Category Archives: Automation

The automation of accounting and bookkeeping services will become more and more prevalent. This means that the way most firms provide value to their clients now is not the way they will provide value in 10 or even 5 years.

Many firms use automation tools to perform, at least partially, the services they provide for clients. That's not a problem, unless your firm's income relies primarily on a service that can be automated.

It becomes a problem when your clients look for ways to shrink their overhead. They ask questions like, "What are we outsourcing?" and "What can we do ourselves?" Fully automated accounting software is cheaper than a fully human accountancy firm, and always will be, since digital tools scale in a way that humans cannot. Competing on price is a dead-end road.

The only way to compete with automation is to concede, let technology take the number-crunching and grunt work you have historically done, which has not been the real value your firm provides. The value is the acquired knowledge, skills, and expertise, applied to each client's particular needs.

To future-proof your firm, you have to identify these strengths and specialties. It is only then that you can build core services on them and offer your clients value that can't be replaced by algorithms and automations.

So, how do you get started? You don't need to make up fluffy marketing messages. Your firm has valuable expertise, and your clients need it.

Here are the steps to take:

1. Identify firm strengths and skills.

2. Define your firm's specialties.

3. Update core services.

4. Demonstrate the right value to clients.

Your firm's strengths and skills are not vague. They are specific, practical areas of developed knowledge and skills. They are acquired through education and experience. They create expertise, which allows you to identify patterns, to find answers, to see potential problems, to create (and test) strategies, to quickly find and apply solutions, to track results, and know which results are worth tracking.

Start at the individual level in your firm. What are your own strengths and skills? Then expand to other members of your firm. Look for acquired knowledge: educational focus, industry background, topical specialization, certifications, ongoing learning and professional development.

Look for second-nature skills: these are often a combination of soft and hard skills. For example, a firm member may be excellent at making clients comfortable and asking questions to gain insights which leads to better financial analysis.

Once you have a basic inventory, look at potential combinations: If one firm member has industry expertise in manufacturing and another firm member has great skills in forensic accounting, you have a specialization.

Firm specialties are based on the combinations of strengths and skills from your firm, as in the example above. They are also based on who your clients are and what your clients need. Your job is to define the specialties.

It's a bit like cooking. You know what the ingredients are and you know the flavors and textures. You also analyze the ingredients, specifically which ones will work together or don't fit. Don't use what is not relevant. Focus on a few solid specialties and you can expand later.

Once you have defined your firm's specialties, you need to update or create new core services related to these specialties. Stay focused on increasing the services which cannot be outsourced to machines. You don't need to drop accounting and bookkeeping,you do need to roll these services into a core offering that includes a specialized value, such as high-level analysis, industry tax expertise, or financial advisory services specific to your client verticals.

Many firms use content to reach and win clients. That's great, unless the content your firm shares can be found from 22 other sources with a simple Google search. When your core services can be automated and your "expert content" can be duplicated, your firm is not future-proofed.

Focus on creating content that shares insights, not facts. Facts are findable, if you know where to look. Insights--drawn from strengths, and applied as specialties--are unique, detailed, specific, and immensely valuable to the clients you serve.

Mine your expertise and share it. Then, as you work with clients, track the results that come from the core, expertise-based services. Quantify what you save clients in dollars, hours and problems.

Imagine the impact of a statement like, "Last year, we saved over $500,000 for our clients through our outsourced CFO services." Automation is not an enemy, if your firm is ready to offer the greater value of trustworthy expertise, strengths and specialties with clients.

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Outsmart Automation by Identifying Firm Strengths - Accountingweb.com

London, March 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a new market research report titled, Industrial Automation Market by Component (Plant-level Controls, Enterprise-level Controls, Plant Instrumentation), Mode of Automation (Semi-automatic, Fully-automatic), and End User (Oil & Gas, Automotive, Food & Beverage) - Global Forecast to 2027, the industrial automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% from 2020 to 2027 to reach $306.2 billion by 2027 from $164.2 billion in 2020.

