PLANNING FOR FACTORY AUTOMATION

摘要

With the multitude of products available for automation, the potential user faces a nearly insurmountable task in determining the right software and hardware to create a system that will answer his needs. In many cases, users will start on a piecemeal basis only to find later that the individual pieces cannot be combined into a system.rnThe answer to this dilemma is to develop an automation plan using a "top-down planning, bottom-up implementation" approach. In this approach the organization, its production facilities, information systems and business plans are studied to develop an automation plan that is flexible enough to solve the problems of today and evolve with the business as its grows and changes.rnThe automation plan becomes a roadmap which can be implemented at a pace consistent with the strategic and financial objectives of the business. It is designed to implement individual opportunities in order of priority, including cost/benefit ratio so that the savings in the initial phases provide the cost leverage to execute the entire plan.