Information Technologies and Social Transformation (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Computers and Business
Computers and Business
Pages 154-167
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From page 154... ...
A three-dimensional space serves as the organizing principle for this paper: Business functions comprise one axis; on another axis lie the technologies; and on the third, the impacts. For convenience, I have divided business functions into management, manufactunng, selling, planning, training, and professional support.
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From page 155... ...
space. The intersections and their respective changes are as follows: · At the intersection of training, computers, and people, the discussion centers on simulation as an aid to training; · At the intersection of manufacturing, automation, and people, on factory automation and robotics; · At the intersection of selling, telecommunications, and structure, on retail electronic funds transfer (EFT)
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From page 156... ...
. Another industrial example is temperature and pressure instrumentation built into a grinding wheel or cutting tool to control a feedback system that optimizes metal removal rates, improves precision of manufacture, and extends tool life.
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From page 157... ...
When expert systems can learn from expenence, the decision rules incorporated in the knowledge portion of the program can be much more extensive, and a transition will have occurred from programs that merely emulate the behavior of experts to creative artificial intelligence routines. These routines will arrive at answers better than those that might be created by most human experts.
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From page 158... ...
Factory automation is likely to advance so far beyond current capabilities that the net effect of introducing such new technologies may be to improve total output with less labor required in both a relative and an absolute sense. I will explore the potential for such technology-induced unemployment in this section.
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From page 159... ...
0.050 inches 0.010 inches Mean iune between failures 1,000 hours 5,000 hours Fault detection and repair Mostly human Mostly self-check Speed for standard pattern 4 seconds 1 second Programming External External and self taught Sensing visual Silhouette 3-dimensional Memory capacity and type Magnetic media Vastly expanded magnetic and op tical media Infonnaiion processing Sequential archi- Parallel architecture lecture SOURCE: The Futures Group. functions; robotics will move from specialized to general-purpose applications.
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From page 160... ...
The answer is, of course, it will do both. At constant levels of output it will eliminate jobs, because the robots will perform jobs that human workers currently perform, and automation, properly applied, will improve productivity through increasing output per man-hour.
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From page 162... ...
Now, assume that the number of individuals available for passenger automobile production grows at the same rate as the labor force as a whole. The employees required, however, are affected by level of production of automobiles and by improvements in productivity resulting from factory automation and the introduction of robots.
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From page 163... ...
· The communication networks required to support the ATMs and the software necessary to properly debit accounts exist and are proven. It takes only a small step of imagination to move the ATM into the cash register so that at time of purchase consumers can simply insert the ATM card into the proper slot, punch in their personal identification number, and be charged for the purchase directly, just as if they had gone to the ATM and withdrawn cash.
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From page 164... ...
It then spreads in the retail environment wherever population density and purchase traffic are high enough to warrant the investment. Then it may spread to vending machines of this new era.
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From page 165... ...
All of these developments are happening and will accelerate. Consequences The use of corporate intelligence gathering, not as espionage but as a routine and accepted business function, will increase.
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From page 166... ...
On the factory floor it is being changed by numerically controlled machines, analog and digital sensing devices, automated testing gear, design systems, material-handling systems, inventory control systems, and automated stockrooms. In the office changes are being driven by electronic filing, automated scheduling of meetings, direct access to inflation, word processing, and, soon, idea processing.
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From page 167... ...
1983. Fast growing ATMs are now as ubiquitous as Xerox machines Georgia finn aims new computer at bank calling of ricers.
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