Monthly Archives: September 2021

To the editor: Automation may be touted as the way to a better future, but really its just another way for businesses to save money by making customers shoulder some of the work. Even though automation is thought to make certain tasks easier, its an absurd and exasperating trend in so many ways. (Airports to passengers: Do it yourself, Opinion, Sept. 27)

Older people with bones as brittle as twigs are expected to become luggage handlers. People who barely know how to use a computer must become their own online travel agents or pay more to interact with a person.

Automated check-out options at grocery stores sometimes outnumber staffed check-out lines, though customer service is part of what customers pay for. With no training or work benefits, for that matter, the customer is expected to suddenly know how to scan fruit with no bar codes.

If you want to reach your doctors office or seek assistance from a business, first you must respond to a robots questions. Often none of the answer options matches what you need and hitting 0" doesnt connect you to a person. Then youre asked to review the experience like a manager.

Getting rid of customer service with genuine human beings is an insult to the customer, and without that human exchange and the employees helpful and sometimes quirky remarks, the experience is hollow and often useless. Its no surprise that customers are getting angrier.

Pam Polivka, Valencia

..

To the editor: Nicholas Goldbergs column points up the amazing technologies that are designed to make airports more efficient. However, some very important subjects are overlooked.

As our population is living longer, a greater portion of travelers is not able to use these amazing machines.

Who helps with lifting heavy bags and checking in when curbside service is no more? What happens when no one is around to help with handicapped needs? Do you need a wheelchair? Good luck.

But at least with fewer workers and lower costs to the airports, Im sure the savings will be passed onto the public. Coffee might even go from $14 to $12 a cup.

Robert Greene, Woodland Hills

Continue reading here:

Call automation what it is -- making the customer work - Los Angeles Times

The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. Register now!

A new report from Omdia, a global technology research firm, sheds light on how robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation (IA) are gathering increasing momentum in the enterprise technology marketplace.

In the report, Fundamentals of RPA and Intelligent Automation 2021, Omdia defines RPA and IA in the following manner. RPA is where software bots mimic humans performing rules-based tasks to improve process efficiencies, quality, and, ultimately, the accuracy of process outcomes. IA incorporates AI technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), along with automation solutions such as RPA, to process unstructured data, provide prescriptive analytics, and automate tasks and processes that involve contextual awareness, decision-making, or judgment.

Through an email interview, Cassandra Mooshian, senior analyst for AI and intelligent automation at Omdia, shared her thoughts about a few of the reports many takeaways.

VentureBeat: Could you explain the difference between RPA and IA, and if there are situations where only RPA will do?

Cassandra Mooshian: The major difference is that RPA is not intelligent, so to speak, as it does not include AI. That makes RPA very well-suited for highly repeatable, rules-based tasks that lie within structured data and do not require any decision-making.

Intelligent automation, however, is aimed at tasks that lie within semi-structured and unstructured data that are more variable and require some decision-making, whether thats able to be done by machine learning, computer vision, and/or NLP or by an employee through a human-in-the-loop or human-over-the-loop type process.

For example, with RPA, one could set a predetermined workflow that sees an email with an invoice attached come through and automatically save that invoice in a (predetermined) specified folder. Intelligent automation can take that further by capturing, categorizing/analyzing, and extracting the data within the invoice such that it can be further processed (this is a common Intelligent Document Processing [IDP] use case).

VentureBeat: Why is it important for organizations to have a strong data architecture before they implement RPA/IA?

Mooshian: It is important for companies to have data management, governance, and security policies in place ahead of implementing RPA/IA as these solutions work across multiple enterprise applications. Ensuring roles-based permissions and access is one component and ensuring data integrity is another, among many others. Automating a broken or error-prone process will not fix the process; rather, itll just break faster. For intelligent automation especially, training an ML model on bad data can lead to process errors and inefficiencies.

VentureBeat: Low/no-code IA platforms help democratize automation and scale cost and time saving benefits. Could you explain how?

Mooshian: No-code, drag and drop features are increasingly common among IA platforms which are more business user-friendly. Outside of IT and development teams, not many folks know how to write code. But by being able to drag and drop and/or choose from a list, these platforms can be usable/accessible to more users who can create bots or automate a task. The more automation, the more time and cost savings.

VentureBeat: How do process and task mining and intelligent document processing (IDP) extend the reach and effectiveness of process automation solutions?

Mooshian: Process mining is used to obtain a wide lens over business processes and workflows within a company by examining event logs across systems, including how variable they are and where there are bottlenecks. The less variable the process, the greater its potential candidacy for RPA/IA, though other factors must be considered as well.

