that no one really knows what is the critical point for maintenance automation or for any other technological evolution.

In the future, there will be an exponential rise in the technology driving maintenance automation. But it will not completely eliminate the need for human workers in maintenance activities. Maintenance automation brings about improvement in processes, efficiency, and in turn bottom line. But after a critical limit, an incremental increase in efficiency comes at a huge cost.

Horse buggies were replaced by cars and taxis. A lot of coachmen lost their jobs due to the transition. In addition to that, horse merchants, workers taking care of horses, carriage makers, all lost their jobs. But plenty of new jobs were created in the process of transitioning into automobile-based transportation. Cars and taxis were unheard of before the existence of automobiles. Plenty of new jobs such as cab drivers, car salesmen, car dealers, mechanics, etc came into being. This is the sort of creative disruption that always happens in free-market capitalism and maintenance automation would be no different.

Creative disruption

The most plausible scenario, for maintenance automation, is where human workers work in conjunction with machines and artificial intelligence. Software and algorithmic tools will be used extensively for process automation intelligence. Robotic arms and other robotic devices that can be programmed to perform regular tasks would be created. But since there is a lot of variability in a lot of maintenance tasks creating custom programmed robots for each instance would be cumbersome. 

The tasks that require flexibility and dexterity will be exclusively carried out by human maintenance technicians. They will have assistance from cobots. ‘Cobot’ is an abbreviated form of ‘collaborative robot’. It is specially designed robots that assist human workers in accomplishing their tasks. This form of creative cooperation will be commonplace for maintenance activities of the future.

The bottom line is that machines and AI will take over a lot of mundane and repetitive tasks. This frees up human capital to deal with more creative and complex tasks. While on the one hand, a lot of traditional maintenance jobs will no longer exist. But on the other hand, plenty of never seen before jobs will be created. Machines and AI would be a net positive for all maintenance activities and jobs in a plant, in the long term.

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Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations.

robotics
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Warehousing

ZEN AND THE ART OF COBOT MAINTENANCE

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Innovative robotics and automation technology are helping organizations get more done, in less time and with limited facility space. 

Warehousing, distribution centers and logistics companies are some of the organizations that are seeing big benefits with robotics.

According to the 2020 MHI Annual Industry Report, 67 percent of survey respondents said they believed robotics had the power to disrupt their industry and offer a competitive advantage for their organization.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that 39 percent of surveyed companies said they’ve adopted robotics and automation. An additional 73 percent of those surveyed said they plan to add more robotics or start implementing robotics in the next five years.

Benefits of robotics and automation

There’s no doubt that robotics and automation can help organizations meet their mounting needs to standardize production and overcome challenges related to high staff turnover rates. With robotics, you can increase your facility’s outputs without expanding your physical footprint or facility size.

Robotics can help organizations with staffing challenges by offering the following:

-High staff turnover rates often mean added expenses in training and keeping a facility running at full capacity. Robotics can help reduce this fluctuation in staffing by offering a consistent and reliable work source.

-As warehouses, logistics companies and distribution centers look to streamline operations, it often means increasing the weight of fulfillment carts. This puts added strain on workers and can lead to workers’ compensation claims and costly time off, lowering production. Robotics help streamlines product picking and packing activities without straining employees physically.

-Robotics can assist staff members with learning efficient routes through warehouses to pick and pack products. With artificial intelligence, robotics can map out a way to efficiently pick and pack products throughout a facility. This can offer heightened job satisfaction for workers that use “cobots” (collaborative robots) to assist them in their daily activities, allowing them to be more efficient.

But robotics offer more than just improved staffing and a reduction in fluctuations from staff turnover. Robotics can also help facilities do more with the same amount of space. Some ways robotics help with stronger outputs despite capacity limits include:

-Better inventory management allows your organization to automate the inventory process so you have to keep less on hand.

-Set aisle sizes based on robotic width and smart technology that tells machines when another robot is in an aisle. That way, you reduce the need for two-way traffic in an aisle so you can shrink the aisle size and make better use of the space.

-Reduction in need for additional workspaces, such as electronic scales, because it’s built into the robot’s system.

Maintenance for robotics and automation

But with robotics comes new requirements for the maintenance team. 

Preventative maintenance becomes increasingly more important as keeping equipment up and running is crucial to your business operations.

If the robots fail regularly, you could experience worse staff turnover rates than you did without the technology as staff members get frustrated and tired of the loss in productivity. Your organization’s agility and ability to respond quickly to requests become more important than ever as you begin to rely more heavily on robotics.

To add robotics to your warehouse, logistics or distribution center operations, you need a maintenance plan that includes:

-Condition monitoring: Prepare a dashboard that shows each robot’s condition and expected date for new parts to prevent breakdowns.

-Work order requests: Allow staff members to make a work order request and have a process for assigning those work orders to your maintenance team for fast service.