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Rising investments in the transformation of conventional manufacturing facilities by installing digitized systems are a major driving factor for the growth of the industrial automation market. Transforming conventional production facilities involves implementing automated systems for asset & workforce management and production processes. The shift towards self-reliant IoT sensors is expected to drive the growth of the industrial automation market over the forecast period as they can easily manage a network of physical objects with high efficiency. Several companies from the end-use industries are investing heavily in automation technologies to lower costs and enhance productivity. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the automotive industry had 105,000 robot installations in 2019, followed by the electronics industry with 88,000 new robots. These trends, coupled with the increasing awareness regarding Industry 4.0, are expected to support the growth of the industrial automation market.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Industrial Automation Market

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a moderate impact on the market due to the shutting down of industrial operations and manufacturing facilities worldwide. The manufacturing and processing industries faced huge losses in the first two quarters of 2020, limiting the demand for robotics and automated solutions from manufacturing sectors worldwide. However, with the reopening of production facilities and the resumption of industrial operations, the market has started recovering in 2021 due to the demand to automate these facilities. This high demand is attributed to the need for minimizing human contact to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Heavily impacted end-use industries such as oil & gas, automotive, machinery manufacturing, mining & metals, and electronics are expected to witness slow recovery due to the consumers limited spending and high focus on only the most essential commodities.

Speak to our Analysts to Understand the Impact of COVID-19 on Your Business:https://www.meticulousresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/cp_id=5172

Key Findings in the Industrial Automation Market Report

Based on component, the plant-level controls segment is expected to register the highest CAGR over the forecast period due to the growing utilization of SCADA and PLC in industrial operations for optimizing human and machine resources. The features offered by SCADA systems help enterprises enhance processing, packaging, quality standards, and reporting of the operating processes details. SCADA systems detect abnormal parameters or alarms and automatically respond with programmed control functions. PLCs govern motors, drives, conveyor belts, actuators, sensors, and other field-level components. The growing adoption of Industry 4.0 and the IIoT is expected to drive the demand for PLCs to control field devices.

Based on mode of automation, the semi-automatic segment held the larger market share in the past due to limited awareness regarding automation technologies. Semi-automatic systems involve both manual interventions as well as machine-aided assemblies. These systems are the broadest part of the assembly and require a human operator both at the start and the end of the process. Semi-automatic systems require help from a human operator in tasks such as manually loading and unloading the entire system. The growing demand for fully-automated facilities is attributed to the increasing adoption of robots and automation solutions in the manufacturing sector.

Based on end user, the automotive segment is expected to record the highest growth rate from 2020 to 2027 due to the high adoption of various industrial robots and car manufacturing control solutions by prominent automotive players. Industry players such as KUKA AG and FANUC Corporation have developed and offered automotive application-specific robotic solutions to be deployed in car manufacturing facilities. For instance, KUKA AG offers robots under its KR QUANTEC series to cater to various requirements of the automotive industry. Additionally, the automotive sector in the developed countries has installed automation technologies in the past decade and is experiencing improved operational efficiency and performance at the enterprise level. These trends, coupled with the growing availability of application-specific solutions, are influencing smaller automobile manufacturers to adopt industrial automation solutions.

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This research report analyzes major geographies and provides a comprehensive analysis for North America (U.S. and Canada), Europe (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America), and the Middle East & Africa (UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Rest of the Middle East & Africa). In 2020, Asia-Pacific region commanded the largest share of the global industrial automation market, followed by Europe and North America. The high share of the Asia-Pacific market is attributed to high technical awareness regarding the usage of robotics in China, Japan, and Singapore. The Asian manufacturing sector has robust production capabilities, which further fuels the demand for industrial automation solutions in Asia-Pacific. APAC countries are investing heavily in developing robotics and automation products, boosting the markets growth at a high pace. For instance, under the New Robot Strategy in Japan, the budget for robotics-related activities was increased to $351 million in 2019 to make the country an innovation hub for robotics.

Leading players in the industrial automation market are heavily investing in R&D to develop advanced and highly efficient automation solutions for catering to the future requirements of end-use industries. Companies are emphasizing product innovation and new product development to gain larger market shares. Moreover, several companies are partnering and collaborating with other industry players, governments, and automation associations to work on the development of innovative automation solutions. For instance, in October 2020, Rockwell Automation, Inc. extended its partnership with Microsoft Corporation to simplify industrial transformation. The companies combined their expertise in the industrial and IT markets to help industrial customers increase agility via cloud-based automation solutions.

