Behind the scenes, L-Tron technology partners do much to support their industries, as well as the people and enterprises that rely upon them. Case in point: Advantech’s sponsorship of the Automation World: Factory & Machine Automation Playbook, 2014 Edition, a 167-page compilation of hands-on, practical advice designed to aid industrial automation end users in “selecting and implementing controllers, motion control, drives, HMI, I/O, networking, pneumatics, robotics, sensors, vision, and much more.”
As with any extensive resource, some entries will be of more interest to specific readers than others, but I was impressed with the range of topics covered. The book’s 30 chapters are divided into three main sections covering every critical stage from the initial planning of automation projects to the continued management of them long after their completion. The chapters are:
- Planning and Implementing an Automation Project,
- Selecting Products to Build Your Automated System, and
- Applying Technologies to Improve Outcomes.
It’s easy for those of us who work regularly with automation systems to lose sight of the fact that our successes are as much about people as about infrastructure, so I especially enjoyed the chapters that reminded me that all automation projects are ultimately about people. A prime example is How to Justify Capital Projects: Speaking Finance Gets Results by Gary Mintchell, Automation World’s founding editor.
Mintchell cautions, “For technical managers, it seems like a ‘no brainer.’ Applying new technologies will make the process better, faster and more consistent. Then the inevitable happens – the capital review team, whose members may not know a proximity sensor from a pressure transmitter, say, ‘No money available.’” Mintchell quotes Peter Martine, vice president of Invensys, as advising: “When you are justifying automation, it’s important to remember that it’s an accounting problem. It is possible to solve the accounting problem through engineering principles, however. For instance, where is the biggest cost accounting database in manufacturing? It is information from all the sensors in the production process.” Mintchell concludes, “In other words, tap into the data you have, and translate them into financial numbers.”
The Playbook contains other such practical advice on managing the people aspects of automation projects, but, don’t worry, there is also plentiful coverage of the nuts-and-bolts of automation systems. Still, many of my favorite chapters were people-centric, and I had to chuckle at the conclusion of 12 Common Mistakes People Make in Automation Projects, which wrapped the section up with “12. Forbid coding from Day 1. Automation engineers love to puzzle with the problems they get on their table. Forbid the use of coding software until the entire scope is clear and closed, the delivery has been broken down to manageable pieces (Work Breakdown Structure) and everybody knows what the tasks and targets are ahead of them.”
Yes, like it or not, the jobs of technical managers are as much about managing and persuading people as they are planning, implementing and managing the fundamentals of automation systems. Automation World’s 2014 Factory & Machine Automation Playbook does well to remind us of that fact.