Category Archives: Automation

Technology has long been lauded as the savior of modern business, but some fear it may also hasten its downfall. Pew Research Center reported that a full two-thirds of Americans think robots will overtake most humans work over the next 50 years, inspiring feelings of both resentment and awe toward the technology we ourselves have created.

Rather than be intimidated by this looming possibility, however, entrepreneurs should recognize that this means they have more control than they realize. Technologys power puts them in a position to create value, which should reveal opportunities and fuel the entrepreneurial spirit.

The problem is that most entrepreneurs have trouble shifting their perspective to see whats overwhelming as empowering.

People are worried about machines, computers and factories taking their jobs, dwelling on whether their own positions will be threatened. Its not a question of whether its going to happen -- its a matter of when. The takeover is already underway, but were so busy staring at whats fading into the mist that were overlooking the amazing possibilities that come with technology.

Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business

Here a few steps we can take to reframe technology as our ally, not our enemy:

Not that long ago, we lived without cellphones. Now, we carry powerful computers in the palm of our hands, telling us which roads to take when were in traffic, enabling us to check in for flights and letting us look up anything we need with the push of a button. They save us time, energy and money, freeing us up to spend our most valuable resource -- our lives -- on the things that really matter.

The same idea applies to our companies. Things that are time-consuming but not thinking-intensive -- aka the stuff we called busywork in school -- suck up the hours and brain cells that would be better spent on the difficult tasks we cant hand off.

A study published in Behavioral and Brain Functions concluded that a prolonged cognitive load -- too much to think about -- results in mental fatigue. That means that when you finally do find the time to devote to those high-value tasks, you dont have the energy to do so.

McKinsey & Companys 2016 Automating the Insurance Industry report assessed how automation could be applied to the insurance industrys current tasks, and it found that up to a quarter of the fields existing roles could be combined or removed in the coming decade. Machine learning could take over up to 60 percent of an insurance sales agents job, for example, but only 35 percent of an underwriters. That means that in 10 years, insurance companies will be able to dedicate more of their team members brain power to more complex tasks while handing the easier ones off to computers.

Related: This Simple Technique Trains Your Brain to Conjure Your Best-Ever Ideas

Entrepreneurs erroneously assume that everything they do for their businesses is valuable. It likely is all worthwhile to some extent, but some efforts add more value to their companies than others. Growing a company and leading a team makes it essential that you identify where youre adding the most value so you put your focus there.

Ive worked with leaders who realized their time was best spent working on developing business partnerships or on hiring executive-level positions for their companies, but they were investing their days in approving ad copy or backing up data -- things that could be handled by automation. To be sure, backing up data is vital to a company, as GitLab could tell us after experiencing data deletion, followed by a backup failure.

GitLabs incident initially occurred as a result of a system administrator accidentally deleting a folder of live production data. In the wake of this disruption caused by human error, industry professionals recommended that others use all-in-one platforms with analyzers to determine what should be backed up and then automatically back those files up. This underscores the fact that what those entrepreneurs Ive known have spent their time on could have been better accomplished by technology than by them -- and allowed them to spend time building high-revenue partnerships instead.

RELATED: 7 Ways To Add Massive Value To Your Business

We all know entrepreneurs who wouldnt have a blog on their website if it werent for a platform such as WordPress. Technology can be seen as an extension of your business that enables your company to do things and offer services or products it couldnt otherwise.

My company has consulted with businesses that have held group brainstorming sessions to determine what they should be doing but couldnt with their current technology, staff or skill sets. They were clients of ours that hoped our platform had the ability to assist them with their new efforts. In some cases, we already offered a way to do what they wanted and simply had to show them how to integrate it; in others, we discussed how we could create what they were looking for or tweak an existing feature to do so.

In both instances, my company -- and theirs -- took advantage of technology to expand our offerings and grow our businesses.

Technology may ultimately change how many of our jobs look. But this is a time of opportunity, not fear -- what our companies and roles look like in the future will be enhanced, not diminished, versions of what we do now. If you free up some brain space, identify where you add the most value and pinpoint what you want to do in the future, youll be driving the technology changes youll encounter rather than be driven by them.

Lena Requist, with her background of building startups into multimillion dollar organizations, is passionate about growing businesses and developing teams. Her current project, ONTRAPORT, has been recognized for many awards including; fast...

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3 Ways Embracing Automation and Technology Can Turbocharge Your Entrepreneurial Quest - Entrepreneur

By Alexandra Zaslow

Man versus machine: Its a story thats as old as time.

Throughout the past two centuries, automation has made manufacturing cheaper and easier.