Task mining is used to understand how a user is interacting with systems and where there are opportunities for automation. Both of the above help identify automation candidates throughout an organization.

IDP is a use case of IA and is growing in popularity, as there are so many document-intensive processes across organizations that impact many employees. IDP has the potential to help save companies a lot of time, and AI models are getting smarter and smarter, further improving IDP outcomes.

VentureBeat: What is the best industry-specific use case of RPA and IA that you have seen?

Mooshian: This is a tough one because there really isnt one best, and a lot of the use cases are horizontal in that theyre applicable to a business function and apply across industries. Top of mind, Id say financial services has been one of the first-movers regarding uptake of the technology, and there have been many use cases/customer success stories that have and continue to come out of the industry. Some common use cases in financial services are loan processing, mortgage processing, customer onboarding, customer service, and others.

VentureBeat: What are the challenges of weaving RPA and IA into existing IT infrastructures?

Mooshian: Data governance, visibility of shadow deployments (and having guardrails in place for them), and security are all important to set in place ahead of RPA/IA to ensure architectural readiness.

Another challenge is ensuring that the infrastructure is able to handle the increased speed and volume of transactions related to automated processes, whether its their own or someone they do business with. For example, many U.S.- based businesses submitted Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loan applications amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some of whom worked with banks that used RPA/IA to do so. While this sped the process for the banks, it ultimately crashed the system of the Small Business Administration, and they were no longer permitted to use this method to submit applications.

Read the rest here:

Robotic process automation and intelligent automation are accelerating, study finds - VentureBeat

Mitch Johnson, technology manager at Executive Interiors in Fresno, explains that the use of automated machinery in the production shop reduces cost, manual labor, and allows for him to look at all aspects of the business, including on the clerical side, to streamline the work process. Photo by Frank Lopez

New technology usually invokes images of Silicon Valley, mechanical wonders from MIT in Boston or some new consumer electronics for an eager public.

In the Central Valley, local manufacturers have been utilizing new innovations in automation and computer technology to increase production, save time, save money and take away some of the manual stress from workers on the job.

According to a 2017 report from business and government management consulting firm McKinsey Institute, automation can raise productivity growth to 1.4% annually.

Outlier Automation, a family business founded in 2019 in Fresno, is a control systems integrator that provides engineering, programming and design services for manufacturing automation in the Central Valley and across the state.

The engineers at Outlier Automation help clients with the computers that run manufacturing robotics and automated process equipment.

In 2019, founders and married couple Gina Brooks-Zak and Liz Brooks-Zak, who both mastered in engineering in college, chose to start their business in California to be closer to Lizs family in the Central Valley and to start their business in an area rife with opportunities.

The couple left Chicago for Fresno to start their business and expecting a new child to start a family.

Its something that a lot of people recognize that is needed and isnt going away, Gina said about automation. But a lot of manufacturers dont know where to start. Theres a whole plethora of engineering that goes into getting to that point, so we also consult on how to put automation sequences together.

While a computer may run the automation process, Gina said, there has to be a process that can be repeatable and simple enough for a computer. The team at Outliers helps with choosing the right components and software to help companies encounter the least amount of roadblocks as they develop their process.

Outliers usually works on-site with their clients that have some operation or design knowledge. Or it works with partners to design equipment while Outliers focuses on the software and electrical side.

Liz said that while Outliers is the expert in automation technology, they still need feedback from their customers for the automation processes to be applied successfully.

We work in a lot of different types of industries, and we get to see what things are trending in these different spaces. We bring that together and apply the best solutions for clients, regardless of their industry, Liz said.

In the Central Valley, their clients include players in the ag industry and food processing along with a variety of manufacturers.

Because of recent labor shortages across all industries, including in manufacturing, Gina said that there is more interest from manufacturers in using robotics.

A lot of people are looking into how they can use robotics or other types of automation to do what a person was doing before. You can have a one-time capital investment and the robot will do what manual labor people would have done without getting tired, Gina said.

But its not just about replacing a labor force, its also to ensure better quality control with the help of computers and robotics.

Though there is a societal fear that robots will replace humans in countless industries and jobs, Gina said that a lot of the work robots do now are jobs that are very difficult for a person to do for a long time anyway.

A lot of equipment being used in the area is currently 20-30 years old, so a part of the job for the team at Outliers is helping clients troubleshoot their machines, fix them and help clients understand the equipment. This includes training onsite workers.

