Tag: productivity

Avoiding Workplace Hazards through Ergonomics

Avoiding Workplace Hazards through Ergonomics

Some technology and robots are keeping employees in the workplace by improving productivity, reducing cost, and increasing safety (see " What’s the Difference Between Automation and Employment? ") . Looking at the cost of the production/cost ratio, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2012, injuries caused by jobs that involved lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, and repetitive motions accounted for 28.4% of workplace injuries that cost $16.94 billion. These injuries and costs are driving the need for automation and robotics to reduce injury from tedious, monotonous, or dangerous jobs.

Companies such as Strong Arm are working on soft exoskeletons […]

Indian industry pushes for advanced robotics, but the question of jobs remains

Indian industry pushes for advanced robotics, but the question of jobs remains

A robot stacking solar panels in a factory in California. The media may focus on humanoid robots, but it is advanced robots that mimic human behaviour that get the job done, the manufacturing industry says. Indian companies feel that advanced robotics is one way forward for the government’s signature Make in India campaign, a survey has found.

The survey, by industry lobby group Ficci and Tata Strategic Management Group, says that it is crucial to adopt futuristic manufacturing trends such as greater use of advanced robotics.

This could also help Indian industry leapfrog past China, which is at least 8-10 years […]

Automation will not kill but create more jobs; robots will generate new work for humans: Anant Gupta, HCL Tech CEO

Automation will not kill but create more jobs; robots will generate new work for humans: Anant Gupta, HCL Tech CEO

There is a way, says Gupta, "which is the pro-human way. We cannot jump in blindly. Automation is a pragmatic journey." NEW DELHI: Automation is the new watchword in the Indian IT sector and employees should start looking at it beyond the hype and apprehension, HCL Tech BSE 1.81 % CEO Anant Gupta wrote in his blog.

"Automation is no longer an option in the 21st century enterprise. Across industries, it is already driving efficiency, productivity, agility, adaptability and optimization… there is growing apprehension about automation devouring jobs. The Industrial Revolution too was met with technological unemployment as a temporary […]

“Silicon Collar” – a realistic view of automation eliminating jobs

“Silicon Collar” – a realistic view of automation eliminating jobs

Editor’s note: The buzz about robots and automation eliminating humans’ jobs is like a squeaking hinge, getting louder and causing more friction almost daily. Released this month, “Silicon Collar,” Vinnie Mirchandani’s fourth book about technology and innovation, is a must-read for employers making decisions about automation as well as for employees who fear their job will be eliminated by technology. Whatever your opinion is about technology and jobs, I believe reading this book will enhance or change your opinion.

I’ve read Vinnie’s three earlier books about technology and innovation, so I felt sure there would be important insights […]

Automation predicted to cut workforce in half, but education could decide who stays

Automation predicted to cut workforce in half, but education could decide who stays

(1 of 2) Is automation your job friend or foe? (PIOTR DEBOWSKI / SHUTTERSTOCK) Do you see yourself partnering with robots to do your job? Many people already are finding that working with robots and other technologies has greatly improved their ability to do their jobs. For some, partnering with a robot partner has given them superpowers.

Take the case of a women with leukemia who wasn’t responding to treatment. To solve the mystery, doctors asked IBM’s Watson, a supercomputer loaded with artificial intelligence, to figure it out. In just 10 minutes, Watson diagnosed the right type of leukemia, which […]

Enemy is poor education, not mechanisation

Enemy is poor education, not mechanisation

THE replacement of people in the workplace by machines has been feared throughout history. During the Industrial Revolution, workers known as Luddites attacked and destroyed the machines that threatened their jobs.

Yet while mechanisation did bring great hardship to the cottage weavers and spinners, fears of widespread unemployment proved unfounded. Mechanisation brought about rising prosperity and demand for new products and services. Lower production costs meant lower prices, which generated greater demand for goods previously affordable only to the wealthy.

As a result, the new machines set the scene for massive increases in jobs, wages and prosperity unequalled in history.Today, the […]

Who Took My Job: 7 Potential Job Killers You Should Look Out For

Who Took My Job: 7 Potential Job Killers You Should Look Out For

As technology becomes more and more advanced, it displaces more and more people from their jobs.

People can’t afford to merely hang on to their jobs anymore. What’s required is preparation for newer jobs and constant upgrading of skills.

Jobless growth is not just a concept limited to the column inches of the newspapers anymore. It is now a reality. Growth itself is not coming easy. Countries across the globe are trying every trick in the book to boost growth, from zero interest rates to quantitative easing to helicopter money, but such antics have yielded a mouse.Not just growth but job […]

Here’s the best argument that computers could replace doctors, teachers, and even nannies

Here’s the best argument that computers could replace doctors, teachers, and even nannies

Javier Zarracina/Vox

Artificial intelligence is improving rapidly, and a lot of people are worried that it will lead to massive job losses. In the past, technology mostly displaced workers doing routine tasks or manual labor. But as software becomes more sophisticated, there’s a growing prospect that truck drivers, teachers, and perhaps even doctors could see their jobs replaced by a robot or a computer program.

Ryan Avent is an economics correspondent for the Economist who has been thinking about the economics of automation for several years. He’s a technology optimist — he thinks software and robots really will massively boost economic […]

Job automation threatens peoples’ livelihoods. Can universal basic income save the day?

Job automation threatens peoples’ livelihoods. Can universal basic income save the day?

Planet Earth ( openDemocracy ) – In early 2013, a colleague and I attended the inaugural meeting of the UK Robot Ethics association. There, we suggested that developments in robotics and computing technology meant that we needed to re-evaluate some of our economic thinking. Machines were now increasingly capable of replacing human cognitive power as well as physical power, as had primarily been the case in the past. There is an orthodox idea in economics according to which increases in productivity driven by technology will not create long-term or ‘structural’ unemployment. Conventional thinking has it that as technology-driven productivity […]

All jobs susceptible to automation, says McKinsey Global Institute study

All jobs susceptible to automation, says McKinsey Global Institute study

NewsWrap Some of the activities that have the greatest potential for automation are physical activities that occur in predictable environments

It is not just low-skill, low-wage jobs that are affected by automation; some high-skill, high-wage jobs too, are susceptible to automation, according to McKinsey Global Institute, the business and economics research arm of consultancy firm McKinsey.

Take for instance, the task of collecting and analysing data. Some of it falls into the category of low-skill, low-wage. But, says Michael Chui, Partner, McKinsey Global Institute, some of the activities that fit into the category of collecting and analysing data are done by […]