The key players operating in the industrial automation market include ABB Group (Switzerland), Rockwell Automation (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), Yaskawa Electric Corporation (Japan), Schneider Electric (France), Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), KUKA AG (Germany), Emerson Electric (U.S.), Fanuc (Japan), Honeywell International (U.S.), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), OMRON Corporation (Japan), Advantech Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), and Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan) among others.

To gain more insights into the market with a detailed table of content and figures, click here:https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/industrial-automation-market-5172

Scope

Industrial Automation Market, by Component

Industrial Automation Market, by Mode of Automation

Industrial Automation Market, by End User

Industrial Automation Market, by Geography

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Food Automation Market by Component (Plant-level Controls, Enterprise-level Controls), Mode of Automation (Semi-automatic, Fully-automatic), Application (Packaging & Repacking, Butchery), and End Use (Beverages & Distilleries)Global Forecast to 2027

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The name of our company defines our services, strengths, and values. Since the inception, we have only thrived to research, analyze and present the critical market data with great attention to detail. With meticulous primary and secondary research techniques, we have built strong capabilities in data collection, interpretation, and analysis of data including qualitative and quantitative research with the finest team of analysts. We design our meticulously analyzed intelligent and value-driven syndicate market research reports, custom studies, quick turnaround research, and consulting solutions to address business challenges of sustainable growth.

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Industrial Automation Market to Reach $306.2 Billion by 2027 Exclusive Report Covering Pre and Post COVID-19 Market Analysis and Forecasts by...

Employers fearful of being replaced by automation in the workplace can breathe a sigh of relief robots dont have all the skills employees need.

As many as 10 million employees lost their jobs during the pandemic, according to the Labor Department. Many of those employees (40%) were replaced by new technology, according to a survey by MindEdge Learning, a Massachusetts-based education company.

While its estimated that 20 million jobs will become automated by 2030, companies cant survive on automation alone. Survey respondents agreed that employee soft skills like creative thinking (33%), communication (27%), complex problem-solving (26%), IT/network information security (26%) and decision-making (25%) are still important to business success.

Automation and robotics have been reshaping the workplace for several years, but tighter budgets and the risk of exposure during the pandemic have led companies to accelerate their adoption of these technologies, said Frank Connolly, director of research at MindEdge Learning, in a release. At the same time, employers are realizing that despite advancements in technology, automation cant replace many skills that are essentially human and these are the skills that can help workers future-proof their careers.

Read more: NASA, FAA partner with BetterUp for mobile-based professional coaching

To keep employees on the cutting edge of new workplace technologies, employers need to invest in professional development. The most popular forums for upskilling include internal training and retraining programs (48%) and online courses (44%), the survey says. Online training is ideal during the pandemic, but 32% of managers say they have limited access to these resources, while 11% say their company isnt prioritizing training. That could cost companies in the long run, Connolly says.

In this new normal, it is critical that companies find ways to upskill and retrain their employees, Connolly says. Efficient and effective professional development courses have become a business necessity.

Many employees are taking professional development into their own hands; LinkedIn Learning saw a 130% increase in class participation during the pandemic. The networking giant made its classes available for free to help professionals cope with the pandemic; courses cover everything from hard skills like coding and Microsoft products, to soft skills such as communication and leadership.

If youre thinking about the long-term health of your organization, its a good idea to leverage learning to have an immediate impact on productivity, and bring people together, said Mordy Golding, director of content strategy for English-language at LinkedIn Learning, in a previous report.

Read more: Chipotle expands benefits to focus on employee education

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As job automation becomes the norm, upskilling sees big demand - Employee Benefit News

In this illustration, NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planets surface as NASAs Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The difference between robotics and automation is almost nonexistent and yet has a huge difference in everything from trade shows, marketing, publications to academic conferences and journals. This week, the difference was expressed as an opportunity in the Dear Colleague Letter below from Professor Ken Goldberg, CITRIS CPAR and UC Berkeley, who suggested that students whose papers were rejected from ICRA, revise them for CASE, the Conference on Automation Science and Engineering. This opportunity was expressed beautifully in the title quote from Professor Raja Chatila, ex President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and current President of IEEE Global Society on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots on Mars is automation.

