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Laser Automation and In-Process Sensing

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Laser Material Processing

Abstract

The recent developments in industry, particularly through the activities of the Ford Motor Co., where the word “automation” was first used in the 1940s, have sketched a progression through “mechanisation” — the use of machines which enhanced speed, force or reach, but where the control was human; to “automatic” machinery — in which the machine will go through its programmed movements without human intervention and the machine is self regulating; until today we have “automation” — in which there is usually a sequence of machines all controlling themselves under some overall control. In the future there is the prospect of “adaptive control” or “intelligent” machines — in which the machine can be set a task and it teaches itself to do the task better and better according to some preset criteria. The drive towards automation is powered by the possibility of cost reductions, increased productivity, increased accuracy, saving of labour, greater production reliability, longer production hours, better working conditions for the human staff, increased flexibility of production to meet the needs of changing markets and improved quality. This list is a formidable argument for automation but it is only justified for certain production volumes. Fig. 8.1 gives an idea of the stages which are most economical in setting up an automatic production facility. If very few pieces are needed then it is cheapest to make them by hand. If a very large number of pieces are needed then it is cheapest to make them on a purpose built production line — “hard automation”. In between there is the relatively new area of flexible manufacturing, possibly using robots and linked machines. This middle zone in production size is growing due to the manufacturing market becoming more fashion conscious and pandering to the human appetite for novelty and change.

“Everything must be like something, so what is this like?”

E.M.Forster 1879–1970 Abinger Harvest (1936).

“To govern is to make choices”

Duc de Levis 1764–1830 Politique “Maximes de Politique”xix.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, Liverpool, UK

    Professor William M. Steen (James Bibby Professor of Engineering Manufacture)

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  1. Professor William M. Steen
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© 1998 Springer-Verlag London

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Steen, W.M. (1998). Laser Automation and In-Process Sensing. In: Laser Material Processing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3609-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3609-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76174-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3609-5

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