244 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



They are more reliable, more powerful, more precise, think and move 

 faster than human operators. They never tire, will willingly work 

 around the clock, do not make mistakes, do not talk back, are obedient 

 and fully predictable, have few personal problems, and they will not 

 go on strike. 



Actually, many electronic devices are already in industrial use. 

 There are simple circuits which, through a sensor unit, such as a 

 photoelectric cell, pick up an impulse, amplify it, and pass it on to 

 an effector unit, such as a valve or motor, for appropriate action. 

 There are the complex computers and servomechanisms which can 

 solve involved equations and translate the solution into automatic 

 control of complex processes. There are others which can translate 

 and use information fed in on a tape or cord. It is the ability of such 

 devices to think, choose, and remember, to move accurately and with 

 gi-eat speed that makes them the key to the factoi-y of the future. 

 One of the most important characteristics of electronic controls is 

 their ability to utilize the principle of "feedback," a sort of built-in 

 supervision, which insures that the unit has carried out the orders 

 exactly as they were given it. Thus tolerances become a problem of 

 little consequence. The versatility of electronic controls is almost 

 without limit— there are few if any production jobs which they could 

 not perform. 



To me the striking thing about automation is not what can be done 

 in the future, but rather how little has been done in the past. There 

 are thousands and thousands of jobs now performed by human work- 

 ers that could be performed more accurately, more efficiently, and 

 much more cheaply by automatic means, using devices which are 

 already available. 



Why have not industrial engineers taken greater advantage of 

 these opportunities? The answer seems to lie in limited capital, lack 

 of knowledge, lack of imagination, inertia, and misguided economic 

 thinking. In many small plants, funds are lacking even for the 

 simplest automatic devices. Whatever the potential payoff, there 

 always seems to be some other need more acute. In other situations 

 plant management simply does not know what is available and what 

 can be done, or has not had the time to sit back and evaluate the de- 

 velopments that have taken place. 



Many offer the alibi of low volumes, changing markets, nonrepeti- 

 tive operations. Certainly transfer machines, custom-built conveyors, 

 automatic loading and unloading devices are too specialized and too 

 expensive for the needs of many plants. But this must be examined 

 further. In the first place, you can buy whatever fits your pocketbook 

 and your problem. If the stakes are high, you "pull out all the stops" 

 and make the j ob fully automatic. However, there is nothing sacred or 