Dear Colleagues,

Over 2000 papers were declined by ICRA today, including many that can beeffectively revised for another conference such as IEEE CASE (deadline 15March).

IEEE CASE, the annual Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, isa major IEEE conference that is one of three fully-supported IEEEconferences in our field (with ICRA and IROS).

In 2021 CASE will be held 23-27 August. It will be hybrid, with a livecomponent in Lyon France and an online component:https://case2021.sciencesconf.org/

IEEE CASE was founded in 2006 so is smaller but growing quickly. Theacceptance rate for the last CASE was about 56%, higher than ICRA 2021(48%), IROS, or RSS. I consider this a feature not a bug: it is anexcellent venue for exploratory and novel projects.

IEEE CASE continues the classic conference model of featuring a 10-15 minoral presentation of each paper in contrast to poster sessions. This isparticularly exciting for students, who get the valuable experience oflecturing and fielding questions in front of an audience of peers.

IEEE CASE also has a tradition of spotlighting papers nominated for awardssuch as Best Paper, Best Student Paper, etc. Each nominated paper ispresented in special single session track on Day 1, where everyone at theconference attends and there is a lively Q&A led by judges.

IEEE CASE emphasizes Automation. Automation is very closely related toRobotics. There is substantial overlap, but Automation emphasizesefficiency, robustness, durability, safety, cost effectiveness. Automationalso includes topics such as optimization and applications such astransportation and mfg. I like how RAS President Raj Chatila summed up therelationship 10 years ago: One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots onMars is automation.

In China there are over 100 university departmentsfocused on Automation. The impact factor for the IEEE Transactions onAutomation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) this year is on par with T-ROand higher than IJRR. Automation is important to put robotics intopractice.

Ken Goldberg

Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering, UC Berkeley

Director, CITRIS People and Robots Lab

Core Team Member & Robotics Industry Futurist

See more here:

One robot on Mars is robotics, ten robots are automation - Robohub

Test automation plays a critical role in software delivery today. There are emerging open-source tools, native mobile tools, andnew binariesforweb apps. AI and high-volume automation are beginning to enter the mainstream as well.

Luckily, to make sense of all this, keep up with the latest trends, and help you avoid making test automation mistakes, there'sa vibrant community of test automation pros who regularly share tips and insights on Twitter.

Here are 30voices in test automation you can find on Twitter who actually tweet about test toolingplenty of agile testing, andperformance testing andengineering. Whether you're getting up to speed on test automation basics, looking for the latest resources, or wondering how AI will affect your job as a test automation engineer, these are the folks to follow.

Staff software engineer, Sauce Labs

@bromann

Besides heading up the open-source program office at Sauce Labs, Bromann writes and speaks about emerging W3C standards to drive web browsers.

Subject matter expert,BrowserStack

@TheWebTester

An automation specialist, de Kleijnworks out of Utrecht,Netherlands, andcovers the intersection of performance, functional testing, and reporting. His recent coverage includes how to build both test reporting and real-time performance dashboards.

Selenium core contributor

@jimevansmusic

Evans is a speaker at Automation Guild 2021. Follow him to learn the latest goings-on within the Selenium community. At publication, Evans had a swath of political tweets in his stream, but scroll down. The political tweets may make you think, butstay for the test automation.

Solutions architect,Sauce Labs

@TitusFortner

Fortner coined the term Dom-2-Database tests. In his day job, he performs automation readiness assessments, training, and intervention for teams building browser-driving test automation. He focuses on making the tests run quickly,doing parallelization, andeliminating "flaky"tests and test environments.

Senior software development engineer in test (SDET), Utopia Solutions

@DarkArtsWizard

Grossman tweets about algorithms and user interface elements that are hard to simulate or automate. The technologies he covers are relatively broad, but generally involve writing code in a true programming language such as Java, Python, or the .NETfamily.

Engineering leader, Standard Chartered Bank

@upgundecha

With a mashup of links to webinars, free resources, memes, and short videos about mechanical automation and robots, Gundecha's tweet stream provides information and education. While some of the memes are pure fun (a goose and a puppy are friends), others address how to build products for accessibility or create mindmaps. You can see more of him atSeleniumSummit21.