Im passionate about helping people improve their production from a purely business sense. Its interesting to see how you can improve and make a lot more money for our clients its one of the exciting parts of automation, Gina said.

In 2019, Executive Interiors, a cabinetmaker in Fresno, installed some robotic machinery to save manpower and time.

That year there was a $1 million investment into robotic machinery and more than $60,000 for software costs to be used for cutting wood to build cabinets and to store and organize materials.

Because of the labor crunch, Tim Russell, vice president of Executive Interiors, said that theyve brought in more new equipment to do the work.

Russell was really interested in automation and CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) manufacturing when the technology was first rolling out, and was eager to get in on the trend. Ive always looked at it from a standpoint of being more heavily equipped on the technology side, and have a smaller, more qualified labor pool, Russell said.

While automation started with robotics in the shop machines that cut wood, store and handle of materials so workers wouldnt have to manually move them with forklifts the automation process expanded to other parts of the business.

With more robots handling the materials, there is less chance for workers to injure themselves on the job when handling heavy pieces of wood, keeping costs for health insurance and lost work hours down.

Its almost as if we looked at all the different areas of a company, and slowly found a technical solution for that particular area, said Mitch Johnson, tech manager at Executive Interiors.

Laser and computer technology allows engineers at Executive Interiors to measure a space with a quick scan with extreme accuracy.

Technology and automation are utilized for scheduling, price estimation, the purchasing of materials, processing of orders and any aspect of the business that the team feels could be improved upon.

The team at Executive Interiors is currently trying to implement a new system to help streamline their shipping activity, allowing for the team to track the orders they sent out.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the company was on pace to have 35% volume increase since 2019, but a lot of projects were shelved in the 2020 due to the pandemic, especially for projects in the medical and restaurant industry.

Johnson said that there is still equipment that isnt online yet, but once it is in, it will help streamline the assembly process for cabinets.

Theres a lot of stuff that goes in to what we do. We are getting bigger customers asking us if we can do more of the auto/CAD side of it so they can implement it in their building models and they want us to accommodate for that. Organization is the biggest thing going on right now and not letting stuff fall through the cracks, Russell said.

Read the original here:

Local manufacturers embrace the benefits of automation - The Business Journal

Alteryx on Tuesday unveiled an expanded partnership agreement with UiPath that includes technological innovation and a go-to-market strategy.

Alteryx, a data management specialist founded in 1997 and based in Irvine, Calif., has made automation a major focus over the past few years.

In mid-2020, the vendor rebranded its suite of capabilities as the Alteryx APA Platform, with APA an acronym for Analytic Process Automation. Since then, the vendor has introduced such capabilities as Automatic Mode in its Assisted Modeling Tool for data modeling, Automated Recommendations and Automated Machine Learning.

UiPath, meanwhile, is a leading specialist in robotic process automation founded in 2005 and based in New York. Its IPO on April 23, in which it raised $1.34 billion, was one of the biggest software IPOs ever, and boosted the vendor's valuation to $35.8 billion.

The expanded partnership between Alteryx and UiPath recently resulted in a new connector that enables Alteryx users to call out to UiPath bots and bring UiPath's RPA capabilities into their workflows. In October, as part of the joint go-to-market strategy between the vendors, Alteryx will take part in UiPath's Forward IV 2021 conference in Las Vegas.

Alteryx and UiPath unveiled their first connector in 2020, enabling UiPath bots to access data sources within Alteryx, and the latest connector -- included in version 2021.3 of Alteryx's platform released in August 2021 -- essentially turns what was a one-way connector into a two-way connector.

Using the connector, joint Alteryx and UiPath customers can more easily automate repeatable tasks that otherwise need to be done manually, particularly those related to extracting and loading data from external data sources.

"There's growing momentum around the partnership," said Steve Wooledge, Alteryx's vice president of global partner marketing. "We're seeing high customer demand because of the strategic nature of automation right now. Because of COVID-19, digitization of organizations has accelerated, and [because of UiPath] we have the opportunity to streamline and accelerate the rate of these digital processes."

Similarly, Donald Farmer, founder and principal at TreeHive Strategy, said the partnership between Alteryx and UiPath will increase Alteryx's ability to automate aspects of its platform and, with ease of use a significant focus for the vendor, make Alteryx's tools more efficient.

In particular, the partnership will enable Alteryx to offer a more fully automated platform rather than one limited to certain capabilities that can be automated while others still require significant manual work.