The Industrial Revolution ushered in an era of unprecedented progress, but just as factories replaced manual labor, technology is now taking the place of factory workers.

In fact, since 2000, nearly 5 million factory jobs have disappeared. An Oxford University study suggests that 20 years from now, almost half of all U.S. jobs will have been replaced by machines.

But dont panic: Heres what you need to know about automation nation.

First, its nothing new. Even back in 1960, John F. Kennedy wondered what the future would hold.

What happens to man when machines take their place? Kennedy said during a 1960 presidential debate.

Weve seen this movie before: Horse and buggies replaced by cars. Elevator operators replaced by buttons. Many bank tellers replaced by ATMs.

Technology, more specifically the Internet, has displaced everyone from travel agents to retail workers to librarians.

Even President Obama brought it up in his farewell speech, saying, The next wave of economic dislocations wont come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good middle class jobs obsolete.

But the current administration doesnt think the situation is quite as dire.

In terms of artificial intelligence taking over American jobs, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said during an interview. I think we are so far away from that [Its] not even on my radar screen.

Regardless, it is on a lot of peoples radar screens, and the whole country is figuring out what to do about it.

Its not all bad news, though. Forrester Research found that automation will actually create about 15 million U.S. jobs during the next decade. But thats going to require skill sets that fit those new job requirements.

According to a new Pew study, almost 9 in 10 American workers think theyll need training to stay competitive in the 21st century job market and theyre right.

But now, the U.S. government spends less than 1 percent of the GDP on worker training and retraining. Denmark spends 18 times as much, France, 12 times as much; and Germany, seven times.

Meanwhile, former President Obama proposed investing $4 billion in computer science training for grade schools, but congress didnt approve that money.

People are paying attention, though. Degrees in math and science are on the rise. Between 2009 and 2013, they increased by nearly 20 percent double that of other subjects.

But the bottom line is this: If you want to be employable, you need the skills that will equip you for the future.

Lets start working with machines, rather than against them.

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Automation and its impact on American jobs - Yahoo News

JOC.com

US logistics sector focuses on integration, automation JOC.com That task is taking on urgency as the number of systems, platforms, and the sheer amount of data transport operators and shippers deal with increases at a rapid pace. Cloud-based networks running more automated software linked to mobile phones and ...

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US logistics sector focuses on integration, automation - JOC.com

NEW DELHI: Recent layoffs in Indian IT companies are not different from the past and the sector will remain a net recruiter, but the numbers will be "calibrated" and automation impact will be crucial, says a report.

"We believe that these adjustments in staff strength are not materially different from earlier years. The IT industry will continue to be a net recruiter with numbers prudently and continuously calibrated by industry revenue growth," Kotak Institutional Equities said in a research note.

Indian IT companies generally let go of 1-3 per cent employees after annual performance measurement and this year, there could be a slightly higher proportion of layoffs -- around 2-4 per cent -- it added.

Some of the key factors slamming brakes on IT hiring include slowdown in company growth, decline in attrition rates, acceleration in localisation programme, employee reskilling and changes in the market place.

"Industry headcount addition in 2017-18 would be similar to 2016-17 figures or marginally higher, assuming 8 per cent revenue growth," the report said, adding that this positive will be partly offset by higher local hiring in the US.

The engineering and R&D services are expected to see 7-9 per cent headcount addition while domestic IT and BPO would log a 5-7 per cent rise. In IT services, there is likely to be 6-8 per cent growth and headcount increase will be 2-3 per cent lower than revenue growth.

However, BPO is where the real challenge is, as nearly 38 per cent of BPO export revenues are from customer interaction services, something that will be automated and taken over by chatbots over time.

"The industry will continue to be a net recruiter. However, it will continue to witness supply of talent and this might have negative implications for the engineering," the report said, adding "we expect automation to have significant bearing on headcount addition in the medium term".

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'IT to remain net recruiter, automation to watch out for' - Economic Times

News18

Zuckerberg's Harvard Speech Shows He Doesn't Quite Get The Economics Of Jobs And Automation Forbes Mark Zuckerberg has returned to Harvard and gained an honorary degree instead of the earned one he dropped out not to get. He also gave the commencement speech which was not a bad effort at all. However, there's one piece of it which shows that his ... Automation Will Take Away Your Job, But There is Way Out, Says Facebook's ZuckerbergNews18 Mark Zuckerberg Warns on Effects of Automation in Harvard commencement SpeechFinancialbuzz.com The new economy is comingBaltimore Sun Facebook -USA TODAY all 126 news articles »

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Zuckerberg's Harvard Speech Shows He Doesn't Quite Get The Economics Of Jobs And Automation - Forbes

Mark Zuckerberg finally has his Harvard degree. The Facebook CEO and famous college dropout left the Ivy League university 12 years ago to found the social network, but he returned Thursday to pick up a honorary doctor of laws degree and drop some wisdom on the class of 2017.