Independent tester

@imalittletester

Pip is the author of the waiter library, a code library thatmanages wait times for web browsers.She brings her sense of humor to the automation community through cartoons that you can find on her website.Pip also provides tutorials for Selenium using Java and TestNg.

Software engineer, Facebook

@shs96c

A former "thought-worker" who moved to Google to work on test automation tools, Stewart is now at Facebook. He created Webdriver, a browser-driving standard that's now a W3C specification. He is also an active organizer for SeleniumConf. Stewartbrings his full self to his tweets, as aUK expat in the United Statesand an insightful one, at that.

Distinguished engineer,Cypress

@bahmutov

Aself-described "JavaScript Ninja," Bahmutov has contributed to numerous open-source projects. Lately he has been tweeting about building an IDE for JavaScript testing, along with visual regression testing, as opposed to pure-text-asserts.

Quality engineering manager,Zoopla

@mcruzdrake

Drake is the co-organizer of the Cypress UK Community Groupon Meetup. Shetweets about API testing, accessibility, and what not to automate. She also does more long-form blogging.

Agile engineering coach,Raiffeisen Bank International

@the_agile_carpenter

Groetz references himself on Twitter as the TestAutomationBuster.He is the founder of the Vienna TestAutomation Meetup, which, thanks to the global pandemic, is open to anyone.His recent tweets include a discussion of the Agile Engineering Maturity Model as well as testing microservices.

QA lead,Slido

@filip_hric

From his GitHub contributions to webinars to reviews of front-end test tools,Hric is trying to advance the conversation about front-end test automation by people who specialize in it. That includes creating courses on Udemy and Learn2Code, at a cost of dozens of dollars, not hundreds or thousands.

Software engineer,Microsoft

@aslushnikov

Lushnikovworks out ofSt. Petersburg, Russia.His career path has traversed Google and Facebook; these daysheposts abouttesting tools, including Playwright and Puppeteer.

CEO and founder, Automate the Planet

@angelovstanton

Stanton is a former executive with Telerik, a development tools provider, who went on to train, write, and speak abouttest automation. His current company makes test automation tools. Most of hisexamples use a Microsoft tech stack.

Partner,Neuri Consulting LLP

@gojkoadzic

Adzic was the initial (2011) winner of the Most Influential Agile Test Professional Person award. He is known for his books, especially Specification by Example.He is the winner of the 2016 European Software Testing Outstanding Achievement Award. Adzic's recent explorations are in the world of serverless technologies.

Senior program manager,Microsoft

@nthonychu

Formerly a cloud developer advocate at Microsoft, Chu is currently the seniorprogram manager forAzure functions and Azure static web applications. If you'd like to learn about the platform that test automation swims inespecially from a Microsoft perspectivethen you might want to follow Chu.

Builder ofChrome dev tools, Google

@jack_franklin

Franklin works for Google, working on Chrome dev tools and on Puppeteer and web tooling. His blog runs the gamut from process tips such ascode review to shortcuts to remap the keyboard in Windows.You will find Franklin bringingscripting to life in his podcast,@FishandScripts.

Chief evangelist,Perfecto

@ek121268

Kinsbruneris the author of a book titled Continuous Testing for DevOps Professionals.He has other books and blogposts that are designed to help the modern testing community.

Owner,Spec Solutions

@gasparnagy

Creator of theSpecflow open-source BDD frameworkfor .NET, Nagyis a self-proclaimed BDD addict. Heviews test and quality as a team sport; his recent work focuses on "whole-team quality."

BDD advocate, Smartbear

@sebrose

Perhaps best known for his conference speaking and BDD coaching, Rose co-wrote Discovery: Explore Behaviour Using Exampleswith Nagy.

Leader and primary contributor,Appium

@jlipps

Lipps participates in conferencesincludingAutomation Guild and advocates for leveraging Appium 2.0 for mobile testing at scale.

Founder, Bizmonger

@Bizmonger

Functional programming, along with actual video examples of how programs are created, are two things we dont see enough of in software. Nimrod streams himself live creating his passion projects, including DevOps for mobile applications using Xamarin.

Test automation consultant, House of Test Consulting

@simonbernerdev

Berneris an active presenter through the Ministry of Test and a supporter of Agile Testing Days.His online courses can help get you started in toolingor raise the bar on your career.