Overall, this is a good move. Donald FarmerFounder and principal, TreeHive Strategy

"Overall, this is a good move," he said. "One of the bright points in Alteryx's technical development recently has been their Analytic Process Automation, which sought to automate important parts of the analytic workflow. However, APA had gaps, especially when it came to accessing file-based data sources, and RPA -- in this case from UiPath -- really helps."

Farmer added that RPA is a rising trend in analytics, and Alteryx is among those reacting to the trend and infusing significant automation capabilities into its platform.

"RPA is helping analysts with these processes throughout the industry -- not just Alteryx customers -- so this move reflects a broader trend in analytics," he said.

According to Wooledge, joint customers of Alteryx and UiPath have been seeing benefits from the use of both vendors' tools ever since the two first teamed up in about a year ago.

For example, one insurance company that now uses both Alteryx and UiPath had been processing around 35,000 claims annually and wanted to grow that to about 60,000, he said.

Before implementing Alteryx and UiPath, a team of 20 people was processing the claims, and a person specializing in data management was overseeing fraud detection. Because everything was being done manually, claims took about five weeks to process.

With automation, the organization cut the time it took to process claims by 90%, increased the number of claims it can process by 50%, and a full return on investment in Alteryx and UiPath took just six months, according to Wooledge.

Meanwhile, the organization was able to take 18 of the 20 people who had been manually processing claims and redeploy them.

"We've always talked about going from data to insights to action, and now we have the technologies," he said. "Now there are enough digital touchpoints."

He added that a study by McKinsey released in late 2020 showed that digital interactions with customers now account for 65% of customer interactions, up from about 40% before the pandemic.

"That gives us the opportunity to measure, analyze and create automation workflows," Wooledge said. "There's a lot more data that can be automated and streamlined. RPA really rounds out the ability to take information and insights and drive them into downstream applications and processes."

Despite Alteryx's success with automation, Farmer voiced concerns about the vendor's slow movement to the cloud.

Alteryx introduced Alteryx Designer Cloud as part of its May 2021 platform update, but to date that is the vendor's sole cloud-native tool.

Customers, therefore, are frustrated, according to Farmer. Despite strong second quarter 2021 earnings with revenue growth of 25% over the second quarter of 2020 and annual recurring revenue growth of 27% year over year, Alteryx's stock price plummeted from a 52-week high of $154.83 in October 2020 to $75.50 as of the close of business on Sept. 24 -- near its 52-week low of $66.66.

"I have no doubt Alteryx is struggling," Farmer said. "Customers and partners are frustrated with high prices and the slow move to the cloud. But there are smart people at Alteryx and they have some good technologies."

In fact, Farmer said perhaps Alteryx has too many good technologies and part of its slow movement to the cloud is a result of its attempt to get integrate the different capabilities it has acquired.

"I have wonder if they have acquired too many interesting pieces of tech over the years and are now struggling with the technical debt to integrate their assets, improve their performance and scale and move to the cloud all at once," he said.

In response to concerns about Alteryx's slow movement to the cloud, Wooledge said that adding cloud-native capabilities is a priority for the vendor, and upcoming plans include adding more cloud-native capabilities.

Specifically, Alteryx expects to reveal new partnerships in the fourth quarter of 2021 that will enable the vendor to increase and improve its presence in the cloud, and more are planned for the first half of 2022.

In addition, Wooledge said the recent hire of Suresh Vittal as Alteryx's chief product officer in February will help speed Alteryx's move to the cloud. Vittal was previously at Adobe for more than seven years where he helped oversee Adobe Experience Cloud.

"More and more, our customers want to do more in the cloud," Wooledge said. "He was a very strong influence on the cloud-native capabilities and strategic direction at Adobe, and you can expect to see a lot of that strength come through in what we'll be doing. Our journey to the cloud has been accelerated by his presence."

Originally posted here:

Alteryx partnership with UiPath adds automation capabilities - TechTarget

The use of technology and the desire to contribute to the greater good are driving the CEOs and business leaders of tomorrow. Members of Generation Z are using the latest innovations on the job as they develop their values and philosophies about work. Now is the time for employers to help them reach their potentialand ensure the company thrives, too.

Valerie M. Grubb, principal at New Orleans-based Val Grubb & Associates Ltd., brought some insight into the future of work during her presentation "Workforce 2030: Are You Ready?" at the recent SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2021 in Las Vegas earlier this month.

She said employees in the next decade would not only rely on more automationbusinesses of all kinds are seeing that every daybut they will also desire meaning in their jobs and a connection to the company's overall success.

Finding PurposeNow and in the Future

Younger generations want purpose in their work now, Grubb said, and will continue to do so.