In prepared remarks provided to The Washington Post ahead of the speech, Zuckerberg called on his alma mater's newest graduates to tackle major, ambitious "public works" projects that bring together masses of people for the general benefit of society. He noted that many technologies - including some being developed at Facebook - are changing the world and also presenting new challenges.

"You're graduating at a time when this is especially important," Zuckerberg said in the prepared remarks. "When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void."

Zuckerberg, 33, is the youngest person to deliver a Harvard commencement speech, according to Facebook - a fact that he wanted to highlight to the crowd. "We walked this yard less than a decade apart, studied the same ideas and slept through the same lectures," his speech said. "We may have taken different paths to get here, but today I want to share what I've learned about our generation and the world we're building together."

Some of Zuckerberg's remarks echo the manifesto he published earlier this year, outlining how he saw Facebook's mission as establishing a "social infrastructure" for the world. But the central theme of Zuckerberg's address was to call on young people to create a world where "everyone has a sense of purpose" by looking beyond their own needs.

"I'm not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose," the speech said "We're millennials. We'll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I'm here to tell you finding your purpose isn't enough."

Noting that society will likely see "tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks" in the coming years, Zuckerberg called for young people to work on large public works projects to make new jobs. Though he didn't specify what sorts of projects those should be, or what hand companies such as Facebook could play in them, he did cite some past examples.

Zuckerberg noted that previous generations have their own "defining works" - the Hoover Dam, the space program, the fight against polio - that pulled them together and imbued America with civic pride. Citing global problems including climate change and pandemics, Zuckerberg said that millennials, himself included, understand themselves as global citizens rather than belonging to any nation-state.

"To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge - to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose," he said. "So what are we waiting for? It's time for our generation-defining public works. Let's do big things, not only to create progress, but to create purpose."

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Mark Zuckerberg tells Harvard grads that automation will take jobs, and it's up to millennials to create more - Chicago Tribune

Forbes

This Week's Retail False Flag: Automation-Threatened Job Losses Forbes Many articles have been written this past week on automation eliminating more than seven million retail jobs. The source study is misleading and incorrect. and more »

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This Week's Retail False Flag: Automation-Threatened Job Losses - Forbes

Axium Foods, a mid-sized manufacturer of salty snacks, had to evolve quickly when it found out that its high-speed packaging equipment wasnt flexible enough to meet new customer demands.

The company offers co-packing, contract manufacturing and private label services in addition to producing its own tortilla chip brands. And, while theyve diversified their offerings over the years, the challenge came from finding new ways to deliver uniquely packaged products to consumers.

The retail business changes fast. And, while its hard to predict what consumers will want in the future by walking through a grocery store, Axiums private label customers could anticipate the need for mixed products and a variety of carton types for use on shelves and displays in the store.

That variety meant flexibility on the packaging line, something Axium didnt have at the time.

High speed packaging is set up to do one spot with one product in one case. It is difficult to deal with retail that has multiple products in a package, said Jerry Stokely, former president and current board member at Axium Foods. We needed to adapt to pack two or three different products in one carton, but that didnt exist.

Stokely, who was speaking to attendees at PMMI Media Groups Automation Conference & Expo this week in Chicago, said that he couldnt find any case packer that could meet these needs. Not only did they not have what I needed, but they werent interested in listening to what I wanted. So, Stokely made a decision that was based on the companys successful manufacturing history that spans almost 60 years. I decided we needed to make our own.

The company employs about 150 people at its South Beloit, IL facility in which there is a lot of existing automation that was built in-house to run the plant 24 hours a day between three shifts.

We had a history of manufacturing our own custom equipment. We also had the financial resources, a supportive management [team] and highly skilled controls engineers, Stokely said. And, they had adequate in-house fabrication and access to outsourced fabricators for doing off-site development.

The need for a high degree of flexibility underlined everything they did as the team moved forward designing a case packing line. It had to accommodate a lot of changeovers and specialized short runs. In addition, it had to fit in the existing footprint, be operator friendly, mechanical friendly, intuitive and reliable, and include a six-axis robot.

A six-axis robot would provide scalable payloads, a definable reach envelope, multitasking and subtle and complex motion. But the traditional robots have proprietary programming languages, a long learning curve, large footprint and a large investment, Stokely said. A collaborative robot (cobot), on the other hand, has an intuitive programming language, a short learning curve, is cage-free and is a modest investment.

