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Lights-out manufacturing is a
manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...
methodology (or philosophy), not a specific process. Factories that employ "lights-out manufacturing" are fully automated and require no human presence on-site. These factories are considered to be able to run "with the lights off." Many factories are capable of lights-out production, but few run exclusively lights-out. Typically, in
computer numerical control Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...
(CNC) machining, workers are necessary to set up
tombstones A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, da ...
that hold parts to be manufactured and remove completed parts. As the technology necessary for total automation becomes increasingly available, many factories are beginning to use lights-out production between shifts (or as a separate shift) to meet increasing production demand or to save money on labor. Going forward this concept of automation will become more popular and can support human beings. An automatic factory is a place where raw materials enter, and finished products leave with little or no human intervention. One of the earliest descriptions of the automatic factory in fiction was the 1955 short story " Autofac," by Philip K. Dick.


Real-world examples


"Lights out" computer numerical control (CNC) machining

CNC machines do not require continuous operator attention, and some models can run unattended. A few machine shops run CNC unattended on nights and weekends. Although the machines are run without being under constant supervision, it is a common practice to always have a person in the vicinity of the machine.


Existing "lights-out factories"

FANUC, a Japanese
robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
company, has been operating as a lights-out factory since 2001.
Robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...
s are building other robots at a rate of about 50 per 24-hour shift and can run unsupervised for as long as 30 days at a time. "Not only is it lights-out," says Fanuc vice president Gary Zywiol, "we turn off the air conditioning and heat too." In the
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Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...
uses lights-out manufacturing to produce electric razors, with 128 robots made by Adept Technology. There are only nine human
quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
workers who oversee the end of the manufacturing process. In the manufacturing of
integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
s using 300 mm wafers, the entire manufacturing process is completely automated, with workers only making sure that the process runs without problems and repairing any faulty machinery.


Motivations for lights-out factories

Lights-out manufacturing may increase productivity and lower upkeep costs. Companies incorporating lights-out methodologies into floor plans only need to consider robotic workers, which minimize space and climate-control requirements. Human laborers can be dispatched to a separate location for tasks such as quality assurance. Optimizing manufacturing space for a fully autonomous robotic workforce allows for an increase in productivity. James Cook, an application engineer at Stäubli, the business development and marketing manager at Stäubli Robotics, says robots can help lower building costs by requiring smaller work cells. He states that "manufacturers can fit a larger number of compact cells in the same space to increase production without adding heating, lighting, or cooling to the cost of the building." Floor space is also important for energy conservation, as a smaller space reduces energy consumption by reducing heating costs. Without human workers, climate-control systems are unnecessary, and smaller layouts require less electricity.


See also

*
Automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
* Self-replicating machine


References

{{reflist Industrial automation