"Finding purpose is something Gen Z demands, and even more so since the pandemic," she said. "They want to have purpose outside of work but also at work. And many of them are really ambitiousand that's a good thing."

She asked, "How often have you been approached by a younger employee, one who has only worked at the company for about a year, and [heard them] say, 'I want to be CEO.' " And they mean now or in the very near future.

Grubb is both frank and helpful in her response to them: "I say, "That can't happen here. We have one, but I can teach you what it takes to become a good one. Then, maybe you can leave, start your own company and be the CEO."

The key, she added, is "making someone feel important. That's important. Everyone expects this now."

To do that, show the younger employees how they contribute, in their current role, to the company's mission and success. The HR department can do this through well-crafted job descriptions and employee communications.

"Doing this helps the company connect their people to that purpose," she said. "Everyone in the company must have a purpose that helps it to achieve its overall goals."

Here's an example. When Grubb worked for a former employer, the company was cut off from ordering supplies from Staples.

"It turned out, this happened because we weren't paying our invoices," Grubb said. "I went to the accounts payable department and spoke to a manager there who said, 'That's right, we lost our credit with them. The [company's] managers weren't signing off on the invoices to be paid so they've not been paid.'

"I explained to her that as a member of the accounts payable team, [she was] in part responsible for maintaining our public image and reputation. We can't be seen as one that doesn't pay its bills."

Once the accounting manager heard this, Grubb said, she felt empowered enough to go to the company's managers and explain to them the importance of signing off on invoices correctly.

"She realized that she wasn't just another cog in the wheel," Grubb said. "She now knew her purpose. Our credit was restored, and because of her."

Come 2030, AI and Automation Are Front and Center

Jobs are becoming more reliant on artificial intelligence, including blue-collar jobs. In trucking, for example, Grubb said, companies are not necessarily looking for drivers, but instead, for people who understand automation.

A human driver can only work eight or so hours a day. "Soon, we'll have trucks that drive autonomously, so someone needs to be able to manage that and make operations as specific as possible," she said.

Retail stores and fast-food restaurants are also relying on automation. "You might have five or six ordering stations, but only one employee to take care of it all," she said. "The ordering stations run on their own, so there is just one employee needed to be on hand and answer customers' questions or fix glitches."

HR will soon be charged with finding ways to replace workers with automated processes and then hiring people who have strong decision-making skills to make sure the new system is working well.

HR is accustomed to introducing potentially difficult business decisions, such as when they are presenting to senior leadership about why the company should outsource benefits or not have a person working the reception area.

Grubb said HR departments always must be thinking of what's next and then be able to show their executive suite why it is necessary for the company, in order to proactively improve the customer experience and meet the needs of the 2030 workforce.

Go here to see the original:

Purpose and Automation a Key Part of Workforce 2030 - SHRM

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Quali, the award-winningprovider ofEnvironments-as-a-Serviceinfrastructure automation solutions, announced today that it has partnered with ATxTel, a lab infrastructure, instrumentation, systems integration company and trusted advisor to industry-leading companies within the telecommunications industry.

Quail's CloudShell will help ATxTel deliver the most powerful and flexible test & measurement solutions in the industry.

ATxTel is an industry leader in test and measurement with a broad portfolio of solutions. By incorporating CloudShell, Quali's infrastructure automation platform that allows users to configure and automate test lab environments that can seamlessly integrate with a broad range of hardware and software, ATxTel will be able to deliver the most powerful and flexible test and measurement solutions in the industry.

"With Quali, users can now provision more complex lab configurations in minutes instead of days or weeks. ATxTel can then quickly and efficiently apply our testing and measurement services up and down the stack, giving our joint customers the ability to get to market faster with higher quality products and services," said John Winans, President of ATxTel. "With more powerful infrastructure automation capabilities, we are better positioned to seek out the best components and achieve greater value from test and measurement technologies."

"ATxTel brings a wealth of experience to the table in the field of test and measurement technology," said Lior Koriat, CEO of Quali. "Partnering with a widely respected industry leader with broad relationships in the telco industry like ATxTel will help Quali build on our long track record of delivering value to telecommunication providers and will help us accelerate our go-to-market efforts."

Quali's CloudShell is the leading platform for delivering automation for on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments. Quali enables self-service environment provisioning and automated decommissioning to streamline the development, testing, and certification of various technologies into production environments.

