Page 18 - Procanvass

MANUFACTURING EVOLUTION

W
e as human beings are ameliorating the art of manufacturing right from the moment we came into
existence and will continue to do so till we exist. During stone-age, we simply used our hands and
singular skills to produce items. Today, we have machines, robots, computer, software, IoT (Internet
of Things) and what not to perfect the manufacturing practices. The evolution of the manufacturing industry is
the inseparable part of human evolution.

Manufacturing industry was always been a chief
contributor to the economy. I would say manufacturing
industries are the core of all economies. The share of
manufacturing industry alone contributed 17.18% of
our GDP in the year 2014-15, whereas whole Agriculture
sector contributed 17.01%. Projects such as Make in
India are built considering that manufacturing will
make Indian economy stronger. Strong manufacturing
industry ultimately gives multiple benefits to the society
and other sectors. It also reflects positively on the
standard of living.
1961 Danbury, Connecticut. Unimate Number 001 is put
The major milestones in the history of manufacturing through its paces before shipping to the General Motors
evolution are very well known. The first milestone, I plant in Trenton [Source: www.botmag.com]
would like to mention is the assembly line, which was
In the decade of 1970s, the software applications were
introduced by Henry Ford and Charles Sorensen in
first introduced in the manufacturing industry.
1908. Toyota Motor Corporation developed the concept
Although it was limited to most organized and
of Lean Manufacturing 1948, which was widely
documented areas like accounting. During the late
absorbed in all manufacturing sectors. George Devol
1970s and early 80s manufacturing industry developed
invented Unimate – the first industrial robot, which the concept of MRP & MRP II (Material Requirement
started operating on General Motors assembly line in Planning & Manufacturing Resource Planning). It
1961. Devol also introduced the concept of Universal proved very beneficial and even today we practice these
Automation to the manufacturing world. Considering applications. First time the organized solution was
the fact that, the first industrial robot was operated designed for inventory management, production
using vacuum tubes and digital switches and today, we scheduling, capacity utilization, quality assurance,
are talking about IoT. There’s no doubt that we have demand forecasting and other management related
come far in the field of industrial automation. factors in the manufacturing industry.

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