Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!sgiblab!sdd.hp.com!apollo.hp.com!netnews
From: jeffb@hpwala.wal.hp.com (Jeff Blacksin)
Subject: Re: Does Automation Take Jobs Away?
Sender: usenet@apollo.hp.com (Usenet News)
Message-ID: <CtAsCn.I7x@apollo.hp.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 15:57:58 GMT
Reply-To: jeffb@hpwala.wal.hp.com (Jeff Blacksin)
References: <Ct8z84.np1@mozo.cc.purdue.edu> <30jt34$6f6@magus.cs.utah.edu> <30kh7j$5ev@ecom2.ecn.bgu.edu>
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Organization: Hewlett-Packard Waltham Division
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I feel a deep obligation to respond to this point. Automation creates jobs and
does not eliminate them. I have never worked on an Automation project in the
last 10 years that didn't result in more people being hired. Robots taking
people's jobs away is a myth.

Companies in the US are notorious cheap. If they can pay someone 7 bucks an
hour to do a job, they won't spring for the 75k robot to do that job. Most
robots are installed in situations where humans can't do the work ( precision
assembly, clean rooms, painting, welding ). In each one of these cases the
product being built could not exist without the aid of the robot and thus a new
market is created that didn't previously exist. Support people are hired,
engineers are hired to make the automation work. 

If GM went out and replaced all of its production line workers with robots
there would be at least as large an amount of support personnel behind those 
robots ( at higher skilled, higher paying jobs ) to make that factory run.


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| Jeffrey Blacksin     | TELENET:                         |
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