Founder,TestGuild

@joecolantonio

Creator of the TestGuild conferences, Colantonioalso runs the TestTalks podcast, recently renamed the TestGuild Automation podcast. His tweet stream isthe place to go for information about what is happening in the world of software test automation.

Principal automation architect,Magenic

@pgrizzaffi

Grizzaffiis also an advisor for the STPCon testing conference. Hislatest interest is high-volume automated testing, whichadds randomization and massive scale to find problemsthat individuallycrafted tests will often miss.

Principal engineerforquality,Paylocity

@KristinJackvony

A prolific blogger at thinkingtester.com, Jackvony is willing to makeher experiences with test tooling public. In 2020, she reviewed a book a month abouttesting and delivery. If you'd like to read more but don't have the time, consider reading Kristins reviews. It'sa triple threat. First she'll limit the selection set to the best books, then provide great value for the time invested, and help you decide if you want to read more and pick it up for yourself.

Principal developer advocate,Applitools

@techgirl1908

Jones is the driving force behind as well as the director of Test Automation University.She provides training in Java, shares links that grow careers, and is the 2020 winner of the Most Influential Agile Professional Person award.

Site reliability engineer,Duffel

@a_bangser

Bangser combines technical prowess with an analytical, humanistic angle. She starts at the beginning, and moves very fast. It's worth trying to keep up.

Head of developer relations, Secure Code Warrior

@eviltester

A long-term member of the test community, Richardsonis a teacher of testing as well as an askeroftabooquestions with a sarcastic but helpful side.He has written several books, includingDear Evil Tester and Automating and Testing a REST API.

CTO, Digital Assured

@Jonathon_Wright

A TedX speaker on the topic of cognitive engineering,Wright is a host on the QALead podcast. Hetweets about the conferences he is attending, podcasts he is recording, books he is reading, and the other ways he is learning and growing.

Original post:

30 test automation leaders to follow on Twitter - TechBeacon

More than outright destroying jobs, automation is changing employment in ways that will weigh on workers.

The big picture: Right now, we should be less worried about robots taking human jobs than people in low-skilled positions being forced to work like robots.

What's happening: In a report released late last week about the post-COVID-19 labor force, McKinsey predicted 45 million U.S. workers would be displaced by automation by the end of the decade, up from 37 million projected before the pandemic.

Yes, but: McKinsey notes that despite the displacements, the total number of jobs is projected to increase.

The catch: McKinsey finds that while the total number of jobs will increase, nearly all net job growth over the next decade is projected to be in high-wage occupations" which is not good news for workers with low job skills.

Zoom in: To better understand the effect of automation on employees in low-skilled jobs, Brynjolfsson and Matt Beane of the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) have been carrying out detailed studies of one field that has experienced tremendous employment growth recently: e-commerce warehouses.

Details: Some of their early findings underscore why simply introducing robots especially in jobs that involve a lot of unpredictable, fine manual work doesn't instantly lead to wholesale job destruction.

Between the lines: But what Beane and Brynjolfsson have discovered during detailed interviews with e-commerce employees and visits to warehouses is that humans themselves are already working in more automated ways.

What to watch: How quickly industrial robots are developed that can handle the uncertainty and fine manual work of e-commerce warehouses as well as human laborers.

The bottom line: Without better government support, U.S. employees with low job skills increasingly face a future of working like a robot if at all.

Go deeper: The robo-job apocalypse is being delayed

Continue reading here:

How the automation economy can turn human workers into robots - Axios

Join Bob Bowman, managing editor of SupplyChainBrain, as he moderates a lively panel discussion with forward-thinking leaders who are looking to swap tips and share stories to inspire and invigorate your plans for automation. Distributors are tight on budget, their workforces are strained and often they dont know where to start when building (or rebuilding) their warehouse operations. At the same time, the decisions made early on can make or break how your workforce performs and your business grows. Whether you are just starting to build your warehouse strategies, or want to start over, join this webinar and be ready to leave with the top approaches to turn your warehouse into a powerful automation machine for years to come.

Key Takeaways: Identify the essential criteria for warehouse automation. Distinguish ways to prepare, evaluate and implement warehouse automation. Describe future warehouse automation options.