So a cobot it was. Stokely chose theUniversal RobotsUR5 with 5 kgs payload and an 850mm reach as snack food is light, so payload was not as important as reach. While designing the cobot into the workflow the company spent a lot of time figuring out how to build a system capable of running itself, even during a changeover.

A key learning during the trial and error phase was that to run at medium-to-high speed, the robot had to function as a component of the system. And, every movement had to be broken into a sub-function with every step perfected along the way to create a total system. And, it wasnt easy. We built a catalog of what didnt work, Stokely said.

The other key learnings: Control systems outside of the robot are critical. And as the Internet of Things moves forward, interoperability could be an issue as, right now, a lot of control systems and plant floor equipment cant talk to each other. The other key learning came from end effectors. Whatever you are picking up or grabbing, theres an end effector for it, and its easy to lose time searching for the right one, Stokely explained. You have to educate the fabricator on your business needs and clear their mind of preconceptions.

Lastly, focus on the humans in the process. It may seem that the guy who programmed the system would be the best person to train others, but thats not always the case. Frankly, that was a major failure for us, Stokely said. Find a person who is a natural teacher and give them permission to ask stupid questions.

The result of all this work is that Axium is now a fully-functional and reliable multi-tasking case packer. And the use of cobots was what enabled them to change the status quo.

We are a relatively small snack food company that built our own robotic case packer because there wasnt anything else out there, Stokely said. In the process, we had a lifetime of learning and can see the potential to go beyond the basics.

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Case Packing Cobots - Automation World

Forbes

10 Ways Automation Is Shaping The Future Of Marketing Forbes Automation and artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly important for the world of marketing, as they can significantly change how communicators and marketers work, both in terms of customer engagement and productivity. Although still in an ...

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10 Ways Automation Is Shaping The Future Of Marketing - Forbes

In his commencement speech at Harvard on May 25, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told graduates that wealth inequality in the United States "hurts everyone." (Reuters)

Mark Zuckerberg finally has his Harvard degree. The Facebook CEOand famous college dropout left the Ivy League university12 years ago to found the social network,but he returned Thursday to pick up a honorary doctor of laws degree and drop some wisdom on the class of 2017.

Zuckerberg called onhis alma mater's newest graduates to tackle major, ambitious "great works" projects that bring together masses of people for the general benefit of society. Henoted that many technologies including some being developed at Facebook are changing the world and also presenting new challenges.

You're graduating at a time when this is especially important, Zuckerberg said in the speech. "When our parents graduated, a sense of purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in a lot of communities has been declining. A lotpeople are feeling disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void in their lives.

The Facebook executive said that it's time for this generation to define a "social contract" in the vein of the New Deal or the Great Society. In his remarks, Zuckerberg said that we should explore ideas such as universal basic income the idea that everyone should receive a base salary and explore ways to provide health care and childcare in ways that aren't tied to an employer.

He also acknowledged that this won't be cheap. "And yes, giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn't free," he said. "People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too."

Zuckerberg, 33, is the youngest person to deliver a Harvard commencement speech, according to Facebook a fact that he wanted to highlightto the crowd. We walked this yard less than a decade apart, we studied the same ideas and slept through the same lectures, he said. We may have taken different roadsto get here especially if you came all the way from the quad but today I want to share what I've learned about our generation and the world we're building together.

Someof Zuckerberg's remarks echo the manifesto he published earlier this year, outlining how he saw Facebook's mission as establishing a social infrastructure for the world. But the central theme of Zuckerberg's address wasto call on young people to create a world where "everyone has a sense of purpose" by looking beyond their own needs.

I'm not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose, hesaid. We're millennials. We'll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I'm here to tell you finding your purpose isn't enough.

Noting thatsociety will likely see "tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks" in the coming years, Zuckerberg called for young people to work on large public works projects to make new jobs.Though he didn't specify what sorts of projects those should be, or what hand companies such as Facebook could play in them, he did cite some past examples.

Zuckerberg noted that previous generations have their own defining works the Hoover Dam, the space program, the fight against polio that pulled them together and imbued America with civic pride. Citing global problems including climate change and pandemics, Zuckerberg said that millennials, himself included, understand themselves as global citizens rather than belonging to any nation-state.

To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose, he said. So what are we waiting for? It's time for our generation-defining great works."

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Mark Zuckerberg tells Harvard grads that automation will take jobs, and it's up to millennials to create more - Washington Post