Fully-Automated Factory

References

(Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lights_out_(manufacturing) Retrieved:2014-9-27.
- Lights out or lights-out manufacturing is a manufacturing methodology (or philosophy), rather than a specific process.
  Factories that run lights out are fully automated and require no human presence on-site. Thus, these factories can be run with the lights off. Many factories are capable of lights-out production, but very few run exclusively lights-out. Typically, workers are necessary to set up tombstones holding parts to be manufactured, and to remove the completed parts. As the technology necessary for lights-out production becomes increasingly available, many factories are beginning to utilize lights-out production between shifts (or as a separate shift) to meet increasing demand or to save money. An automatic factory is a place where raw materials enter and finished products leave with little or no human intervention. ^[1] ^[2] ^[3]
  One of the earliest descriptions of the automatic factory in fiction was the 1955 short story “Autofac”.

↑ "Toward the automatic factory" in "Electronic Servicing & Technology" magazine 1982 August
↑ "Toward the Automatic Factory: A Case Study of Men and Machines" by Charles Rumford Walker 1977 ISBN 0-8371-9301-X
↑ "Automatic Factory" in Time magazine 1953 Sep. 28

Brann, David B., David A. Thurman, and Christine M. Mitchell. (1996). “Human interaction with lights-out automation: A field study.” In: Proceedings of Human Interaction with Complex Systems (HICS'96).

(Albus et al., 1983) ⇒ James S. Albus, Charles R. McLean, Anthony J. Barbera, and M. L. Fitzgerald. (1983). “Hierarchical control for robots in an automated factory.” In: Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Industrial Robots/Robots, 7.