Speakers:

Bill Denbigh, Sr. Dir. Product Marketing, tecsys

Guy Courtin, Head of Global Alliances, 6 River Systems, Inc.

Tom Campbell, Chief Strategy Officer, Capacity, LLC

Moderator:

Bob Bowman, Chief Editor, SupplyChainBrain

Please CLICK HERE to register for the webinar.

Go here to read the rest:

Using Warehouse Automation to Create Happy Employees, Happy Executives and Happy Customers - SupplyChainBrain

Electric Power Substation Automation System Market , the MarketInsightsReports report provides detailed information and an overview of the key drivers required to make an informed business decision. This is the latest report covering the current impact of COVID-19 on the market. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected all aspects of life worldwide. This has brought several changes to the market situation. Early and future assessments of rapidly changing market scenarios and impacts are covered in the report. Our data has been extracted by a team of experts who have curated the report taking into account market-related information. This report provides the latest insights on the drivers, constraints, opportunities and trends in the market. It also describes the growth and trends of various sectors and markets in various regions.

The report presents the market competitive landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendors/key players in the market. Top Companies in the Global Electric Power Substation Automation System Market: Ingeteam, ABB, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Amperion, General Electric, Alstom, Cisco Systems, Eaton Corporation, Schweitzer Engg Lab and others.

Get up to 30% Discount on this Premium Report

Click the link to get a free Sample Copy of the Report:

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Global Electric Power Substation Automation System Market Split by Product Type and Applications:

This report segments the global Electric Power Substation Automation System Market on the basis of Types are:

:

Substation automation

Feeder automation

Consumer side automation

On the basis of Application, the Electric Power Substation Automation System Market is segmented into:

:

Industrial

Commercial

Residential

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https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/03012658430/global-electric-power-substation-automation-system-market-growth-status-and-outlook-2021-2026?mode=126

Regional Analysis for Electric Power Substation Automation System Market:

For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the global Electric Power Substation Automation System Market is analysed across key geographies namely: United States, China, Europe, Japan, South-east Asia, India and others. Each of these regions is analysed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.

Influence of The Electric Power Substation Automation System Market Report:

-Comprehensive assessment of all opportunities and risk in the Electric Power Substation Automation System Market.

Electric Power Substation Automation System Market recent innovations and major events.

-Detailed study of business strategies for growth of the Electric Power Substation Automation System Market-leading players.

-Conclusive study about the growth plot of Electric Power Substation Automation System Market for forthcoming years.

-In-depth understanding of Electric Power Substation Automation System Market-particular drivers, constraints and major micro markets.

-Favourable impression inside vital technological and market latest trends striking the Electric Power Substation Automation System Market.

What Are the Market Factors That Are Explained in The Report?

Key Strategic Developments: The study also includes the key strategic developments of the market, comprising R&D, new product launch, M&A, agreements, collaborations, partnerships, joint ventures, and regional growth of the leading competitors operating in the market on a global and regional scale.

Analytical Tools: The Global Electric Power Substation Automation System Market Report includes the accurately studied and assessed data of the key industry players and their scope in the market by means of a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, feasibility study, and investment return analysis have been used to analyse the growth of the key players operating in the market.

Key Market Features: The report evaluated key market features, including revenue, price, capacity, capacity utilization rate, gross, production, production rate, consumption, import/export, supply/demand, cost, market share, CAGR, and gross margin. In addition, the study offers a comprehensive study of the key market dynamics and their latest trends, along with pertinent market segments and sub-segments.

Customization of the Report: This report can be customized as per your needs for additional data up to 3 companies or countries or 40 analyst hours.

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Electric Power Substation Automation System Market Size |Incredible Possibilities and Growth Analysis and Forecast To 2026 |Ingeteam, ABB, Schneider...

Could Symtek Automation Asia Co., Ltd. (TPE:6438) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. Yet sometimes, investors buy a stock for its dividend and lose money because the share price falls by more than they earned in dividend payments.

With a 1.7% yield and a seven-year payment history, investors probably think Symtek Automation Asia looks like a reliable dividend stock. While the yield may not look too great, the relatively long payment history is interesting. There are a few simple ways to reduce the risks of buying Symtek Automation Asia for its dividend, and we'll go through these below.