About Quali

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Quali provides the leading platform for Environments-as-a-Service infrastructure automation solutions, helping companies achieve freedom from infrastructure complexity, so they can operate with velocity. Global 2000 enterprises and innovators everywhere rely on Quali's award-winning CloudShell and Torque platforms to create self-service, on-demand automation solutions thatincrease engineering productivity, cut cloud costs, and optimize infrastructure utilization.For more information, please visit quali.comand follow Quali on Twitterand LinkedIn.

About ATxTel

ATxTel, Inc. is a solutions provider and systems integrator offering best in class platforms, tools and technologies that enable industry leading companies to both accelerate and cost optimize the development of new products and services. ATxTel provides its customers with the most comprehensive portfolio of solutions, tools and consultative expertise available in the market. ATxTel is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit ATxTel.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quali-partners-with-atxtel-for-test-lab-automation-solutions-301386119.html

SOURCE Quali

Recent Stories You Might Have Missed

See the rest here:

Quali Partners with ATxTel for Test Lab Automation Solutions - Tyler Morning Telegraph

Web Industries thermoplastic composite programme manager, Mark Richardson and global director of research and technology, aerospace Grand Hou, look at how composite materials formatters are turning to automation to meet the needs of next-generation aircraft.

Formatters of composite materials serving the aerospace industry have made significant strides in automation over the last two decades, but additional advancements will likely be necessary to keep pace with the next generation of commercial aircraft designs.

Composite materials formatters link materials-manufacturers with aerospace parts fabricators and OEMs. In this central role, they convert composite prepregs into forms, such as slit tape that can be efficiently fashioned into completed aerospace components.

Automation - the practice of operating or controlling an industrial process by mechanical or digital means - has significant benefits for formatters, including: Improving the quality and consistency of formatted materials; Reducing variances in materials and increasing process reliability; Simplifying the machine operators equipment management tasks.

Next-generation aircraft developments are already spurring demand for a greater diversity of composite materials and formats. This will inevitably pressure formatters to further automate their operations in the coming years. There will also be a need for more cooperation and integration among all partners in the aerospace supply chain.

Continuous improvements

Due to their combination of light weight and high strength, aerospace-grade composite materials offer the promise of lightweighting new aircraft, cutting fuel consumption and reducing the aerospace carbon footprint. Among the most popular aerospace-grade composites are thermosets and thermoplastics, each of which can be combined with carbon, glass or other fibres to form prepreg systems.

Thermosets have a well-established supply chain and a long track record in aerospace applications. Thermoplastics, on the other hand, have only gained favour in recent years. First used in clips and brackets, they are now considered for structural applications, including wings and fuselages. In contrast to thermosets, thermoplastics have an unlimited shelf life prior to curing and do not require refrigeration. Also, some thermoplastic parts can be recycled. Additional thermoplastics advantages include out of autoclave in-situ consolidation and compatibility with ultrasonic welding rather than riveting for assembly.

As thermoset and thermoplastic materials became more prevalent in aerospace applications and OEMs assigned higher priority to their selection and use, many formatters developed expertise in a limited range of formats suitable for part fabrication. A notable example is slit tape. Here, prepreg materials are sliced into ribbons of tape, which are wound onto large spools in a pattern that fits the application. The pattern is selected based on the requirements of fabrication machinery. Narrow tape is intended for automated fibre placement (AFP) machines, wide tape for automated tape laying (ATL) systems.

Formatters continuously improved these operations over the years to boost reliability and product consistency. Increased automation, for example, resulted in enhanced slitting accuracy and better tension control during slitting, which is critical factor in maintaining overall width consistency, minimising material disruption and yielding consistent final package stability.

A speedier setup

Automation has also streamlined the process of machine setup and tuning, which on average takes eight hours to complete manually and directly impacts operational costs. In one example, a composite materials formatters 24-head slitting & spooling line initially took an entire operations shift to set up. Over a decade or more, the formatter implemented a series of mechanical upgrades that reduced machine setup time even as the line was fitted with additional spooling heads. Overall, setup time per spooling head was reduced by a factor of five or more.

Although automation makes a difference in formatting, much also depends on the skill and experience of machine operators. This is because composite materials are not homogeneous and vary somewhat from batch to batch. Skilled operators are necessary for formatting efficiency. They can spot differences in material quality and consistency and make adjustments to compensate for variations that could affect fabrication. Small adjustments can make a big difference in the final product.

New era of manufacturing

The current wave of innovation in aircraft design and development, along with the increased automation that supports it, reflects a broader trend often dubbed Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Following in the wake of the Industrial Revolutions first two phases and the ensuing Information Age, Industry 4.0 will be marked by increased automation of traditional manufacturing processes and advances in machine-to-machine connectivity and communication.