-Reporting: Run reports that help your maintenance team see how often each robot requires maintenance so you can project and anticipate that maintenance in the future to avoid costly breakdowns.

Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) help warehouses, logistics companies and distribution centers operate efficiently while taking advantage of the competitive advantage robotics can offer. 

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For more than 30 years, Eagle Technology Inc. has worked with various industries. The Mequon, Wisconsin-based company offers clients the ability to boost productivity, control costs and maintain compliance, all from its web and mobile-enabled CMMS software, Proteus MMX.

machine manufacturers
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

Want to Make Progress on Digital Transformation? Start With Machine Maintenance.

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Machines are at the heart of manufacturing. They affect every aspect of production — efficiency, output, quality, consistency — and form the basis of manufacturing performance. So it comes as no surprise that many use cases for digital transformation in manufacturing focus on machinery. It’s where the transformation manifests itself.

How it manifests itself is more complicated than it seems, however. Some may think that the primary goal of digital transformation in manufacturing is to make machines better at their intended purposes — by using digital technology to help them run faster, longer, or with greater precision. This is one goal, but digital transformation is also about much more than that. Another crucial component is giving machines new capabilities and greater purpose.

Here’s an example: When machines are equipped with internet-connected sensors that can collect machine health data and send it to a centralized platform, then each machine becomes an indicator of the overall health of the production line. Studying the parts reveals the condition of the whole, whether that’s a single production line, an entire factory, or a global supply chain.

This wasn’t possible prior to the new technologies of industry 4.0 because manufacturers had no way to monitor machine health remotely and comprehensively. But it’s possible now, and it’s changing expectations around digital transformation in manufacturing.

Driving Digital Transformation of Machine Maintenance

With additional machine capabilities should also come a rethinking of the role of maintenance technicians. They’re not just the on-site problem-solvers anymore — they’re the ones who move digital transformation forward as they keep machines up, running, and evolving. Technicians may not be the architects of digital transformation in manufacturing, but they are the drivers of it.

In that context, it’s time to consider upgrading the roles of the technicians closest to the machines. The maintenance of the past isn’t appropriate for the factories of the future. Technicians need new skills, tools, and processes to leverage the advanced capabilities being added to machines. They also need a new mindset, mission, and role within the factory. To put it differently, maintenance technicians need to transform as much as the machines they work on. Here’s how manufacturing leaders can help:

1. Change Your Mindset From Maintenance to Risk Avoidance

In the past, when technicians serviced machines because of a breakdown or because of a service schedule, the entire focus was on minimizing machine downtime. Fewer failures and faster fixes meant the maintenance department was doing its job.

Instead of focusing on solving problems after they occur, however, maintenance teams should focus on preventing them. When maintenance sees its primary purpose as risk avoidance, it puts everything technicians do into a new perspective. The team is focused on intervening early and effectively so that minor issues don’t develop into downtime.

Risk avoidance (rather than minimization) is possible when maintenance teams shift from reactive and preventive maintenance, which lag behind problems, to predictive and prescriptive maintenance, which lead ahead of them. Machine health monitoring sensors make that possible while also showing the maintenance team where, when, why, and how their agile efforts helped to prevent disasters.

2. Think About Digitizing Maintenance as a Skill Set Upgrade, Not Just Another Tool

Digital transformation in manufacturing is about more than just adding a bunch of new digital tools to your technicians’ tool belts. If you just give them better ways to do what they were already doing, you won’t see dramatic improvements from digital transformation efforts.

Instead, think of digitization as more than a bonus tool. Think of it holistically as a whole skill set upgrade for your team. Digital tools will allow maintenance technicians to spend less time on menial, repeatable tasks and transition that energy instead to higher-value knowledge work like prescriptive maintenance that can keep machines running better for longer.

3. Improve Your Collaboration Capabilities

Digital transformation in manufacturing maintenance is largely about improving collaboration capabilities. Maintenance teams are using technology to help them spread their resources around as quickly, widely, and effectively as possible. All three of those depend on maintenance teams working collaboratively.

In practice, that means each technician, team, and site has access to the same data and alerts. Everyone works from a single source of truth so that wires don’t get crossed, warnings never get ignored, and resources move everywhere efficiently. However digital transformation affects maintenance, increased collaboration should be the goal.

Every day, digital transformation in manufacturing becomes a bigger priority. Many manufacturers will discover that in their race to digitize, they forgot to update maintenance at the same pace. Those that do the opposite will discover something as well: Digitizing maintenance propels the broader transformation effort forward because it allows machines to do more than they ever have.

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Artem Kroupenev is VP of Strategy at Augury, where he oversees product, market, innovation, and ecosystem strategy. He has over a decade of experience driving the adoption of disruptive technologies and has previously co-founded companies in the United States, Israel, and West Africa.