Scott Heric: Robots Benefit Industrial Processes Most by Enhancing the Efforts of Humans

If you have had a cup of coffee lately, you have probably been served by a robot. It may not have been a “baristabot” that took your order or handed you your latte at your local coffee shop, but somewhere along the line from bean to breve, an intelligent machine most likely played a role in producing your coffee.

Employing robots and other intelligent machines in industrial processes is part of a movement that is often referred to as the automation revolution. While it promises to shape the future of many industries, it is not futuristic.

Intelligent machines are already being employed in ways we never thought possible a few years ago. And now is the time to understand the impact they can have and the best route to using them to optimize labor practices.

Are robots taking over the workplace?

Presently, “robot density per employee,” which is a measure used to gauge the degree to which automation is being embraced, stands at 126 robots per 10,000 employees. While that may seem small, it is more than double the number recorded in 2015, a trend that has some concerned.

In early 2020, Massachusetts Institute of Technology issued a report titled “Work of the Future” that was developed in part to address a growing anxiety related to the automation revolution.

In its coverage of the report, MIT Technology Review explained the anxiety in this way: “There’s a growing fear among many American workers that they’re about to be replaced by technology, whether that’s a robot, a more efficient computing system, or a self-driving truck.”

While a robot revolution resulting in a large-scale displacement of human workers is a popular concern that has been explored in an endless number of science fiction movies, it misses the broader potential of an automation revolution. Robots benefit industrial processes most by enhancing the efforts of human workers, not by replacing them.

A recent report by The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania shows that organizations that increase their automation through the use of robots typically hire more workers. This results from robots enhancing productivity, which grows business and demands an increase in non-robotic jobs. Wharton found that jobs were cut more often in companies that have not embraced the automation revolution. By resisting automation, they fell behind competitors, lost business, and had to let employees go.

What are the next steps?

This new paradigm of robots playing a more integral role in the workplace will not develop in a vacuum. Politically and culturally, people will need to accept intelligent machines and adapt accordingly. The automation revolution will require a shift not only in the way we work, but also in the way we think about work.

In the 1980s, computers entered the workplace. Some resisted, seeing the new technology as a tool that would be used to supplant the systems that were in place at that time.

Today, very few workplaces could survive without computers. Rather than supplanting systems, computers became a tool to optimize systems. Rather than displacing workers, they created a new universe of jobs.

Robots and other intelligent machines offer the same potential to those who are willing to see them as a tool that can be wielded to increase efficiency and productivity. Those who resist will watch from the sidelines as the automation revolution advances.

Scott Heric, Co-Founder of Unionly, has years of experience helping organizations to raise funds online. He helped develop sales and account management for Avvo, growing from 30 to 500 people over seven years. Heric then took a chief of staff role at Snap Mobile Inc., where he oversaw development of the product, marketing, sales, and account management, leading to the company becoming a leading digital fundraising platform in higher education. His company Unionly was acquired in January of 2020. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

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