In line with this trend, the development of next-generation aircraft will create a more complex environment for composite materials formatters. Expect to see more experimentation and more demand for a greater diversity of solutions, such as: More types of composite materials; Different fibre and resin systems; New formats such as chopped flakes, biasply materials and extremely narrow tapes on small bobbins.

OEMs and parts manufacturers might ask formatters to process six or seven different formats instead of a basic format, such as slit tape. Instead of five material types, there might be as many as 30. New fabrication equipment and methods will also emerge that require flexibility on the formatters part.

To remain competitive, composite materials formatters will have to build on their existing infrastructure and take a step forward in automation and technology. Enhanced automation will help formatters cope with the growing complexity ahead while maintaining quality standards and achieving the same or even increased throughput. It can also support the work of their machine operators and technicians.

More integration overall

The new era will also foster greater connectivity and end-to-end integration among materials manufacturers, formatters, equipment makers, fabricators and aerospace OEMs. Currently, partners in aerospace programmes tend to operate as self-contained units, siloed in their respective areas. One partner completes its assigned task, then hands it off to the following link in the chain. The new era will demand more linkages among partners and a higher level of integration between partners from the earliest design stage.

A recent aerospace program demonstrated collaborations benefits. Web Industries worked closely with its supply partners to produce a wing structure made of thermoplastic composites. The partners collaborated to create a high-quality component and achieve their cost targets. Web precision processes reduced variances in the formatted material, and this allowed the parts fabricator to minimise downstream variances in its operation, improving overall productivity.

In addition to the smooth material flows between partners, data connectivity will be critical in meeting future challenges. Formatters and fabricators, for example, could benefit from batch and traceability data supplied by materials manufacturers. This information might be used to identify which prepreg batches are best suited for specific fabrication processes such as AFP, ATL or compression moulding. Data of this kind could be routed automatically between supply partners.

Composite formatters have made impressive gains in automation to support their aerospace partners. They will likely have to automate further, and coordinate more closely with supply partners, to meet future challenges.

http://www.webindustries.com

Here is the original post:

Automation streamlines the process - Aerospace Manufacturing

Specialty lines insurtech firm OIP Robotics has partnered with automation start-up Hyperscience to boost data extraction capabilities in its automation portfolio.

The partnership gives OIP Robotics access to Hypersciences intelligent document processing software, which is the first software-defined input-to-output platform used by private companies and government agencies around the world. These include QBE Insurance Group, TD Ameritrade, and Voya Financial.

According to Hyperscience, the platform allows users to lower costs, reduce error rates by 67%, and increase employee capacity by 10 times. The firm is also optimistic that its partnership with OIP Robotics will open the door to the excess and surplus (E&S) insurance market, where the use of such technology has not been yet maximized.

Integration into our existing systems will enable our clients to automate the entire data extraction process from the intake point to preparing the data for processing with over 99% accuracy and up to 95% automation, said Nemanja Jokic, director of business technology at OIP Robotics.

Hyperscience, together with our technology can do something RPA hasnt easily achieved - create systems that can learn from humans and improve on their own; systems that know when to loop in humans and when to leave them out of a process, in a way that doesnt require a heavy touch from outside personnel, he added.

Matt Grantham, assistant vice-president of global alliances at Hyperscience, also expressed excitement over the partnership.

Together, we will very quickly help boost efficiency at insurance firms by radically improving organizational agility and accelerating digital transformation, he said.

Read the original here:

OIP Robotics boosts automation portfolio with Hyperscience partnership - Insurance Business

Doing More with Less

At a recent virtual seminar, Delcie Bean asked attendees to think back 20 years and ask themselves, did they foresee a time when phone books and yellow pages would not be a thing?

After all, he asked, every home had one, and they were the primary way small businesses advertised and shared their contact information with the public.

Now, look at whats happened to that world, said Bean, president of Paragus Strategic IT. Thats the pace at which technology is changing. These things we took for granted, that we felt were never going to change, that were part of the fabric of our ecosystem, have changed. And its not just phone books. Think of all the landfills that are chock full of technology that, at one point in time, we didnt think we could live without.

And its not just tools, but the way we do business, he said, pointing out the short jumps between dominant communication methods over the past century. That idea was one jumping-off point forBeans virtual seminar on Sept. 15, titled Automation: the Time Is Now, and subtitled How Automation Can Streamline Your Business and Offset the Labor Shortage.