Click the interactive chart for our full dividend analysis

Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. As a result, we should always investigate whether a company can afford its dividend, measured as a percentage of a company's net income after tax. In the last year, Symtek Automation Asia paid out 37% of its profit as dividends. This is a middling range that strikes a nice balance between paying dividends to shareholders, and retaining enough earnings to invest in future growth. One of the risks is that management reinvests the retained capital poorly instead of paying a higher dividend.

Another important check we do is to see if the free cash flow generated is sufficient to pay the dividend. Symtek Automation Asia's cash payout ratio last year was 15%. Cash flows are typically lumpy, but this looks like an appropriately conservative payout. It's positive to see that Symtek Automation Asia's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

With a strong net cash balance, Symtek Automation Asia investors may not have much to worry about in the near term from a dividend perspective.

We update our data on Symtek Automation Asia every 24 hours, so you can always get our latest analysis of its financial health, here.

One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. Looking at the data, we can see that Symtek Automation Asia has been paying a dividend for the past seven years. Although it has been paying a dividend for several years now, the dividend has been cut at least once, and we're cautious about the consistency of its dividend across a full economic cycle. During the past seven-year period, the first annual payment was NT$5.7 in 2014, compared to NT$1.5 last year. The dividend has fallen 74% over that period.

When a company's per-share dividend falls we question if this reflects poorly on either external business conditions, or the company's capital allocation decisions. Either way, we find it hard to get excited about a company with a declining dividend.

Given that dividend payments have been shrinking like a glacier in a warming world, we need to check if there are some bright spots on the horizon. In the last five years, Symtek Automation Asia's earnings per share have shrunk at approximately 7.3% per annum. A modest decline in earnings per share is not great to see, but it doesn't automatically make a dividend unsustainable. Still, we'd vastly prefer to see EPS growth when researching dividend stocks.

We'd also point out that Symtek Automation Asia issued a meaningful number of new shares in the past year. Trying to grow the dividend when issuing new shares reminds us of the ancient Greek tale of Sisyphus - perpetually pushing a boulder uphill. Companies that consistently issue new shares are often suboptimal from a dividend perspective.

Dividend investors should always want to know if a) a company's dividends are affordable, b) if there is a track record of consistent payments, and c) if the dividend is capable of growing. First, we like that the company's dividend payments appear well covered, although the retained capital also needs to be effectively reinvested. Earnings per share have been falling, and the company has cut its dividend at least once in the past. From a dividend perspective, this is a cause for concern. Ultimately, Symtek Automation Asia comes up short on our dividend analysis. It's not that we think it is a bad company - just that there are likely more appealing dividend prospects out there on this analysis.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Just as an example, we've come accross 2 warning signs for Symtek Automation Asia you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. *Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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Should Symtek Automation Asia Co., Ltd. (TPE:6438) Be Part Of Your Dividend Portfolio? - Simply Wall St

Raj Parameswaran US Federal IT President Maximus

Raj Parameswaran, president of U.S. federal information technology at Maximus, said robotic process automation could help government agencies facilitate the delivery of services to citizens while allowing employees to focus on more complex tasks.

RPA will continue to grow as a valuable tool for government IT leaders because it allows the immediate expansion and scaling of human labor without impacting existing systems, Parameswaran wrote in a guest piece published Friday on GCN.

With RPA, an agency can implement and test on a small scale and then quickly expand to automate additional manual tasks, he added.

Parameswaran said there are factors agencies should consider in advancing RPA implementation, such as ensuring that the RPA technology is easy to use and deploy; addressing security at the architecture level and complying with agency requirements; and understanding the RPA platforms capabilities and how the technology interacts with enterprise systems.

He noted that procurement, finance, human resources and operations are some of the areas with repetitive, manual tasks that could benefit from RPA and as agencies deploy the technology, they can assess and identify other functions that could be automated.

I believe RPA will eventually become a part of the core technology platform stack for business applications that both directly address agency missions and their supporting functions, Parameswaran wrote. RPA will become an embedded component in standard solutions, and well start to see that evolution beginning in earnest as soon as this year.

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Maximus' Raj Parameswaran: Robotic Process Automation a Key Tool to Government IT Leaders - ExecutiveBiz