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I come from an Industrial Engineering background and I really liked this quick overview of the job. The cost of robotic arms has dropped considerably in the la
by froindt 9y ago
I come from an Industrial Engineering background and I really liked this quick overview of the job. The cost of robotic arms has dropped considerably in the last ~10 years. Glancing through Ebay quick, you can get tons of robotic arm models for less than $20,000. I anticipate many more processes getting automated in the next couple years especially with the rapid pace of computer vision improvements we're seeing. Like a lot of things, running a factory can look and sound easy until you get to actually doing it. Some things that can really trip up a factory:
* Improper product from upstream processes (wrong dimensions, doesn't assemble, wrong physical properties, etc).
* Unplanned downtime.
* Being behind on production goals (meaning they won't stop the machine for you to install and test your new widget that might fix everything).
* Management turning down many very useful OEM upgrades on a cost basis.
* Imbalanced production rates. The bottleneck of the factory should be the primary focus for improvements.
And for a fun fact: lubricant used in food production equipment must be safe for humans. For this reason, vegetable oil and similar products are often used.
- farnsworthy 9y agoIt seems that most if not all of these issues have software development process equivalents…
- froindt 9y agoI do some programming (unfortunately mostly VBA, the language of the non-technical business world) and spent 4 years of college working on robots for a competition with a bunch of mechanical engineers and computer engineers. I agree. I specifically compared software projects here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15197767 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15197767 And I outlined more manufacturing challenges here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15195869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15195869
- merlincorey 9y agoKanban boards didn't originate in software development, but super markets and car manufacturing[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban#Toyota%27s_Six_Rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban#Toyota%27s_Six_Rules
- juskrey 9y agoYes, proper lubricants are a great issue in software outsourcing companies.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- pjc50 9y agoThis is a good joke, but if we extract the underlying intent - "things that may leak into being consumed by the user must be nontoxic" - it has a clear parallel in adtech.
- user5994461 9y agoAdtech and outsourcing firms have the parallel that they are about capturing money meaninglessly thrown away by other firms.
- nol13 9y ago"And for a fun fact: lubricant used in food production equipment must be safe for humans. For this reason, vegetable oil and similar products are often used." Good to know, had always wondered about this.
- williamdclt 9y agoYou had always wondered about lubricant used in food production equipment? People will always surprise me
- abakker 9y agoFWIW, peanut/soy oil is a pretty good cutting lubricant on the lathe/mill too. (manual machines, that is). It is slippery and can take relatively high heats. And, when it gets hot it smells nice. Chris King (the bicycle parts manufacturer) uses only soy oil for their machining operations because it has a lower environmental footprint and can be safely recycled.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y agoYep! I work in the steel construction industry. Damn near every day, typically mid to late afternoon, an order comes from on high: "this has to be on the truck at 6am tomorrow", but you also have to continue to meet the existing deadlines. Then you lose an hour of production because a machine needs maintenance or breaks down. This is why we work 54hr weeks. All the time.
- emj 9y agoIMHO 54h/week is not sustainable if you are supposed to have a life outside work, if your employer have a pattern of this kind of behaviour you should really look at getting another job. You could easily employ one more on those extra hours (or two more).
- Retric 9y agoThis really depends on commute times. 5x 8 hour work day + 1 hour each way commute = 50h/week. 54h/week + 20 minute each way commute = 57.3h/week. 54h/week + 1 hour each way commute = 64h/week. That said, 56h is half your time awake a week. It does not leave a lot of wiggle room for other commitments.
- IndrekR 9y ago5*(8+2)=50, still. To get to 60h, one needs to commute 4h every day with 40h weeks.
- zeta0134 9y agoYou seem to be getting downvoted but no one's explaining why: check your math. At 8 hours a day, plus 1 hour there and 1 hour back, each of your 5 work days would total 10 hours. 5 of those is a 50h work week, not a 60h week: 5d * (8h + 1h + 1h) = 50h/week I do agree that commute times are important, but they're not quite the heavy hitter that your original example implies.
- Retric 9y ago
- madengr 9y agoAn industrial sized tube of KY?
- IkmoIkmo 9y ago> Imbalanced production rates. The bottleneck of the factory should be the primary focus for improvements. This game shows this quite well: www.positech.co.uk/productionline/