At this event, presented byBusinessWestand Comcast Business, he said everyone should ask themselves a simple question:Whats my phone book? Whats the thing in my business that is still antiquated and should have been replaced by now?

Whats my phone book? Whats the thing in my business that is still antiquated and should have been replaced by now?

For example, he went on, do I have employees entering data into a system that could easily be automated? Am I still doing things on paper forms that then need to be scanned into a system or, God forbid, typed in manually into another system? Do I have antiquated processes that require people to get manual approval and shuffle things around and put things in inboxes and outboxes, and do I still have tasks being done manually that are just ripe to automate?

The 60-minute presentation focused on the benefits of automation and the ways it can be utilized to save businesses time, trouble, and expense anything from onboarding a new employee or client to gathering information when someone signs up for something on a website, to the steps involved in the approval process when employees want to request a new computer. All of this, and more, can be automated, Bean said.

One common tool helping businesses do that today is the Microsoft 365 platform, an evolution of the Microsoft Office suite that offers subscription tiers and features including secure cloud storage, business e-mail, advanced cyberthreat protection, and the popular Microsoft Teams program.

Microsoft has made a very deliberate, very intelligent decision to be the leader in small-business workforce automation, and they have invested infinite money in trying to do that, Bean said. And its actually paid off.

The need to streamline processes through automation impacts most businesses and, as such, is a timely topic of discussion, Bean said maybe more than wed want it to be. And thats partly because of the unique set of economic stressors that have emerged over the past 18 months.

Were probably all feeling busier right now than weve ever felt, he said. I know theres a lot going on thats causing us to have a lot more on our plates, a lot more challenges to solve, a lot more obstacles to overcome than weve had to in the past. So why are we taking time out of our day to have this conversation?

Well, first of all, businesses are being forced to do more with less. Roughly 3.5 million Americans are not in the workforce but used to be largely because of the pandemic, but not totally. Population growth has slowed, and the massive exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce has accelerated somewhat.

That has a huge impact on the ecomomy, one we cannot minimize, Bean noted and one that will continue to ripple throughout organizations of all sizes at a time when everyone seems to be wearing more hats than before, juggling more tasks, and trying to keep up with less help. And that leads to more stress in the workforce.

Were seeing more employees comment that they feel overwhelmed, people are leaving their jobs, looking for new jobs, changing industries, he said. Or theyre managing the working-remote, working-in-the-office challenges, healthcare challenges its a lot of stress and pressure on the workforce thats still working.

On the other hand, the workforce crunch has also created a talent shortage and one of the best-ever markets for job seekers, who have more leverage than before, Bean said, making it harder to hire and retain employees.

Wage growth has accelerated, and so have employee demands regarding everything from remote work to more autonomy to relaxed dress codes, he noted. Employers are working really hard to try to manage and keep up with those demands while also managing the business.

Its an incredibly difficult economy, he added, and just for small employers; the situation is really trickling up to larger and higher-paying employers as well. Its not ignoring anybody.

And it comes, Bean explained, in the midst of whats known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which builds on the third (which began in the mid-20th century and was known as the digital revolution, marked by the rise of computerization). This fourth revolution is melding technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, augmented reality, smart sensors, 3D printing, and many other advances, and promises to transform the way people live and work.

Theres a lot going on right now that is digitizing and changing the way we interact with pretty much every aspect of our life,he said.And its happening at a rate we are very unaccustomed to handle.

As noted, businesses trying to adapt to this fast-changing world are doing so amid all the recent challenges stemming from the pandemic and the labor situation. Small businesses also lament the growing culture of acquisition, and find it difficult to compete with larger companies with more resources, more innovation, and the ability to pay more for talent.

All in all, it makes you feel like, if youre a small firm, youre in a race thats a losing battle, Bean said. Exhausted? I dont blame you.

But exhaustion is no excuse for inaction, he argued, before refuting the common myths around automation: that its too expensive, too complicated, and takes too long to implement. All are untrue, he explained during the virtual seminar, and again during a sit-down with BusinessWest Editor George OBrien during a recent edition of the magazines podcast, Business Talk (businesswest.com/blog/businesstalk-with-delcie-bean-ceo-of-paragus-strategic-it).

In other words, theres no excuse for any business to avoid this conversation any longer.

We dont want to be the next Blockbuster, Bean told the seminar attendees. We dont want to be the company that could see that things were changing, stuck to our guns, hung on, and ultimately worked their way into oblivion.

Joseph Bednar

Read the rest here:

To Stay Competitive, Businesses Need to Think About Automation - Business West